Yo-Yo!

This is a project I have been working on for years. Yes, years. To give myself credit, I used to only pull  it out on conference weekend. Twice a year? That was getting me no where. I got real sick of seeing it in the closet every time I opened it. The time had come when I had to finally do something about it. So... I cozied up to my fireplace and went to work. It feels good to have it finally finished. By the time the last yo-yo was sewn I thought I was going to go nuts. I started seeing this when I closed my eyes:

yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo

yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo

Bug-eyed yet?

Every stitch of this quilt is done by hand. And by hand I mean by hand; needle and thread. It's a quilt that can't really be used as a quilt. It's not practical. It won't keep someone warm. Too many holes. It's delicate. I discovered that while moving it around during the sewing process. There were several yo-yo's that fell apart and I had to go back and fix them while trying not to swear. I think it was because some of my square knots were "right over left, down through the hole, right over left, down through the hole." Every scout knows it's "right over left, down through the hole, left over right, down through the hole." It took me over 1073 yo-yo's to figure that out.

The last few days I worked at finishing this quilt I thought a lot about who I would give it to. It had to be someone special. Someone who would appreciate all the time and work put into it. Someone who would take care of it. Someone who deserved it. I figured it out and then got all giddy inside thinking about how I would send it in the mail to show up unexpectedly on their front porch. How fun.

Here are a few pictures:

I felt I needed to add a tag onto the back of the quilt. In keeping with the hand-sewn theme, I just lashed one on. I decided it was okay to put "2013" on it because I finished it in 2013. I think that no one needs to know, or even cares about, when I actually started it.

I think my finger tips and some of my finger joints/knuckle-wrinkles were bleeding by the time I tied the last square knot. Did you know that needles are pointy and thread can actually slice through a knuckle-wrinkle. (Do you know what a knuckle-wrinkle is? I just don't know what else to call that little area on my finger where the thread would rub over and over when I would pull it taught.) Ouch. I tried not to bleed on any of the actual yo-yo's.

I was glad to see this completed and became a bit mental staring at yo-yo's all day but, surprisingly, I loved it. It didn't take me long to look on Pinterest for some ideas on other yo-yo quilts. I found a picture of one that is made of only white yo-yo's and promptly pinned it. Some day, way in the future, when I've forgotten all about the poked, bleeding finger tips and knuckle-wrinkles I may just try and undertake another one of these. Maybe for myself.

good things:

1. fabric scraps

2. general conference

3. gifts for Moms