New Year’s Resolutions

 (An update of a previous blog.  I am hoping if I post it, it will motivate me to complete my resolution.)

How many of you make New Year’s Resolutions?  Is it to stop a bad habit or lose weight or exercise more?  Getting healthy sure is a good thing to do.

But what if your resolution was to be more creative?  What if you made a promise to yourself to do more art or sewing or learn a new craft? 

 Every year I go through my unfinished quilting projects and decide which one I am going to finish for the upcoming quilt show in March.  It is amazing to me when I find I only have a little more to do on a project for it to be finished. 

Other years I have promised myself to take advantage of the classes my quilt guild offers.  I have learned different ways to quilt on my home sewing machine, new ways to appliqué, new embroidery stitches (after a recent class with our guild I can now do a successful bullion stitch) and can now piece a Y-seam in a quilt block.

This coming year 2022 I want to try more embroidery techniques.  I plan to join a hand embroidery group at a local quilt shop.  There are two quilt tops that I want to add embroidery too.  I am hoping if I work on it around other people will motivate me to actually do it but also help me to get ideas of motifs to embroider and stitches to use. 

Why not make sure you add some creativity to your resolutions list?  You can still break a bad habit, lose weight and exercise more but make sure you also create new art that represents who you are and what your 2022 brought to your life.

Happy 2022 to you.

Cheryl

 

©2017, 2019, 2021 - Cheryl Fillion

Christmas Ornament 2021

Every year I make an ornament to give to family and friends.  I have been doing this for many years.  This year I decided to take a necklace idea I had for my yoyo talk in August and turn it into an ornament.

What made it fun was I got to buy and use holiday buttons. I have always enjoyed buttons. I remember going through this light blue round tin container my mother had for her buttons.  I never had a reason to use any, I just liked the look and shape and color of so many buttons.  Now a days I especially like the novelty ones.  They are bright and imaginative but I don’t often use novelty buttons for my clothes.  I just stick to the faithful round ones. But this gave me a reason to buy some Christmas buttons.  There were candy canes, and packages, gingerbread men and ornaments.  One packet had a sleigh, reindeer, Santa head, and Christmas tree.  All these buttons were shank buttons but buttons with holes would work just as well.

If you remember back in October, I wrote about making a necklace of yoyos and a flamingo button to go along with my talk on yoyos at my local Quilt guild.  Here is a picture of it. 

 

For the necklace I used a 2 1/4 inch yoyo (I started with a 5 inch circle), then the middle pink yoyo was 1 ½ inch yoyo (3 ½ inch circle) and on top was a 1 inch by 1 ½ inch oval (2 ½  by 3 ½  inch oval piece of fabric) and then top with the button.  I decided to use the same sizes for the ornaments, 

The holiday buttons were all kinds of shapes and sizes.  Some were bigger than the small oval yoyo so I decided to go with just the 2 round yoyos.  But then there were some small buttons that did not cover the hole in the yoyo like the bigger buttons did, so for some I used the oval yoyo after all.  The hole in the oval yoyo was small enough that ever the small buttons could cover it.

I had some Christmas fabric cut in 3.5 and 5 inches so I picked the colors from what I had cut.  If you do this ornament, you could mix and match or use all the same colors.  The one thing to consider is will your button show up on the fabric you choose.  You don’t want a primarily green button on a green yoyo; your button won’t show up very well.  You can see the tree in the picture below but it doesn’t stand out.  Take a look at the reindeer pictures above.  Can you tell the reindeer has antlers?  Not easily.  So, choosing the colors of your yoyos is important with what colored button you use.

See how much better the tree looks on the red yoyo.

Once you have your yoyos made, you have to sew they all together. (to be honest I made the yoyos as I made the ornament so I wouldn’t forget what fabric I was using for which button.) ,   Putting the ornament together I started from the top down.  I sewed the button on first yoyo and then sewed the rest of the yoyos together.  I found it easier to get the button on if I was just manipulating one yoyo (and then the threads were hidden).

When I attached yoyo to yoyo, I tried to hide my stitches under the top yoyo just like you would if you were appliqueing a picture for a quilt.  This is especially important when you are sewing on the bottom yoyo.  If your stitches just catch the first layer of fabric of the bottom yoyo, you won’t see any stitches on the back of the ornament. 

Once all the yoyos and button are sewn together just add a thread through the top edge of the biggest yoyo for a hanger.  I try to match the color of that big yoyo.  And I used perle cotton for the hanger as it is a bit thicker than regular sewing thread and is not likely to break.

And now you have a new ornament.  Happy Decorating.

 

©2021 Cheryl Fillion 

Celebrate Christmas All Month Long

 

I really love Christmas.  I tend to go all out.  I start playing my Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  I get out the books I have on Christmas customs and traditions and reread why we do the things we do.  I try to make my yearly ornaments to give out in early December.  I try to make the holiday last as long as I can.  And one friend described my decorated house as sensory overload.

While looking for a celebration to write about this month besides Christmas, I found there are all kinds of days in December set aside to get you ready for the big holiday itself.

December 6^th is St. Nicholas Day.  In some parts of Europe and even here in the States, this is the day when St Nicholas (Santa Claus) comes for an early visit.  There actually was a St. Nicholas who was an Archbishop in Turkey back in the 5^th century.  He became the patron saint of boys and December 6^th is his birthday and on this day he is known for bringing little gifts for the good children, and sticks for the bad. 

 If you are Christmas Card sender, December 9^th is Christmas Card Day.  If you haven’t gotten your cards yet, this might be a good day.  Or maybe this is the day to make cards.  Wouldn’t Grandma prefer a hand made card from the little ones than a store bought one?

Poinsettias, considered the flower of Christmas, have their own day on December 12^th.  So make sure you get out to your favorite garden store to pick out your festive plant.  December 14^th is Roast Chestnuts Day.  If you are not much of a chestnut person, how about picking up those other nuts you might eat.  A favorite part of Christmas growing up was going to the local grocers to get our bag of mixed nuts (only available this time of year).  They would have bins of unshelled nuts.  My favorite then and now were the walnuts.

And what is Christmas without the cookies.  Well, December 18^th is set aside just to get those holiday sweets completed for Santa’s visit with Bake Cookies Day.  And so you don’t forget that tree, Look for an Evergreen Day is December 19^th.  And while you are getting ready, why not take a break on December 20^th and celebrate Go Caroling Day.

If by now in the month you are bogged down with shopping and decorating and feeling a bit overwhelmed, there is a day for you to go ahead and just feel a little like Scrooge.  December 21^st is Humbug Day.  Just don’t let it last more than a day.

And finally on December 24^th, hopefully all the preparations are done and you can sit back and enjoy a little eggnog for it is not just Christmas Eve but also Nation Egg Nog Day.

If you are one who likes to have Christmas last as long as you can, go ahead and celebrate it all month long.  And Merry Christmas to you.

 

©2018, 2021 Cheryl Fillion

 

Creativity in your Holiday Shopping

 I am sure many of you have started your holiday shopping or are at least are planning your lists.   Before you start your shopping adventure, don’t forget to add a little creativity to your shopping list.

What do I mean by Creativity?  I mean make sure you buy someone you love some art supplies, craft supplies, or a craft kit or two.  You never know what life long love you will start in a young child or help someone older continue to enjoy a lifelong love. 

There are all kinds of activities out there from model airplanes and cars to assemble to adult coloring books.  The other day I saw a kit to paint a set of nesting dolls (I almost bought it for myself).  There are looms of every kind and step by step books to do all kinds of needlework.  And of course you could provide the supplies for one of the crafts I have done a tutorial on and show them this blog.

And also consider a gift of music or dance.  Either provide some future performer with lessons or an instrument or take them to a holiday concert or ballet.  I bet there is a Nutcracker Ballet going on somewhere near your hometown this time of year. Going to a performance is a memory both of you can share.  I still remember going to a simple children’s Christmas concert at a local junior high with my mother when I was visiting her one holiday. 

So add a little creativity to your holiday shopping by giving a gift of creativity in whatever form your heart desires. You can never give too much. Happy Shopping!!

 

©2021 - Cheryl Fillion

Be Grateful For

 November is when here in the States we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It is a day developed to be thankful for the harvest and the good growing season.  It has become a day of wonderful food, family and friends, parades and football.  November also has become a month where people put on their social media the items in their life they are grateful for.

I have mentioned before in this blog that I teach at a local college.  For many years I gave an assignment called the Gratitude Inventory (I still use it occasionally when someone needs some extra credit).  The assignment was to “Make a list of 20 things for which you are grateful.  Think about your family, friends, and talents as topics of gratitude.  Look at your life.  Respond to something in the news or the course content that you are grateful happened or didn’t happen to you.  Gratitude does not have to be something dramatic and life changing.  You might just be grateful that it is Friday.” 

It was a great assignment and often the students would comment that they would continue   doing Gratitude Inventories because it reminded them of the good they had in their lives.  What would you put on the list if you had this assignment?

I decided today to give me this assignment.  So here is my Gratitude Inventory:

 

1- My health

2- My brothers

3- My parents

4- My nephew

5- A heater when it is cold

6- Air Conditioning when it is hot

7- My friends

8- My fish

9- My fingers

10- My eyesight

11- My hearing

12- My tastebuds

13- My job

14- My home

15- My embroidery ability

16- My needle felting

17- My spool knitting

18- My etsy shop Heartfully Cheryl

19- My blog Heartfully Cheryl

20- That it is Friday.

 

 

© 2018, 2021 Cheryl Fillion

 

Advice for New Needle Felters

I teach needle felting.  I have learned through the years to give the same advice to beginners. 

Needle felting can be a very mesmerizing activity.  You push the needle into the wool roving and pull it out.  In and out, in and out.  But if you don’t watch what you are doing, you might go in and out of your finger.  I tell my students to do as I say not as I do.  I have been needle felting for a long time so I have trained myself to always know where the needle is and my fingers are even when I am not watching what I am felting. If you watch what you are doing, you can easily move the needle before it strikes your finger. (I also have learned to bring Band-Aids to my classes, just in case.)

Another tip to avoid stabbing yourself is to go slow.  You don’t need to felt at supersonic speed to get results.   You will be felting if you felt slowly.  Try the thousand counting technique.  One one thousand, stab and lift, then two one thousand, stab and lift, three one thousand, etc. Yes it will take longer to felt but you will get it done without injuring yourself.  When you get more experience, you can speed up the felting. 

I also teach beginners with a simple design.  I usually do something like a tomato or a pumpkin.  It allows the students to practice the felting with a simple shape and one where your fingers don’t have to be close.  And then with the leaves and stem you learn on an item smaller.  Usually by the time they have completed the round shape, they have developed the felting technique and have learned to watch where that needle is in relation to their fingers. 

Having the leaves and stem with both also teaches students how to attach one item to another which is often what is done when felting something.  You might be adding leaves to a tomato, or centers to flowers, or facial features to a doll, or adding another color to a bead for jewelry.   It would be fun to start off with an intricate jewelry design but remember you are new felters and you should learn the basic technique before you try anything complicated.

If you just remember to watch what you are doing and go slow, you will learn needlefelting in no time. And actually that is good for any new skill one might learn.  Happy felting.

© 2021 Cheryl Fillion

The Flamingo Yoyo Necklace

I’ve written in this blog about how I like to make and use fabric yoyos.  I recently did a program for my local quilt guild on making and using yoyos.   I had examples of many ways to use yoyos but I did not have a necklace made of yoyos.  I had seen in books and online of different jewelry with yoyos.  Some pins had just one yoyo.  Some necklaces had layered yoyos.  Other ideas used buttons and rhinestones.

 I have a bag of flamingo buttons that jumped into my basket at a fabric store one day.  You know those items you really don’t need and have no idea how you will use them but you just have to have them. (a lot of times it is candy at the grocery store that jumps into my shopping basket.).   So I took some of the ideas I had seen and created a necklace to show at my program.

I really wanted to use the flamingo button as the focal point of my necklace.  So the first yoyo behind the button I thought needed to be a very light or very dark color so the button would be very visible.  I decided a white yoyo would look nice.  And to be a little different and because the button was slender in shape I used an oval yoyo. Behind that I decided I needed a bright color and since the flamingo is pink I chose pink and then finally another white yoyo.

The yoyos graduated in size from the back to the front so that you could easily see the yoyo colors.  And they ended up being about a ½ of an inch bigger than yoyo in front of it.  Now if you have read my blogs on yoyos, to determine the size of the fabric to cut you have to know what size the finished yoyo will be.  You then have to cut a circle or oval twice the size of the finished plus ½ inch for seam allowance.

Once the yoyos were made, I sewed the button to the top, in this case,  the oval yoyo (but you could use a round yoyo as the top one).  I thought it would be easier to sew it through just one yoyo.  Once that was secure, I then sewed the top yoyo to the middle one.  I did it almost like an applique stitch so I only went through the gathered area of the pink yoyo.  And then sewed that pink yoyo (with the oval and button attached) to the bottom yoyo in the same way (just sewing through the gathered area).  I then took some rayon cording I had, cut the length I wanted for the ‘chain’ to go around my neck and sewed it to the back of the last yoyo   . 

It turned out really nice.   It is a great idea for anyone who has some pieces of broken jewelry they want to still wear, or a crystal or polished rock.  It would also work as a wonderful necklace for a little girl if you find a button that might match a pattern on a favorite dress or t-shirt.  Or for those times when a bag of flamingo buttons jumps into your shopping basket at a fabric store.

©2021  Cheryl Fillion

Time Together

At our quilt show, we have what we call the Country Store.  Our members donate books, patterns, fabric, anything sewing or craft related for the guild to sell. It is a big money maker for our group and anything left over is donated to various charities like Goodwill.  Since we have not had a quilt show in 2 years due to the pandemic, we decided to just have the Country Store sale to help with our budget.

 We sold a lot (and I will admit the guild now has some of my money) but the best part for me was just getting to visit.  You know at the Quilt Guild meetings everyone is busy with the jobs they have and there isn’t much time to just visit with each other.  But this weekend we could.  I learned about grandkids, and vacations, health status and what everyone was working on.  Looking at the books and fabric with some members, I learned what they liked and didn’t like.  

Some of us who have been in the guild for a while entertained newer members with stories about past members (some who have gone to the great quilting guild in the sky) and programs that the guild had that were so wonderful and some that definitely were not.   I guarantee you there was lots of laughter during the weekend. 

I wasn’t assigned any particular job.  I am one of those volunteers who will just show up and say “Put me to work”.  I could have gone home at any time but I stayed.  For me it was just as important to be with the people there as to do the work needed.  And after these past months of very little contact with others, it was definitely what my soul needed.

This is what we need to make more room for: just time together with others.  Especially if you are like me and live alone.  I made some new friends with the members I didn’t know very well and definitely strengthen the friendships I already had.

So if you belong to a group make sure you plan events that will just allow you to visit.  Do a luncheon or a pot luck or have a work day.  I love getting together with the guild members for an afternoon of sewing on our own projects.   Not only is it important to strengthen the fellowship of the group, but you learn what skills people have or are interested in learning.  This is great for program ideas and for possibly a committee or leadership role in the group. And I don’t know a group who doesn’t need more ideas and leaders.

©2021  Cheryl Fillion

Needle Felted Pumpkin

 I am beginning to see pumpkins at the grocery and am also working on some needle felted pumpkins so I thought I would repost this earlier blog.    Needle felted pumpkins  are easy, fun and make great hostess gifts if you are invited somewhere for Thanksgiving.

 When I am doing a 3 dimensional item, I will use a ‘core’ batting to form the shape of the item and then add the colored roving or batting on the outside.  Core batting can be a cleaned undyed wool or even a polyester batting (just like you would use to stuff a pillow) .  You don’t want to us your colorful batting or roving on the inside of the figure where it can’t be seen. 

Once you have the core batting, start felting it into the shape you want.  If you use a polyester batting you may have to use more than the wool batting and may have to felt longer to get the shape you want.  That’s OK because in most cases the polyester batting is cheaper.

 When you have the size and shape you want for your pumpkin, start felting in the colored batting.  The batting I am using in the picture is called a sculptured batting so it has bumps and nobs of wool that wasn’t combed smooth.  I like the look of it for the pumpkin.  Not all pumpkins are smooth in its shell.  Keep adding the colored roving or batting until your core sculpture is covered.

 

Once you have your shaped covered with the colored batting, pick one side and over felt it.  That means keep needle felting the area until it is flat so you have a base to set it on. You don’t want your pumpkin rolling around.

One the opposite side of that base, needle felt a small indentation.  This will be where your stem will go.

 Now take some green batting; you don’t need much and started felting a stem . I usually try to make it a tiny cigar shape.  Use whatever colored green you would like as your stem.  I like the look of a dark green although an olive green would look just as nice. 

Once you have the size and shape of your stem, needle felt it into the pumpkin.  Place the stem in the indentation and felt through the stem at the base and into the pumpkin.  Make sure you put your needle all the way through to the pumpkin or the stem won’t attach.

 Now most pumpkins have indentations along the outside.  To create those, start needling in a line from the stem to the base and keep needling  that same line until you see the indentation form.  Do the same thing all around the pumpkin. I usually felt so there are eight indentations.     But you do what you would like (including no indentations.)

 Happy Pumpkin Season, everyone.

©2017, 2021  Cheryl Fillion

Beginnings

 I post this blog every September because it was the first blog I wrote and it is a nice reminder that if you want to do something, you need to just start. Happy 5^th Anniversary, Heartfully Cheryl blog.   

 I have come across two philosophers in my life who have the best advice ever for people exploring their creativity.  The first was a German poet and scientist by the name of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe who wrote "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." (That quote gives me goosebumps.)

 The second philosopher was my nephew, Alex, at the age of five who, when I asked him how we were to make a housecleaning robot he wanted to give his father for Christmas, very blunted told me that "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl." 

 Both wise men had a point.  If there is something you want to do, you will never know whether you can do it until you begin it.  Is there some creative technique you want to try but are afraid to?  Just dive in.

 Now it is okay to start at the shallow end (sorry, it is hot outside and water metaphors seem cooling to me somehow right now.).  Dip your toes in.  Paint a page of just one color. One color can express any emotion. Write one line to start a poem.  One line can say a lot (Alex had a lot to say with his one line and it has stuck with me for 28 years.)  Sing one note.  A continuous note can be very relaxing to the diaphragm.

Just begin it. Don't jump from the high dive. Don't plan a gallery show yet.  Don't figure out your office at the Library of Congress for when you are considered the next Poet Laureate.  And the Grammy nominations are already made for this year.  So relax.  All you are doing is beginning.

 And beginnings are wonderful.  There is mystery in them - you aren't quite sure what will happen next.   And there is an adventure in them - traveling to a new area of your heart.   And the excitement of them - you actually did whatever it is you were wanting to begin.

 You have had beginnings all of your life.  You survived all of those  - school, college, work, marriage, family.  You can survive this one.  But you have to just begin. As Alex said, "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl."  Who can argue with that?

 © 2016, 2021– Cheryl Fillion

It’s School Time

This time of year always excites me because it is the start of the school year. As a kid it was always a little sad because it was the end of summer vacation.  But still there were new clothes, or a new backpack (unless last years was still usable and still a favorite.  As a child it was a new pencil case that always excited me.).  There were always new crayons, notebooks, or pencils.  You did get to see your old school friends you never saw during the summer and were able to make new friends.  There was a new teacher, new classroom, just a lot of new.

 As a professor, I am still excited about the new year.  I get to see my campus friends who I didn’t see over the summer and meet new colleagues.  There is usually a new class room or class rooms; often times there is a new textbook (that is usually not a fun new if it comes right before the semester starts) and also lots of new students.

 I love walking down the store aisles where all the school supplies are.  I have this urge for new pens and pencils, notebooks, even crayons.  I don’t need them for what I teach but it is just fun to have crisp new items.  Usually I just keep walking down the aisle without buying anything. But a few years ago, I changed that.

 There is always someone who needs the supplies but can’t afford them.  A local charity collects school supplies to give to those families in need and this is where my fun comes in.  I find out what type of supplies is needed and I buy some to donate.  I usually set a limit on how much I spend or I could go crazy.  It satisfies my urge to want new school supplies and I usually smile thinking about the kids who will get to use them.  It is a nice way to give back.

 But there are also some school supplies that are great for crafts.  The notebooks are wonderful to write down ideas of projects you might want to do or using them as journals to keep track of your creative process.  The pencils cases or boxes are great to hold a rotary cutter or scissors.  I use one to hold all my punch needle supplies (the needle, extra needle tips and needle threaders).  Crayons, which are probably my favorite school supply, are wonderful for drawing a picture, planning a color scheme for a quilt or piece or embroidery, or just doodling when you are stuck for an idea.

 So, if you are like me and just get sentimental for new school supplies, buy them.  You might not use them or you might find a little kid who would love a box of those 64 crayons. Who knows, that kid might just be you.

©2021 Cheryl Fillion

 

 

Laughter

 Someone once said “Laughter is the best medicine.” And they were right.  Laughter might not cure anything but it makes you feel better.  And this is needed during these recent days.

How can laughter make you feel better?  Well to start with when you are laughing you are smiling. And that is always a good thing.

Studies show that laughter lowers blood pressure and releases a chemical which reduces stress hormones which can then in turn boost your immune system.

The actually act of laughing can reduce the tension your muscles hold when you are stresed.  When I was in graduate school, I strained my back.  It hurt to move and aspirin wasn’t helping.  I went to the campus theater to see Shakespeare A Midsummers Night’s Dream, one of his funnier plays, when I left my back felt much better.  I had laughed so long and so hard that it actually released the tension in my back.

Having a good laugh also helps with depressed feelings.  If you can look at a situation from a different angle, it helps relieve depression.  Things can’t be so bad if you can find some humor in it. Studies show if you use humor you feel less lonely and more positive about yourself.

Now laughter doesn’t have to come from watching a Shakespeare comedy, it can come from being with funny people or watching the antics of a family pet.  If you live alone, check out the videos on Facebook, there are always clips of silly kids and animals.

Make sure you watch a comedy show every day, maybe numerous times a day (Blooper clips on Facebook or Youtube are the best).  Read a funny book. Listen to a comedian on TV or your Iphone.

Think of something you did as a child.  Go outside and dance in the rain or run through a sprinkler.  Finger paint.  Draw with crayons.  Make something silly.  How about a paper hat?  A necklace of daisies or dandelions?  Play in the mud.

Sit on the front porch and watch the animals.  Squirrels are hilarious sometimes. 

Do whatever you can to bring a smile to your face and laughter to your voice.   This will make you happier and which will improve your health and extend your life.  And when you are happy, think of how creative you can be.

©2021 Cheryl Fillion

It’s Football Season!!

 I like this time of year, not only to the temperatures start cooling and school starts but it’s football season.  Anyone who is a fan has been counting down the days since the

Superbowl game.  For me it means getting out my favorite team’s glass and cup to use on game day.  (I am a Green bay Packer fan. Green Bay, Wisconsin is my family’s hometown.)

A whil3 back I bought a set of cookie cutters which included a helmet and football shape.  Now I didn’t buy these cutters for cookies; I bought them for needle felting (See my blog post “Needle Felting in a Cookie Cutter”).  But I began to wonder what other things the cutters could be used for.  

So here are ten ways to use the football and helmet cookie cutters (but any shape and any occasion will work here).

1- Use the shape to needlefelt an ornament or press the cookie cutter into clay for an ornament.

2- Trace the shape onto a blank card and decorate it for an invitation to your football watching party.

3- Trace the shape onto a blank card but leave the shape plain.  Tell your guests they have to bring the card colored or decorated to the party and a prize will be given to the best card.

4- String yarn or a chain through the cookie cutter and wear it as a necklace.

5- Having coloring sheets with the shapes on it for the children or adults to color if the game gets boring or your team is losing.

6- Use the cutter as a template for appliqué, embroidery or coloring on fabric.  (See blog post “Cookie Cutters are just for Cookies” and “Colored Pencils on Fabric”) 

7- Use the cutters to create different shaped deli meats or cheese for your food table

8-Tic Tac Toe game – Create a 9 patch ( a 3 x 3 square grid) with the squares big enough for the cookie cutter shape.  Pick 2 shapes and make five of each.  You can use paper, card stock, felt, or fabric.  You can also use one shape like the helmet and make 5 from 2 different colors.  Use the shapes as you would Xs and Os in a tic tac toe game but instead of marking a paper, you place the shapes on the squares. 

9- Use them as napkin holders.  If you have just a couple of sports related cookie cutters, add stars, circles, hearts, fall leaves, whatever might be appropriate or fun.  (If the weather is still warm or even if it isn’t, try a snowman). 

10- Oh, yeah, and make cookies with the cutters.

Remember what I said in an earlier blog: cookie cutters aren’t just for cookies.  So go have some fun with football or any cookie cutters.

©2021  Cheryl Fillion

Try something new

Have you ever been given the opportunity to take a class or watch a demo or hear a speech and you thought, no I don’t do that craft or I’m not interested in that subject. Well, go anyway. 

 You never know when going to a talk of something you have no interest in will actually spark an interest.  I belong to a number of crafters groups.  I often see someone prepare a talk or a demo and very few people in the group show up.  “Oh I don’t do that type of craft,” I hear them say.  So?  How do you know if you will like it or not if you don’t see it?

 Maybe you won’t like it but maybe you will.  I went to a meeting once with no interest what so ever in punchneedle embroidery.  I heard how it was done and saw some finished projects and I turned to my friend and said “I want to learn that”.  And now I do punchneedle all the time.  My little 3 heart logo in the corner of the blog is done in punchneedle.   

 Even if you have no interest in something, what you learn might apply to something else you do creatively or intellectually.  I learned to make rings at a meeting of our local Fiber Artist group.  I really have no interest in making jewelry but the technique I learned for the ring I can use to make embellishments for some of my needle felted bowls.

 If the class or demo or talk is being done by someone you know, wouldn’t it be nice for them to see a friendly face in the group?  It takes a lot of time and energy to put together a demonstration for a group (especially a group where you are a member) and it is a little disheartening to just see just four or five people in the audience.

 So go try something new.  You might learn about something you didn’t know you wanted to do.  Or learn about something you might not do but will now appreciate more.  Think of how smart you will look when you can discuss the intricacies of basket weaving at a dinner party. Or just go and be supportive whether the speaker is a friend or stranger. Just go anyway.

 © 2017, 2021 – Cheryl Fillion

 

Gathering Seeds

Before you can start a garden, you have to gather seeds.  Those tiny little things that when planted in moist dirt will germinate and grow into a rainbow of flowers.  Before you can start your creativity project, you have to gather seeds.

 

In creativity, a seed is an idea of what you want to do.  No matter what it is -paint a picture, sing a song, write a poem, decorate a table - you have to start with an idea.  Sometimes, if you are lucky, you are overwhelmed with ideas.  I will have to take fabric with me to eternity to complete all the quilt ideas I have.  That is the only way I will have enough time.  But there will be those of you who won't have a clue as to what you want to grow.  You need the seed.

 

Now with plant seeds, you can gather them from plants that after blooming produced seeds for the next season.  Or you can buy seeds nicely packaged in colorful envelopes in a store.  To gather seeds for creativity, you have to search.  You have to go out and gather the seeds.

 

It's not hard but it does take a little time. I recommend at least an hour a week.  Try to find an hour -preferably by yourself - and go on a gathering. You don't have to go anywhere special, these seeds can be gathered anywhere:  a museum, a concert, a park, a dollar store.  

 

What you are looking for are things that make your heart sing. Let's say you see a plastic flower arrangement that looks cute far away but up close looks tacky.  Take the idea - the seed - and arrange your own.  Use live flowers, use flowers from arrangements you have at home that you are tired of, use the idea and put it on canvas or as an appliqué for a quilt.   The image of that cute but tacky arrangement is the seed.

 

Go some place that makes you feel good. Go some place you have never been.  Try somewhere with a slightly different cultural fragrance, maybe a restaurant or an import store.  If you can't get out of the house, read magazines you don't normally subscribe.  I read lots of environmental, psychological, and quilt magazines.  So for me, a Better Homes and Gardens or Martha Stewart Living is a whole new world.  For you, it may be the National Geographic, Psychology Today, or Newsweek type.  Do anything you can to gather those seeds. 

 

Now this doesn't mean you have to act on them right now. That you have to come home immediately and start a new project. You may want to but it is not necessary. You are just gathering seeds.  They may need to stay buried in the moist dirt of your mind a while before they can germinate. You may find that you need to gather several seeds and are able then to put them all together to create a whole new flower.

 

You can't have a garden without seeds.  You can't have creativity without ideas.  So to allow your creativity to germinate and grow, go out and gather seeds.   And you might along the way want to pick up a couple of packet of seeds for a real garden.  Your own flower garden could help to inspire your creativity as well.

 

© 2017, 2021 – Cheryl Fillion

A Bit of Yoyo History – More Yoyo Uses

Along with the table matts and ornaments I showed you last week, I like to make flowers out of the yoyos.  Just the shape and texture of a finished flower gives it the look of a flower.

Sometimes for the center of the yoyo I will put a button but also a smaller yoyo.  The big yoyo is 2 inches in diameter, the center yoyo is ¾ inch. 

The yoyo flowers in the first picture above are actually pins.  Just sew (or glue) a small safety pin or a jewelry pin you can buy at a craft shop to the back.

Besides pins, you can use yoyo to embellish other items of clothing.  I like wearing pins, so the only yoyos I have on clothes is on a sweatshirt jacket I made many years ago. 

Most of the time when I make yoyos I do it the old fashion way but cutting a circle, stitching the edges and then gathering the stitches, (Next week’s blog will be a tutorial on how to make a yoyo), but there are yoyo maker out there that help people make yoyos.  There are various size round yoyo makers and some that are shapes.  I have two heart yoyo makers (when you have a blog and a business entitled Heartfully Cheryl you have to have heart shaped yoyos.).

I use the heart shaped one in various ways which I will show you but a favorite has been embellishing my hat.  Living in Texas you have to have a hat at times but you don’t want just a plan one.  I have two sizes to the heart yoyo makers and I used both of them here.

Now since we usually talk about yoyos in relation to quilts, how can yoyos be used in quilts.  One way I used them is to make designs.  The heart and the peace sign are my two favorite designs.  I arrange them on fabric, take a little glue stick to temporary keep them in place and then applique them down.  The wall hanging pictured use my tiny ¾ inch yoyos.

Here is how I used the heart yoyos in a wall hanging.  This is called When Peace Shines, Love Blooms.

And yoyos are a great way to give texture and interest to a solid area.  Santa would look great with just a piece of fabric for his beard, but the yoyos give it a little texture.it is hard to see in this picture but there are read and green yoyos along the rim of his cap as well as a yoyo for the cap tassel.  

And who says a wall hanging has to remain square or rectangle.  Here is a heart shaped wall hanging with yoyos hanging from the edge.  There are 3 little round yoyos with a heart yoyo at the end.

So, you see you don’t have to just make a yoyo quilt to have fun with yoyos.  You can use them for all kinds of things and in all kinds of ways.  Next week will be a tutorial on how to make a yoyo (the old fashion way).  I hope this gets you yoyoing.

© 2021 Cheryl Fillion 

 

 

 

 

A Bit of Yoyo History - Tutorial

 

Fabric Yoyos are simple to make.  You can go to your local fabric or craft store and find a tool that will help you make all kinds of size or shape yoyos.  Or you can make them the old fashion way with just a circle of fabric.  If you are sewing the yoyos together for a quilt or table mat, you might want to make all the yoyos the same finished size.

To determine the size of circle to start out with you need to know the finished size you want then cut a circle 2 times plus 1/2” (for seam allowance) of that finished size.  For example, if you want a yoyo 1 1/2” in diameter, cut a piece of fabric 3 ½” in diameter.    

  

Now fold over the edge (about a ¼” ) of the circle to the wrong side of the fabric and start a running stitch like a basting stitch around the circle. I hide the knot of my thread under the fold of the edge.  (I usually use the same colored thread as the fabric but I am using a contrasting thread here so you can see the stitches.) You can iron the edge down before you start sewing or just fold it over before you take the next stitch.

I double my thread to make it stronger to pull the gathers.  But if a single thread works for you, go for it. 

One tip I learned is to make the stitches not tiny like quilting stitches but bigger. Mine are usually about ¼”. When the yoyo is finished, there will be a hole where the stitches are gathered. The bigger the stitches, the tinier the hole.   

You can gather the stitches as you are sewing or wait until you get to where you started stitching.   

 

Then gather up the circle and knot it. I try to get the knot as close to the gathers as I can, then pull the thread through the gathers before I cut it off.  You don’t have the tail of the knot showing in the opening that way.  

You will probably need to flatten the finished yo-yo out after you have cut the thread. You might have to adjust where the edge fold goes to get the hole in the middle.

And that is your yoyo. Now just make however many more you need for your project.

To sew the individual yoyos together , Arrange them in the way you want them.   You can have them so all the gather holes show or have them so that the flat side shows.  Usually I want to see the gathered holes.  I think it is more interesting and more textured.

But occasionally when I am doing an ornament where it might swing around on the hanger, I will alternate the yoyos: one gathered next to one that shows the flat side.  It makes it more symmetrical.

Now to sew to sew the yoyos together: Pick up two yoyos.  If you have all the yoyos facing with the gathered side up, you want to place the flat sides together.  If the yoyos have the flat side up, you want to put two gathered sides together.   If you are alternating a gathered side with a flat side, the yoyos you place together should be a gathered against a flat side.

Now slip your needle through the hole and under the gathers coming out at the edge of the yoyo.

Pull the needle through so the knot is hidden in the gathers.  Pulling the needle through the second yoyo, take a little stitch securing them together (Note: I usually use the same colored thread as my fabric. I am using contrasting thread here so you can see the stitch.)

Take a couple more little stitches to secure the yoyos together.  Make a knot slip the needle through the gathers of the yoyo (like you did when you created the yoyo) and lcip your thread.  That is all there is to it.  Now just repeat the stitches for all the other yoyos until you are finished.

Here is my completed ornament.

©2016, 2021  Cheryl Fillion

 

A Bit of Yoyo History – Yoyo Uses

If you are not one who will make a yoyo quilt, how could you use yoyos?  There are so many ways. 

 You can make a place mat or table matt with the yoyos.  The matts can be square or rectangle

But they can also be whatever shape you can imagine – a diamond shape or even a pumpkin

I use yoyos for a lot of Christmas ornaments.   You can make one big yoyo out of holiday fabric and if you make it big enough, you can use a big print fabric.  The yoyo below is finished at about 3 inches in diameter.

You can sew four yoyos together, alternating the yoyos so there are two gathered sides showing and two smooth sides.  I usually string a thread through one yoyo so it appears like a diamond shape.  These yoyos finished at an 1 1/2 inches.  

 

 Or sew them together in a design like a tree or candy cane.  (These yoyos are about ¾ inch in diameter).  Or use different sizes for a snow man (the biggest yoyo here is 2 7/4 inch in diameter.)

                 

You could also stack the yoyos.  With this little tree, I put a little stuffing in each yoyo so it puffed up a little.  The yoyos increase in size as the tree gets bigger.  The top yoyo finishes at 1 inch, the bottom at 3 inches. 

I will show you more possible uses next week. 

© 2021 Cheryl Fillion