Yo-Yo's and Sharpie Envy

Years ago I had a lightweight Martha Stewart comforter from K-mart that was one color on one side, (light blue, I think), and multi-colored squares, (pastel pink, green, blue, yellow and off-white), on the other side. After washing it a few zillion times, the batting in the middle got lumpy. I stupidly thought I could take it apart so I'd have a top piece and a bottom piece, and I could put new batting in the middle. So I got out my seam ripper and started removing threads, only to find each square was individually sewn to the bottom piece. This thing did not look like a quilt. I'm telling you it was a comforter.

"A comforter is a type of bedding — a soft flat bag used on a bed as a type of bed cover. It is filled with either an artificial material (such as polyester or a natural material. . . it is basically a thick, fluffy blanket that people put on their bed to achieve a much higher level of comfort and warmth," so says Wikipedia. And a quilt, they say, is "a type of a bed covering composed of a quilt top, a layer of batting, and a layer of fabric for backing, generally combined using the technique of quilting. "

I guess what I had was a comforter that was quilted. Or a quilt with a million times more batting.

Anyway, I took the entire thing apart and was left with a bunch of squares of various colors. My plan was to make them into yo-yo's and then do something with them. Here's a great tutorial on making yo-yo's. (And I totally want that blue Sharpie. All my ultrafine points are boring black. I do have a set of colored ones with fine points though.)

Of course, I haven't done anything with the squares yet. After seeing that tutorial, I was inspired to go get my squares and start turning them into yo yo's. But I'd rather go back to the Sharpie site and see what's new. (Suddenly, the "adventures of a wanna-be crafter" line fits, doesn't it?) Did you know you can order personalized Sharpies with your name on them? If I go back to teaching preschool, I am so doing that.

How I got to thinking about yo-yo's today: googling "donkey pattern" took me to A Piece of My Soul and a donkey quilt (cute, huh?), which got me checking out the other quite there like this Double Wedding Ring quilt, this Log Cabin quilt, and the yo-yo bedspread, which reminded me of my squares and how I haven't done a thing with them.