1.03.2016

Yo-Yo Quilt Remnants Christmas Ornament Thingy

A while back, my cousin found part of this old yo yo quilt that was made by our great-grandmother Eugenia.  She wanted to share it among relatives so she mailed out pieces of the quilt to other relatives, including me.  I've never met my great grandmother, so I think its pretty cool that I now I have something of hers that she not only touched, but made herself. It's only a couple of yo-yos, and I don't make yo-yo quilts, and I have no intention to start making a yo-yo quilt because of it.  But I also didn't want to just hoard random yo-yo pieces sitting in a ziploc bag without doing anything crafty with it.  The color palette is pretty random and totally outdated.  I figured it was just made out of random fabric scraps that she had.  Whatever the case, I wanted to work with it.

So with the help of Pinterest (searched: yo-yo quilt ideas) I figured making an ornament out of it, is a way of utilizing the yo yo pieces instead of keeping it in a plastic bag forever.  I wouldn't have enough pieces to make a project bigger than this, anyways.

At first I thought of using a styrofoam ball to use as a base, since you can just pin the yo yo pieces on it, but styrofoam balls are kind of expensive. Or at least cost more than I had thought.  I had no idea, I thought they were cheap for some reason.  Instead, I decided to go with the "use what you have"* route, and stitch the yo-yo's together in an overlapping pattern, and stuff it with polyfill.  I also decided to set a color scheme and just use the red/pink/black floral pieces (these pieces I had the most of, so it worked out that way), just to make it look cohesive.


Things I wish I had done now that I think of it in hindsight: iron out the pieces so that they are less puffy and easier to stitch.  I am still contemplating adding some sort of glitter or sequin to it and making it over the top, but for now it's hanging in my room.



It's 2016 and my new year's craft resolutions are to finish my damn vasarely blanket and to improve my sewing machine skills.  Here's hoping I update this blog in the near future with those resolutions being fulfilled.  Cheers.






*this must be my craft motto, use what you have at all costs.
(Creativity is fun when it challenges you)