Decorating with quilts presents many possibilities.  The quilts may be old or new, pieces salvaged and framed, quilts repaired and reconstructed and many other quilted items that add interest and color to the room’s decor.
An interesting article at STLtoday.com’s lifestyle section, Family Heirlooms Make This House a Home, by Susan Fadem with photos by Laurie Skrivan, describes decorating with old quilts. 
 There’s a framed yo-yo quilt, made from flour sacks, by a great-grandmother.  This quilt originally was cut into three pieces so that each child could have a piece.  Then it was cut into thirds again before being framed.
Another inherited quilt is …read more

Chloe Findlay-Harder, over at Tangled Thread, is creating with yo-yo’s again, one of those favorite little decorative pieces that quilters and fabric artists enjoy.  She needs your help in determining whether her yo-yo Christmas wreath is too busy.
She has a poll where you can vote and help her decide what to do?
What fun…to help someone else with their design challenges!

Yo-yo ornaments are making the rounds again this year as quilters and fabric artists  use them in many ways to create interesting decorative objects.  I used to attach loops and hang them from the tree.  Sometimes I stitched them together to make a chain.
Chloe, at Tangled Thread, has created a unique Christmas tree yo-yo, actually five threaded together with a gold loop at the top.  Check this out and learn what you can do, too.

Yo-yo’s, those shirred little circles, have become favorites in quilts, fabric art, and home decorating.  Chloe, at Tangled Thread, has addressed this topic again, Fall Decorating With Yo-Yo’s.
She’s got some great ideas for fall decorating and links to some previous posts with holiday yo-yo themes.  It’s also not too early to start creating your Christmas gifts and decorations.

Chloe, at Tangled Thread, has found a unique yo-yo maker.  She says that Clover is creating various shaped templates for making yo-yo’s and has them available for quilters.  These include flowers and hearts.
Yo-yo’s are those fascinating shirred circles, which quilters now are creating in a variety of shapes.    You can use yo-yo’s for quilts, tablecloths, clothing, Christmas chains, toys, hangings, and to decorate fabric art.

Heart-shaped yo-yo’s?  What a wonderful idea! They’re mentioned and pictured both on Cyndi’s Layers Upon Layers and Chloe’s Tangled Thread.  (More yo-yo’s at Tangled Thread.)
Yo-yo’s always seem so popular whenever I mention them or I find them on other quilting and crafting sites.  These little shirred circles can be used for so many projects and have been around for ages. 
Noreen Crone-Findlay,  at Hankering for Yarn, always has some yo-yo ideas to share with us, too.  Here she shows us how to make a yo-yo circle.
 I wonder how someone first discovered they could make yo-yo’s.  Was it by accident or done deliberately?

You’ll find a delightful idea for using yo-yo’s as flowers in the latest issue of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine.  Also, online, there is a free pattern for this Yo-Yo Tree.
If you have, or can obtain, the March issue of this magazine, you’ll find more information on Gathered Yo-Yo Flowers in the “Quiltmakers’ Workshop” portion.
Have fun making these lovely yo-yo flowers.  Perhaps this will bring back memories of quilting with your grandmother, as it does with some people.

Old-time patchwork can be turned into Christmas gifts and decorations.  Yo-yo’s, which once were very popular with quilters, seem to evoke a great deal of interest when I write about them.  Some quilters contact me concerning their memories making these as children and with their children.  Other quilters want to know how to make yo-yo’s.
These decorative shirred circles can be used by themselves…with loop of yarn or trim attached…as decorations for your tree.  They can be sewn together in a chain.  Or they can be stitched to other items…such as pillows, tote bags, vests (see Noreen’s ideas), scarves, hats, headbands for …read more

The discussion about yo-yo quilts, clothing, and ornaments seems a popular one and is drawing responses and inquiries. 
Eleanore, one of my readers, wondered if anyone knew where she could get a pattern for a yo-yo animal ornament.  She received one of these ornaments and would like to make something similar.  If anyone has the source of a pattern
There is a pattern for a yo-yo wreath online at eHow.com  that fabric artists might find of interest.