Two Little Quilts -- Painted on Canvas!

A couple of years ago, I made two little quilts as gifts when my friend Christy adopted two little boys. I blogged about the quilts (see this post), and posted pictures of the little quilts.

Photo from my blog post a couple years ago

Some time later, my friend Caryl Lynne saw one of the pictures. She asked me if I would mind her using my quilts-on-the-clothesline picture as inspiration for one of her paintings. Of course, I had no problem with it, and I looked forward to seeing Caryl Lynne's rendition of the quilts on canvas.

Just this week, Caryl Lynne listed the painting Quilts in her Etsy shop. Didn't she do a great job?! I love paintings of quilts, and Caryl Lynne's realistic style is so beautiful.

Photo used by permission of Caryl Lynne's Crafts

Caryl Lynne does beautiful work - In addition to selling paintings, she also makes and sells recycled plastic yarn bags. She even does custom pieces by request, so be sure to visit Caryl Lynne's Crafts on Facebook & her Etsy shop CarylLynnesCrafts on Etsy.

When she sells her beautifully crafted artwork, Caryl Lynne donates a portion of her Etsy sales to support Homeward Bound Pet Rescue, a non-profit group helping provide rescues with fur-ever homes! And, according to her Etsy shop, "Custom Orders are always welcome for both crocheted purses and paintings."

Little Happily Scrappily Irish

This week, I finished up this little quilt for my newest nephew, who's due to arrive any day now.

It's a small version of Bonnie Hunter's Happily Scrappily Irish, from the book Adventures with Leaders and Enders. Basically, it's a scrappy double Irish Chain quilt.

I was pleased to be able to make this entirely with fabric I already had ... even the backing fabric had been stashed away for an opportune time!

I had fun working with smaller-than-usual pieces: the little squares finish 1½ inches -- usually my smallest squares finish at 2 inches. So these were fun and tiny.

I did an all-over quilting meander, with variegated blue thread.

In the outer border, I quilted overlapping wavy lines, with the same variegated blue thread.

The quilt measures about 42" x 42".

I'm linking this post to today's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts.

UFOs are coming right along!

This Dresden Plate quilt top has been a special treat to work on. 

It was beautifully hand-pieced by my great-great grandmother, sometime before I was born. My mom inherited the quilt top many years ago, and, more recently, she asked if I would be able to quilt it. 

I'm loving the chance to work on a project that's been a work-in-progress for  so many decades.

I love this gorgeous vintage quilt top, and hope that my quilting will do it justice.

In other news, Hopscotch Butterscotch has some great progress to show: all the blocks & sashings are put together! The borders are prepped! The quilt top is nearly done!

Because I already had lots & lots of 2 ½" pieces cut, but the pattern calls for 2" cut ... I decided to go with the bigger pieces, and just make a bigger quilt.

I'm really glad that Jo's Country Junction is hosting a UFO Challenge ... it's been a great motivator to get progress -- any progress -- happening. I'm linking this post to this week's UFO Challenge.

Check back in a couple days to see my finished Happily Scrappily Irish little quilt.

A little progress

This week, I put some borders on my little Happily Scrappily Irish baby quilt top.

I also pin-basted it, and only just in time: this is a gift for my newest nephew, and I've got a baby shower date to aim for.

Hopscotch Butterscotch was back to leader-and-ender status this week: I got a few of the piano key border pieces stitched and pressed.

I also cut the (green) sashings for Hopscotch Butterscotch, so that should be the last of the cutting!

Since I'm working on some long-time Un-Finished Objects here (Hopscotch Butterscotch, particularly), and since both of these quilts are Bonnie Hunter designs, I'm linking this post to Jo's UFO Challenge update. It's a fun weekly check-in for projects like these.

Progress on some UFOs

I've enjoyed sewing in little snippets of time here and there.

More than once, I've read that (with the exception of some layout processes) most sewing projects can be done in little 10- or 15-minute bits of time when necessary. It sort of becomes necessary, sometimes, in a busy household. I've found it gratifying to take advantage of the little moments I get to sit and sew.

My UFO progress is happening!

Here's the latest on Hopscotch Butterscotch:
ALL 20 blocks are done!

I've cut out all the piano-key border pieces!
I've cut out the cornerstones, but not the sashings.

Also in progress this week:
The baby-sized Happily Scrappily Irish ...
I cut borders for it, and found a backing fabric among the fabric I already have!

I've been linking my UFO project updates to the UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction. The weekly link parties have been a simple, but GREAT motivation keep me making progress on my Un-Finished (quilt-y) Objects!

The little scrappy Irish Chain

I'm still making headway on this one. I posted last week about starting it.

I've got a much smaller layout than the pattern, so I just had 25 blocks to make.

Since these squares are cut at 2" x 2", they're smaller than my usual. So the patchwork has been fun - and tiny!

There were over 350 little squares! Since I've got a red/white/blue/light-blue color scheme, a lot of my patriotic fabric scraps went into this one. A few plaids and random scraps worked well, too.

I've got the Irish Chain part of the quilt top put together. I'd like add a couple of borders, but so far, this (baby-size) quilt top measures about 35" x 35".

UFOs on Thursday ...

I've gotten some more UFO work done ... largely thanks to Jo's UFO Challenge a few weeks ago, reminding me to at least get SOMEthing done.

This Lego Heads quilt was supposed to be a Christmas present this past Christmas. I got it nearly done, and then it sat ... oops!

As of my UFO List a few weeks ago, this one just needed quilting and binding.

As of now, it's DONE, and in a box, ready to mail to a little guy who'll get a bit of Christmas in June!

This is another made-of-T-shirts and backed-with-fleece quilt. Super cozy!

I was inspired by ideas from Pinterest (like this one), but I designed this quilt myself, to work with the T-Shirt fabrics I had. This twin-sized quilt was a lot of fun & I hope it'll be enjoyed for a long time!

In other UFO news, I have a few of my Hopscotch Butterscotch quilt blocks done: 7 down, 13 to go!

I'm linking this post to Jo's UFO Challenge, and when Friday comes, I'll be linking it to this week's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts.