A Yo Yo Quilt for Grandma

Most of you know the story of Love Elaine, and for those of you who don't, I'll give a quick overview. Elaine is my middle name, as well as all of the women in my family - Mom, both Grandmothers and my sister. And, Love is my paternal Grandmother's maiden name. I really wanted the name to reflect family, as I've been blessed with very strong (my Dad would say "Strong, Stubborn German Women") in my life, and they've been a huge support behind getting Love Elaine off the ground.


So, keeping that in mind, I wanted to do something special for the upcoming Mother's day for my Grandma (my Mom's Mom), as I am a compulsive special gift-giver. And, if it can be handmade by me or someone else, it ranks high on my gifting list!

Each Mother's Day I host a brunch and gather all the women in the family. Men are welcome but they usually steer clear, as its lots of laughing, awes and just plain girlishness going on!  A while back my Grandma mentioned wanting a Yo Yo Quilt, and I come across a Yo Yo Along at Sew Take a Hike and got an idea.

To make a Yo Yo quilt, you need approximately 1,008 Yo Yos for a 63x81 quilt. Which sounds totally overwhelming to just one person, but between me, my Mom, Aunts and Cousins, there are 10 of us girls. Problem solved and idea hatched!

Yo Yo Making Kits for Christmas

For Christmas when I knew I would see everyone, I made up "Kits" with a Yo Yo maker, needle, and thread along with fabric from my scrap bin - so there would be no excuses for non-completetion! Notice the "big" packs in the back? Those are for me, my mom and my Aunts - since we have more sewing "experience" we figured we'd do more than the rest,150, with the less experienced making 50 each by the deadline of April 1 to give my Mom and I a month to put the quilt together. Luckily for me, everyone thought it was a great idea!

Large Yo Yo Maker - Makes making Yo Yos a breeze!

I have about 50 Yo Yos completed, and they went together super fast using the Yo Yo maker. But, one thing I realized is that I bought the "large" Yo Yo maker, and you really needed the extra large/Jumbo to make the size quilt in the Yo Yo Along. So, the quilt will end up being a bit smaller. I can't wait to see everyone's progress and I'll be sure to update here once we get all of them together, and start putting it together.

Have you pulled together family or friends to make a special gift or project? I'd love to hear about it!