I like the idea of a rail fence and have every one at the party sign on the ligh trails in a permanet marker. It wouldn't mater if it was already quilted and bound.

Thank you everyone for great ideas.

The first thing that I thought of was to take a picture of the quilt and have everyone sign it - perhaps have it in a 2 pic frame and have a picture of the retirement party group in the other side. I love the idea of ladder sashing. I think I would make the blocks more about the area he served than just fireman items. I like to have images or symbols of things. Examples would be the fireman's pole, his hat, crossed axes, the flag, etc. But, no matter what you decide, I am sure he will be thrilled with this gift.

Our guild did a quilt that was applique, however, the reason I am telling you is that they did an 8" piano key border l l/2" wide on it. It also had cornerstones. They then had it on the wall and every new member signed one of the piano keys. It looks awesome

Use a Pigma pen, not a Sharpie. The Sharpie will bleed yellow, not a good look.

for the center of the quilt, have a print of his fireman badge put on fabric, I like the suggestions of guest signing the ladder borders.

A ladder setting strip could be made by sewing alternating strips of ladder and background fabric WOF to the length of the setting block, cutting "slabs" of this striped fabric, then sewing additional strips of the ladder fabric along each side of the "slab".

here are some pictures I took of a tshirt quilt I made for a firefighter. I found fabric that looked like fire for the sashing.

I would NOT use a Sharpie marker, it bleeds when writing on fabric.

I just finished an "autograph" type quilt for the principal of my building and I used Sharpie FABRIC MARKERS that I got at Hobby Lobby. They washed great, too!

The teachers in my bldg asked me to do a quilt for the principal. She'll get it on Thurs. The person w/ the idea wanted the teachers to create a block w/ marker. I got the sharpie fabric markers, cut out the squares and ironed the freezer paper to the back. This made drawing on the paper very easy because the freezer paper added stability to the fabric.

Not everyone turned in a block, so i designed the border w/ some blank blocks to sign.

I liked the Sharpie Fabric Markers because the tips were soft and didn't require a lot of pressure when writing on the fabric. This was a definite plus because when people were signing the blocks inside the border, the quilt was already put together and in the process of being quilted.

Because the quilt was in the process of being quilted (I hand quilt), i had people doodle on the back side to get a "feel" for the marker before marking on the front. People still mentioned that it was easier to print vs sign their name in cursive. The blocks backed w/ freezer paper could be treated as if writing on paper.

Here are some pictures (complete w/ the local project inspector ;) ).

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A couple of the blocks the staff created:

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The corner w/ the blocks that people signed:

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