New Rainbow Girl Center

I can't believe I've been working on this quilt on and off for three years.

It's just one of those "creative projects" that evolves as I make it up...

or in this case, remake it as I go. 

The center went from this:

To this:

I sewed the new center right over the old one and once finished, 

just cut the old one away on the back side:

 Now my creative mind is looking at finishing it with a black flower printed border.  A purple prairie point border  between it and the quilt, finishing it with a lime green binding. What do ya think?

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May OMG: Rainbow Girl Flimsy!!

I had two easy peasy, chain piecing quilts that I really wanted to get done.

The first was to get my H2H Happy Chemo  I-Spy Quilt sewn, quilted, and mailed!

And many of you saw I did get that done. YEAH!! 

Next, I really wanted to get My Rainbow Girls fun border and hand stitching done. It will then be ready for some fun FMQ when I get out of school from teaching for the summer.

Annnnddd I got that done too!

I debated if I should have made the border around the heart like the border instead of  the log cabin around the heart...and for some reason I keep wondering that?? What do you think?? 

Quite honestly, I think I'm just in love with the fabric-made border! I created tumblers and just sewed them together. So easy and fun! The girls also have perle cotton hand sewn stitching all around them.

Hard to believe May is almost over and now it's time to start thinking of a June goal. 

Thanks for the OMG linky and motivation Heidi! 

Sign-ups open June 1st! 

Rainbow Girl Progress

I can't wait to show you guys how I'm going to finish this one!

I haven't been in the sewing room since my stay-cation and am looking forward to getting back in there this weekend to get these girls bordered. Think scrappy "made fabric" 

I was thinking of joining everyone at Red Letter Quilts April OMG linky...but have about three more creative stages planned for this WIP. First, like I said, get those scrappy  borders done this weekend. Next, I want to add some perle cotton stitching. (I've admired this technique in so many of your quilts and want to give it a try.) Then, I've begun to sketch some fun, whimsical FMQ...which I want to save to do this summer when I'm not working. Once that's done, embellish the dolls with some adorable buttons I've been collecting. I geuss you can say this is one of those project that makes me want to:

I also want to be able to focus the rest of my sewing this month on creating that quilty hug for H2H , getting caught up on this year's RSC (My purples are still laying on the floor where I left them two weeks ago),  Andddd....finally, I want to finish my April, May wool banners. (That will conclude my year of wooly banners. YEAH!!) Whew, it's kinda motivating to get that all out of my head and down on "paper". Ya ever feel like that? Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm always grateful for your  support.

Stay tuned...

This week's DENIM themed linky is still open. Cute stuff this week!

Sunday Sewing

We continue to be under an inversion of freezing fog...

which makes for perfect Sunday Sewing in my little spot in the world.

Yep! I've unearthed my 2014 RSC girls/houses and have a few creative surprises for ya! My neighborhood has been uninspiring. The black and white backgrounds have been sitting in stalemate.

So as they sat on the wall and I found myself without inspiration, I busied myself creating some  fabric-made tumblers. Yet, even when combined with a fun background, these too just just felt okay. And you know me, "Miss sewing without a plan", I was truly beginning to question myself: 

"What in the heck am I doing?" "Why am I creating more projects and finishing nothing?"

Until! I decided to divide my girls and houses, their stalemate ended. 

 THEN! For the fun of it, I combined the fabric-made tumblers as a border with the dolls...

Oh My! I seriously started to hear the Hark Angels sing out from that inversion of freezing fog!

BAM! Now THIS is what I'm talking about!

(I'm even thinking of using those turquoise dots on black above for a border...we'll see.)

It's so fun!

So now you know where I'll be today especially as this freezing fog continues to be the view outside my studio window: (Yes, I was too big of a wimp to go outside for a picture this morning.) 

And later, as the day begins to wind down, I have my February Wool banner all cut and pinned for some slow stiching during the Golden Globes tonight. Do you watch? We are always so behind, that we find ourselves with a pen and paper in hand making our Redbox/Netflix "what to watch" list.

Happy Sunday Sewing/Stitching everyone!

And before I get back to sewing myself, I'm off to see what everyone else is up to today at:

This week's upcoming theme: Art Quilts

RSC: Final Reds & Oranges

Fall has finally arrived here where I live and I spent our rainy morning in a cozy sweatshirt and jeans as I sewed these fun houses and girls together to get caught up on the RSC. Here's my August Reds embellished with an extra wide red ric-rak:

My Sept.Oranges are sewn and awaiting for their little pompom's to be sewn on by hand: 

And here's the whole Rainbow Neighborhood:

I did find myself getting tired of making the girls today and  anxious to start the next step of this quilt which is to: applique doors and windows onto the houses, add trees and critters, along with embellishing the girls with buttons and bows! I like that all the primary colors are represented and their boldness of the color. What do ya think?? Wishing ya a happy Saturday as I'm now off to link up with everyone else at:

With Smiles!

Val:)

June RSC: My Final Yellow Blocks

Happy Scrappy Saturday!

I had fun adding a yellow girl and house to my neighborhood today.

I also moved the whole neighborhood to a larger design wall and I'm loving how they are coming together! This quilt top is going to be so fun to embellish. I'm envisioning appliqued trees, doors and windows along with a few button accents and perhaps some yoyo flowers added to those green lawns.

Looking forward to adding next month's color.

With smiles,

Val:)

May RSC: My Final Green Blocks

 Thanks for all the kind b-day wishes yesterday! It was such a fun day.
And today finds me wrapping up the month with my RSC pieces. I added frilly lace to the girls dresses and house. The lace looked so ugly in the scrap basket but so cute here:  

I continue to look forward to my one Saturday a month where a spend a few hours just making my girls and houses to add to my growing rainbow neighborhood! Before next month, I realized I need to move them all to a bigger design wall. I'll be sure to include a new neighborhood picture then.
Thanks once again to Angela for the challenge.

Oh! And I added June's Tuesday Archives themes to my side panel.
With Smiles,

Val:)

May RSC: Greens Chosen & a "Green" Household Tip!

In keeping them dark and bright...here's what I got! Lucky me, my blogging friend Jane sent me a bag full of scraps this week and thus the pile of strips. My husband joked that only I would be happy to get a bag of someone else's scraps in the mail. LOL!!! These will be fun to play with as I add to my growing rainbow neighborhood.

And staying with the theme of green, here's a quick and inexpensive way to keep flies out of the kitchen: Get yourself a basil plant for the kitchen. Serious. We grow (and use) basil in the kitchen all summer long and it keeps the flies away! Who knew?!

Happy RSC Saturday!

With smiles,

Val:)

April RSC: My Final Purple Blocks

I stayed with dark purples this month, knowing I can always add a light version later if wanted. This month I accented using Rik-Rac...and ended up hand stitching it on.

They will certainly make a cute addition to my rainbow neighborhood though.

Thanks again to Angela for the motivation.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Saturday! 

With smiles,

Val:)

April RSC: Purples Chosen

 PURPLE! Brings back memories of when our girls where young. Any of you who have little girls in your life....know how much they love pink and purple! Our oldest daughter loved  pink and the youngest: PURPLE!!! Notice we even let her have purple carpet!!! (That was a humorous topic of conversation when we went to sell our home in Arizona.)

 I pulled these out of my stash this morning...don't know if I'll use the light lavenders...we'll see. I'm looking forward to playing with the ric-rak too.

And I couldn't resist sharing my Sue Spargo Block of the Month delivery...

 aren't these purples beautiful!!! I can't wait to get stitching!!

Happy Scrappy Saturday!

With Smiles,

Val:)

March RSC: My Final Aqua/Teal Blocks

Happy Scrappy Saturday everyone!

This month I added a pom-pom ribbon to my girls and house and used a decorative stitch to sew it on. I've really begun to look forward to my RSC day of sewing each month, as I find myself  playing  more and more as I sew.

My colorful neighborhood is growing...

   I'm even starting to find myself looking at those houses and thinking about how I'm going to play with adding all the doors and windows. Until next Saturday...happy sewing ya all!

With smiles,

Val:)

March RSC: Aqua/Teals Chosen

Happy Scrappy Saturday everyone!

As I popped into everyone else's blogs this morning I realized I needed to pick out my own aquas and teals. I think they may become my new favorite color!

I can see some cute girls and houses being added to my growing neighborhood using this variety of of tone on tones and multiple array of patterns.

 It's a rainy, cool day, perhaps I'll find myself playing.

For now, I'm going to relax & watch the movie: Nebraska and stitch some wool.

With smiles, 

Val:)