One of those days...

I mean weeks. Do you ever have one of those days where everything you touch breaks and nothing goes according to plan. This has been one of those weeks for me. Well I joined my first ever virtual quilting bee (to those of you in my bees I apologize now, and I promise I will only send good blocks to you) and I received my first package of fabric this week. I have been chomping at the bit to get started since signing up in November and even though I have had a hundred other projects to do in the mean time I kept thinking I can't wait to get started on this. So first up Melissa from my Modern Quilting Bee choose this block. WOW! What a doosey is the first thing I thought when I saw it. Better make a practice block.

Here are some things I learned in my no good very bad with quilting week. When working with someone else's fabric if it can go wrong it will. My first mistake was in cutting the white fabric. I missed one of the pieces in the instructions so when I got to the end I was missing a 6 1/2" square that is pretty important since it's the center of the block. Of course I didn't have enough fabric left to cut it so I went and got some more white fabric. Thank goodness it was Kona White and not some elusive fabric like Flea Market Fancy.

Next up I attempted to iron the pink solid she sent. Oh you know what's coming right. My iron decided that it had been abused one to many times and spit some silver junk all over the fabric. Of course I tried washing it but it didn't come out. I gave the iron a good cleaning but am pretty sure a trip to Target to replace it will be on the list of things to do tomorrow. Melissa don't worry the pink was Kona Carnation and I was able to find it at a local quilt store.

Up next I stopped in the middle of sewing some blocks and when I came back to it the next day I forgot to move my needle placement to the "scant" 1/4 inch and sewed full 1/4 inch seams which apparently doesn't work with these instructions. My seam ripper and I have a love hate relationship right now. She loves to be used and I hate to do it.

Tonight I put in the last stitches and I was so excited that it was done I ran in here to photograph it and share with the group over on flickr. I uploaded the picture and added to the pool along side of another practice block that was already done and wait that doesn't look right. What's wrong with my block. Oh you have to be kidding me. Somewhere around step 7 out of 20 I sewed something together backwards. So looks like me and that seam ripper are going to get to be even better friends now. Do you see it. Taunting me there.


Although since it is just a sample blocks and I do actually really like it the way it is I am tempted to leave it alone and just make my real block sans all the problems. Especially since I have plans for a spider web quilt in the same color scheme. I'm thinking that a row of these across the back of that quilt might be really nice. Oh the possibilities.

A Finished Quilt

Not just any finished quilt. I have made quilts in the past that have been hand tied but never have I finished an entire quilt from start to finish without a lot of help. That is until now. I finished my first quilt that wasn't hand tied all by myself. And if I thought I had the quilting bug before I can only imagine what it is going to be like now because I LOVE it.


The first quilt I ever made was for my mother and it was a very small lap quilt. The poor thing is falling apart at all of the seams and is a frightful mess but I know she still loves it just the same. It was the first quilt I ever made and I was being taught by some young girls during my last semester of college while doing an internship. The machine I used to sew with was a mess an would break constantly. It is a wonder the seams stayed together as long as they did. The binding is also a mess being that is it hand stitched with blue thread. Blue really. The quilt is yellow so I'm not sure where this came from although I'm sure it is what was on hand at the time.Those were my humble beginnings at quilting. I made this quilt for my mother in law for Christmas. It is the first quilt I ever had quilted by someone on a long arm. You can read about that adventure here. I hope she will love it because it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to make. I love it although there are definitely things I would do different next time it is nice to just sit back and enjoy having a finished piece of my own creativity out there floating around. The pattern is loosely based on this one.

Sometimes you just have to admit defeat

That is how I have been feeling for the last few weeks. Christmas came to quickly this year and my good intentions of homemade holidays feel by the waist side in more than one case. I had picked out things early and had good intentions of finishing them all but well if we are being honest here I am a procrastinator and I tend to bite off more than I can chew. And in my craft ADD, life's daily responsibilities, and some recent bouts of bad health in the Boyd home and you have the perfect equation for not everything is going to get done around here. And that is when all of the sudden you look around and you realize that sometimes you just have to admit defeat. So in the end everyone still received a Christmas present they just weren't all homemade by me. Peppermint Pines for example with be my SIL's Christmas present in 2010. It is so close to being done but there are only so many hours in a day. I did however manage to fit in home made gifts for my mom and mother in law and I learned a very important lesson. The smart people start shopping for the next Christmas the day after, the even smarter people start crafting for the next Christmas the same day. With that said I am off to drool over the pictures in my brand new copy of Material Obsession and learn to use my new walking foot. What a lucky girl I am.

Well wishes for a New Friend

I made a new friend recently through online blogging. She and I have a ton of things in common. Her smushy face isn't feeling so good right now and Ali wanted to send him a special message.

I got a new top

I entered a giveaway on a blog a little while back for a chance to win a custom header for my blog. Since I am brand new to blogging and have no idea what I am doing I couldn't believe it when I won! Tacie was wonderful at putting this together and even changed the colors around when I asked her to make it a little brighter. And then she even took the time to explain to me how to get it from her email to the blog. This is why I love my quilt friends because they are so talented at so many things. A little birdie told me she is going to do a header for the first ten people who contact her. So if you are looking to spice things up a bit go see her. You know you want to.

I entered a few other giveaways during the giveaway day at Sew Mama Sew but there will be more on that later. I am so glad I participated though because I have found a ton of new sites to look at for inspiration and even made a few new friends.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have a ton of stuff finished this weekend to show you guys. I just got a little behind last week with being sick and all. Besides Christmas will be here before you know it and if I'm not done no one gets gifts. Talk about pressure.

Bea this one is for you. Hope Gus is feeling well.

My Favorite Things

So this week I have been sidelined by a variety of things but the largest of them being an incredible migraine that I just couldn't seem to shake. I am hoping to have at least something finished up in time to post about tomorrow but to be honest I have spent most of my free time this week (when I wasn't sleeping or trying to lay completely still in the dark quiet of my closet) surfing blogland to look at all of the amazing giveaways for Sew Mama Sew's giveaway day. What you didn't know. Well if you hurry there is still a little time. Most of the drawings end at midnight on Sunday.Other than that I have been following the quilt along on flicker over at Old Red Barn Quilt Along. Okay I will be honest I haven't actually made any of these quilts but this group is so amazing and they have great inspiration and ideas. I do actually plan to go back and make all of the quilts just not until after Christmas. In the mean time I still enjoy watching every one's progress and seeing what is going on with a few of the ladies. This being said I saw a post for a Secret Santa in the threads the other day and I thought what a great idea. This would be an amazing way to send a little pick me up to someone and in return make a new blog friend. Well I am super excited about the person who's name I received because she is a new quilter like myself and we have participated in a few of the same things along the way. So I have been reading her blog for a while and I am excited to pack up a few goodies and send them off to her this week. Just a few things I want to finish up first, like that first batch of Peppermint Bark for the season.

Okay so I have rambled away and realized that I called this post my favorite things for a reason. It occurred to me that since I have a new blog and not very many pictures in my flickr stream it might be hard for my person to really get a sense of who I am as a quilter, crafter, and person. So I thought I would share a little bit about ME :)

My favorite color is ORANGE it always has been which in high school and college led to me owning an orange blanket, trashcan, clock, and well just about anything for my dorm room in orange. I'm also a huge fan of the color pink. So lets just say with all of the new fabric lines coming out I am in orange and pink heaven. I mean have you seen this, this, and even this?
I also HEART Polka Dots. Anything with Polka Dots.

I was always a cat person until I got married and we HAD to have dogs. Now I love my Boston Terrier and English Bulldog to death. I wouldn't trade them for the best cat in the world. Now don't get me wrong I still like cats but visiting my mom's two every once in a while works for me.

I am a pretty laid back person so I'm not picky about most things. Except my food. All the moms are going to cringe when I say this but I HATE veggies. Yup, pretty much all of them. I did recently discover that I like Lima beans but my husband tells me they don't really count as a green veggie so I guess I am still out of luck.

I don't drink coffee but I LOVE hot cocoa. I have been seeing a lot in blogs lately about homemade marshmallows. Say it isn't so. I have got to get on google and track down how this is done. Then again I might just get myself in trouble.

So this is just a little glimpse of me but I hope it helps my Secret Santa partner know just a little bit. And please don't tell the gang I haven't made any of the quilts yet, I don't know what I would do if they kicked me out.