A few days ago I showed the QR code quilts I made two of my children. I mentioned at that time that I would explain how I made them and show you how you can, too!

If you haven't done this already, before we even get started, you need to download an app to your smart phone that is a QR reader. Here's one. Download it with your phone and install it on your phone.

Once I started explaining it, I realized it was going to take more than one blog post to show you everything in the kind of detail I want to. So I'm splitting it into steps. Today is

Step 1 - Making the pattern.

1. Find a QR code generator on the internet.

Here's one

2. Decide what you want to say. I decided to give a greeting from the Quilted Twins.

I clicked the word "text" under the words "create your QR Code for free".

(Be brief - the longer your message, the bigger your design will be!)

3. Type the message into the box on the website as shown.

4. Click the green "Create QR code" button under the text you just typed.

Here's mine.

5. Download your QR code design.

That one was kind of complicated. What if I wanted to say simply "I love you!' from Mom

That is what it would look like:

How do you make a quilt from something that looks like that?

Well, think "pixelated quilt"! Think cross stitch pattern. Think crochet pattern or needlepoint grids....we'll talk about it later...

6. Go to your download folder and find it.

The file is creatively named "frame". I downloaded mine 2x accidentally.

7. Now take and print this out - enlarging it so it is a full sheet piece of paper. Make sure it stays the same shape (a square) - do not accidentally elongate it or make it strangely shaped.

I used paint. net but if you have a copy machine that will do it without distorting anything then go ahead and use it. Go ahead and fill up your sheet of paper - but make sure you can see the whole thing. Don't cut off any part of it while copying or printing.

This one is a copy of the one that I made using the longer message about having a good day.

Here's my pattern:

8. Double check the pattern with a QR reader to make sure it reads right. Yes. Do it now.

9. If you want to put something colorful on the QR code, make sure the colorful part is both bold and very light so that it reads like black and white. I did this with my daughter's weddings quilt with the heart. I made sure it was a light pink and a red -

I actually drew a heart on a piece of paper and cut it out, then traced it lightly with a pencil on top of my pattern so I knew where to start using pink and reds, etc.

Let me show you that.

I drew my heart just like I learned in elementary school! I folded a piece of paper in half and drew half of it and then cut it out.

I put it on top of the grid to see if it was about the size I wanted. If I wanted it bigger, I cut a new one, making it bigger. If smaller, the reverse.

I then lightly drew around the heart with a pencil. I could then color it in with a colored pencil to remind me when it came time to make it - to change colors.

I don't want a heart on mine - but I think a 9 patch would be cool, wouldn't it? Let me see.

Mine is a 41x41 grid, so I can measure off 14 2x and one section will only be 13 "pixels" wide. to make a 9 patch grid out of it For mine, I'm making the middle section only 13 modules or pixels or squares wide and the others are 14.

Like this. It won't be a perfectly even 9 patch, but we won't tell, okay? Most people wouldn't be able to tell.

Here's the pattern after I colored it in.

You can see that I took a sheet of paper and marked the rows on my pattern and numbered them. I will be using this when I construct the quilt. I'll go over that next week.

10. If you have colored your pattern, check one more time to make sure the colors you added didn't make the pattern unreadable. Mine was fine.

Now I have my pattern.

Now, I will need to decide on a final color scheme. I'm not positive I'll use yellow and blue - maybe I'l use pink and blue - or blue and green - I'll go down and look at my stash and see. And maybe discuss this with my sis since I want it to hang in the shop window.

Now... your homework....

After you make your pattern up using the QR code generator on line, and printing it out - you can also color on it - or NOT. It is just a little something "fun" I enjoyed doing - but certainly most QR codes are plain
Check back next week for the next part. I'm going to work on getting started on mine - I'll show you exactly what I do, so you can do it as well!
And save your pattern. Save your pattern! Do NOT lose that pattern! Obviously you can redo it, but that will be kind of sad.
Find some dark, deeply saturated colored fabric such as dark brown or red or black to use as your main color - well any color will do as long as there isn't white in it. Solids are best for the "dark" part of the QR code design.

See you next week! - and go make your pattern and decide on your colors!

Note:

The more information you try to put into a QR code, the more complex it will be. The ones I made for my kids were 57x57. The one I just did is 41x41. "grid" - or they use the word "modules"

Here's a sample picture

image taken from here - all kinds of super interesting information about this topic  - be sure to check it out if this interests you.  I'm only showing you the smaller one because if you want to make a shorter quilt - just can just put a w… — image taken from here - all kinds of super interesting information about this topic - be sure to check it out if this interests you. I'm only showing you the smaller one because if you want to make a shorter quilt - just can just put a website url, --but I wanted a fun message!!!!

Don't forget to check out what my sis has for you over in the store. She's working harder than ever to give you the fabric you want and need at prices everyone can afford!

Let's Make a QR Quilt - Step 1: Making the pattern

Step 1 - Making the pattern.

Now... your homework....

Note: