I haven't been quilting long (2 rag quilts, 2 pieced quilts), and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about them. My brother and his small son received the rag quilts, my firsts. Now my brother doesn't know anything about quilts or quilting, but he chewed me out for not labeling it! He wanted visual reminder that his absolutely favorite sister (I'm sure that's how he feels about me, lol) made it for him. Fortunately, I had sneaked my initials and date into one of the blocks.
I don't expect anything I make to live long enough to be passed down. The quality of my work will never be heirloom, I can't imagine anyone being impressed enough by my work to hunt me down posthumously. So whatever I end up doing will be as unobtrusive as I can make it. I kind of like the idea of a hidden signature that the recipient knows about, but a casual glance would miss entirely.