Tag: yoyo flower pattern

Blooming in July

Even if you’re not a gardener, you can grow a beautiful garden and even WEAR it! I designed a really fun skirt that can be made to fit ANYBODY because it is turned sideways. Sideways? Yes, start with the length you need to get comfortably around your hips. The fold becomes the elastic casing or has buttonholes to string a thin rope through. Then you add fabric to the bottom to make the perfect hem length. If you use a blue top and green bottom, you suddenly have created a meadow, perfect for flowers! The flowers used in the pattern are pieces that have been quickly serged, but suit yourself.

On sale for the rest of July… Click here:

Serge’n’sew Meadow Skirt cc1009

OK, you don’t wear skirts. I get it, but I’m in Alabama, and I can tell you that a cotton skirt and sandals are a LOT cooler than jeans and tennis shoes!

Maybe you’re in a cooler state and need a light wrap on some summer evenings. As much as I still can’t believe it, it SNOWED in August when I first moved to Montana. That was a shocker for a Southern woman, let me tell you. Anyway, try a garden on a sweatshirt. Just turn ANY size sweatshirt into a jacket and add some glads. Note the flower pot pockets! Click here.

Glad Jacket cc2202

I like wearable art, but if you prefer to stick to walls, I have you covered… with this delightful wall hanging that always gets oohs and ahhs when I show it: click here.

Glad Not Nana’s Yoyos cc2100

If you’re not sure about the handwork of making yoyos, it’s explained with clear diagrams. You can use this big Platter (Hot Pad) as a starter project. It’s also a great project for a beginning quilter because it shows how to do a binding like a miniature quilt. Click here.

“Happy to GLADiolus” cc 2012

If you prefer a different flower, try a folded rose called “Origami Rose.” Click here.

Origami Rose cc1002

I even have a folded sunflower, which can be a wall hanging or a Platter Pad. Click here.

Sunflower Power cc 1003

These beautiful flowers are not hard at all, and they are all on sale through July 31, so go cultivate your garden!

“April showers bring…

May flowers”—-ooops! How did it get to be June so quickly? My bad. I’ve been ghosing my blog, but I have a great excuse. I just had a knee replacement, and though I’ve still been making face masks on request, I just haven’t been up to quilting too much.

So instead, I bring you yoyos, which are a time-worn handwork project. Our grandmothers made some lovely quilt tops. I haven’t made anything so ambitious, but I did figure out a way to turn them into beautiful gladiolas! I have three different precious patterns I’ve put on sale through the end of June:

Glad Jacket cc2202 CLICK HERE

The jacket above is simply a sweatshirt, cut, bound, with added pockets and potted plants. Do all three plants or just one–always YOUR choice! On sale through June.

Happy to Gladiolus cc CLICK HERE

Above is a single glad on a big platter pad, or it could be quilt block or just a single applique (only $1.50 on sale!)

Glad: NOT Nana’s Yoyos, a 3D wall hanging CLICK HERE

or…above, you can make a whole garden! (Just $3.50 through June–with a full-page color lay-out to follow, as well as directions.)

Yoyos are not hard, but they ARE hand work. Basically, you make a circle about twice as big in diameter as the finished product. How? Use a glass or cup or beer mug or round coaster and draw around it and cut! Ta da!

Next, thread a needle. I tend to pull my thread through to double and knot it, but the polyester-core thread these days doesn’t break like Grandma’s thread used to do.

Now sew a running stitch (in and out and in and out and….) around the edge about 1/8″ from the edge. When you get back to the beginning, gently pull the thread taut, tucking the raw edges inside and knot.

A classic yoyo will have a little hole on top because the tightly gathered fabric needs a little room to breathe. On mine for the glads, I continue with more stitching to close and add a bead, just for fun.

Other considerations for yoyos…some people may recommend folding over 1/8″ as you do the running stitch. Sure, if you want. That would slow you down but discourage raveling and shredding. (Not needed if you add a bead or perhaps a button!….but good if you’re going to tackle a whole throw.) It depends on the fabric and usage. Tightly woven, good-quality quilt fabrics may not be a problem whereas loosely woven “craft” fabric will need more attention. A throw you plan to wash…be more careful. A wall hanging–not a problem.

OK, that’s it, except did you pick up the “button” suggestion? How cute to add a little one-yoyo flower with a vintage button center and maybe a couple leaves! I suppose you could add yoyos as wheels on a racecar applique, too. I’ve used them to make snowballs, and if you add a tad of polyfill, you can make them into 3D balls. Sew go create!

Meanwhile, I’ll nurse my knee and try to come up with something new for next week!