Lesson 11: Adding Photos to Quilts and Memory Quilts

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use your favorite photographs to make memory quilts. Let’s start by adding a photo to a block and then we’ll make a memory quilt.

Scanning Photographs

Let’s say that you have photographs of your children or grandchildren and you want to scan them into Perfect Quilt so that you can make a memory quilt.

You can use the scanning wizard to scan photographs as well as fabrics. Please see Lesson 10 Scanning Wizard for directions. In this lesson, we’ll explore what you can do with the photographs once you have scanned them into Perfect Quilt.

Adding a Photograph to a Block

Here’s how to add a photograph to the center of a quilt block. If you don’t know how to open a quilt block, please see page 14.

1. Click on the Block Library Tool to open the Block Library.

2. Select any quilt block and click the Open Button to open it.

3. Perfect Quilt will place it on the Design Wall

Open a Photo to Add to Block

1. Click on the Photo Library Tool to open the Photo Library. You will see sample images in the Click2Quilt Pro Photo Library. To see the photos you have scanned, click on My Photos in the drop-down box. For this lesson, you can select any photo.

2. Click on the photo you want and then click on the Design Wall next to the quilt block. Do not click on the block itself. Click2Quilt Pro will place the photo on the design wall.

Now that the photo is on the design wall, you can move the photo, resize it, flip it, rotate it or duplicate it. We will see how to place the photo on the quilt block and how to make it fit inside the block.

How to Move a Photo

1. Click on the Select Tool .

2. Click on the photo. You will see the select box.

3. Move the cursor inside the photo. The cursor will change into an open hand. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the photo to where you want it to go. Lift up the mouse button.

4. You can see that the photo is too large for the block, so now we must re-size it so that it will fit into the center of the block.

How to Resize a Photo

1. Click on the Select Tool.

2. Click on the photo. You will see the select box.

3. Place the cursor on the corner of the select box. Hold down the SHIFT key (this will prevent the photo from distorting.)

4. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the corner diagonally to make the photo larger or smaller. Lift up the mouse button.

Hint: Enlarging photos in Perfect Quilt will result in a loss of quality.

Hint: the rectangular photo doesn’t fit into the square center of the block. You can drag the select box on the left or right to stretch the photo to make it fit, but this will distort the photo.

How to Rotate and Flip a Photo

1. Click on the Select Tool.

2. Click on the photo. You will see the select box.

3. To flip the photo, click on either the Flip Horizontal Tool or the Flip Vertical Tool.

4. To rotate the photo, click on either the Rotate Right or Rotate Left Tools.

How to Duplicate a Photo

1. Click on the Select Tool.

2. Click on the photo. You will see the select box.

3. Click on the Edit Menu and select Duplicate. Or, press CTRL +D on your keyboard. Perfect Quilt will duplicate the photo and select it. Move the photo where you want it to go.

Saving Blocks with Photographs

Before you add the block with the photo to a quilt, you’ll want to save it into My Library so that you don’t change the original quilt block.

To Save the Block into My Library

1. Click on the Save Icon in the Ribbon Bar.

2. Type a name for the block and click on the Save Button.

Making Memory Quilts

You can now place your block with the photo into a quilt to make a Memory Quilt. Here’s how:

1. Close any open windows and save the blocks.

2. Click on the Quilt Wizard Icon in the Ribbon Bar. This will open the Quilt Wizard.

3. In the Layout Tab, set whichever layout you prefer.

4. Set the Block Placement type to Sampler. This will enable you to “drop” a variety of blocks with photos into the quilt. (See Lesson 2 if need help with creating a quilt.)

5. Click the Finish Button to put the quilt on the Design Wall.

6. Click on the Block Library Tool. Click on My Blocks and then click on the block you want to add to the quilt.

7. Click on the quilt where you want to place the block.

8. Click on the File Menu and select Save when you are ready to save the quilt.

Adding Photos Directly to Quilts

You don’t have to add a photo to a block, save it and then add the block to a quilt, you can add

photos directly to quilts: Here’s how.

1. Close all the open Windows and save any blocks with photos.

2. Click on the Quilt Wizard Icon in the Ribbon Bar. This will open the Quilt Wizard. (See Lesson 2 if you need help with creating a quilt.)

3. In the Layout Tab, set whichever layout you prefer.

4. Set the Block Placement type to Sampler. This will enable you to “drop” a variety of blocks with photos into the quilt.

5. Set the Size, border and sash as you wish.

6. Click the Finish button to put the quilt on the Design Wall.

7. Click on the Photo Library Tool and then select the photo you want.

8. Click on the quilt where you want to place the photo.

Hints for Working with Photos in Quilts

• When you place a photo directly into a quilt, Perfect Quilt will replace any block in the quilt with the photo and put a white square or rectangle behind it. Click2Quilt Pro will not place the photo on top of a block.

• When you place a photo directly into a quilt, Perfect Quilt will not shrink or enlarge the photo to fill up the block. If you want to crop or resize the photo, we suggest that you add the photo to a block and then add it to the quilt as outlined above.

• Perfect Quilt will replace a block with a photo only one block at a time. If you want to replace all the blocks with photos, you will have to click on each block individually.

• For the best control of how your photos will look in your quilt, we recommend that you add the photos to your quilt blocks and then create your quilt.

Printing Photos on Fabric

Now that you’ve designed your memory quilt, you’ll want to print your photos on fabric so that

you can sew them into your quilt. There are many fabric sheet packets on the market for just this

purpose. You can print the photos from your favorite photo editing program, such as Windows

Paint or you can print the photo from Perfect Quilt. Just open the photo onto the Design Wall

and then click on the File Menu and select Print.