Originally Posted by PaperPrincess

I also like the idea of putting the names in the sashing. You could use different color thread for the different families, like you and all your kids/grand kids would be in blue, your sister & her family in green etc. Pull the colors from the embroidery designs. I've done a lot of name embroidery and what I would do is write all the names down. Figure out the longest one and select a font size that will accomodate the name in the space you want to fill. Then use that same font size for all the rest of the names. It gives a more cohesive look. If you have embroidery software, I would pull a small motif from the design, like that little flower thingy on the 'tail' from the first picture you posted. Then you could use this motif to pad out some of the shorter names. So like if you have an Esmerelda and an Ann, you could embroider ;-) Ann ;-), but instead of the smiley faces,you'd put the small motif. Again, this sort of evens everything out.