Crafty Garden Mom: December 2012

12/30/12

CGM Podcast Episode 41: Move Along Now

Listen to the episode HERE

Show Notes

Life Update:

Christmas recap
Emotional comments regarding the Newtown, CT tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School
One Little Word 2013 via Ali Edwards website/blog

My word is MOVE

WIPs and FOs:

Easy Street
King Spiderweb quilt
Finishing Maddy's socks
Casting on a simple slouchy hat using Patons Classic Wool Tweeds in the Chestnut Tweed colorway
Deciding between casting on the Color Affection shawl or the Spectra scarf for my next "big" knitting project

Announcing the 2013 CGM UFO-Along!!

Come one, come all craft UFOs!! All types of craft UFOs welcome (quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, jewelry, etc...)

Join the Flickr group, post your FINISHED UFOs there and be entered for a monthly prize.
Prize for January: $25 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!!!

"Rules"

You can enter as many FINISHED UFOs as you want each month.

Only 1 entry per UFO, but you can post multiple pictures of each one so we can see it from various angles.

To qualify as a UFO the project must have been started in a previous month to the one you are entering. i.e. if it is January, you should have started it in December or earlier, not in January - that's a WIP!

You can win a prize more than once in the year as your photos stay up all year. However, you cannot win 2 months in a row. i.e. if you win in January, you can't win again until March.

Keep posting all finished UFOs all year long because you never know, there just be a big grand prize at the end of the year for the most # finished!!!!

Most important "rule": HAVE FUN FINISHING YOUR UFOs! If it isn't fun anymore, it's probably time to just let it go.

My Top 10 Reads of 2012:

Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Wonder by RJ Pallacio

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

The Light Between Oceans by ML Steadman

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

Thanks for listening!

CGM

12/27/12

Ready for a New Year

I'm sure I'm not the only one who takes down all or most of their holiday decorations the day after Christmas. This brings my husband no end of amusement seeing how sentimental I am during the season. But there's always been a part of me that is just "done" with it all after the presents are unwrapped, the mad dash of visiting and visitors is complete, and the tree in the corner of your family room looks like a big, dead bush with a bad craft project thrown on it. And don't get me started on how annoying those little pine needles become on the 26th...not the 25th or before mind you, happy to sweep them up then. But after the "Big Day" has come and gone, those suckers become the bane of my existence until the tree is chucked out to the curb and I've vacuumed them up about 10 times in the following week.

Yes, I'm ready to move on to a less cluttered house, a regular school and work schedule, finishing up some way-laid craft projects due to the illness (aka The Plague) that infected us the last 4 weeks, and to start working on some goals I've had brewing for awhile. I'll be updating this blog with a fresh header and some new pages in the coming weeks, sharing some fun ideas and projects, and of course linking to my podcast episodes and show notes as usual.

I am so looking forward to 2013! Odd years seem to be particularly good ones for me: I was born in one, graduated high school and college in one, and had both kids in odd years as well. I got married in an even year (2004) but I'll count the year we met (2001) as the lucky part of that equation, LOL.

So how about you? Are you ready for a new year too?

CGM

12/14/12

CGM Podcast Episode 40: Boop!

Listen to the episode HERE

Show Notes

Life Update:

Feeling much better after a bad cold, but my voice isn't 100% yet.
Decorations are up, cookies are baking, Sam and Maddy are eagerly anticipating Santa, and having lots of fun this holiday season.

WIPs and FOs:

Easy Street! (Bonnie Hunter's Mystery QAL) I am behind (she just announced part 4) but having fun with a type of quilt I haven't made in years: LOTS of cutting/piecing! I am using Flea Market Fancy as the main fabrics and Kona Snow as the background.
Working on King Spiderweb quilt
Working on Maddy's socks

I talk for awhile about Indie yarn and fabric dyers. Here are the ones I mentioned (yarn) as well as the hand dyed fabric shops I buy from...don't say I didn't warn you!

Hand Dyed Yarn:

Hand Dyed Fabric:

What's Making Me Happy in Crafting:

The Gypsy Cutting Gizmo

Book Review:

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

by Melanie Benjamin

Thanks for listening!

CGM

12/10/12

Need a Little Christmas....

Boy, it has been tough the last 3 weeks getting back into a groove that includes a holiday spirit. In fact, I am still a little bah-humbugish when it comes to getting my act together with the gift shopping and post-sick cleaning that needs to get done around here. But we have managed to do some decorating around the house, and I am working my way back to sadly neglected sewing projects.


Sam added a few "touches" LOL

I have determined that it's best to make a short list of some holiday traditions I'd like to get done, and save the grand ideas for simply looking at and admiring on Pinterest and HGTV. In the next few weeks we'll be making cookies, chocolate peppermint bread, fudge, a gingerbread house (from a kit!), and going to see the Christmas lights our local park authority puts up every year. Sam has her Winter Dance Recital this weekend, and Maddy's daycare has a big party the following week. Add in completing the gift shopping and wrapping them up, mailing the cards, attending a few parties, and my book club meeting, it's a true Christmas miracle I don't punch someone out by the 26th, LOL. But I must admit once I get things rolling, I truly love this time of year, even with all the chaos and attempts at mitigating stress.

Speaking of mitigating stress, which my crafting usually does, I am desperately trying NOT to let the Bonnie Hunter Easy St. Mystery Quilt send me over the edge. I just completed Part 1 last night, and she's deep into Part 3!

I am using mainly Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt and Kona Snow as my background. It's been a long time since I pieced so many dang parts together for a quilt though, and with my Crafter's ADD it is all I can do to stay focused on this and not wander off into the other WIP piles I have stacked up everywhere. It has been a lot of fun seeing everyone else's progress on this though, and so far, it's keeping me motivated. I have cut for Part 2 and plan to start piecing those flying geese together this week.

And I found a great way to keep all of the moving parts of this project together with a repurposed plastic sheet set cover from the new Christmas flannels I got at Target! It even has a handle on top...cool, huh?

Hope all of you are healthy and enjoying this time of year. New podcast episode is coming this week, please pardon my still-scratchy voice in advance!

CGM

12/3/12

What I'm Reading This Month

I've reached my GoodReads 2012 Challenge of reading 75 books this year. Seeing as books are my job, I actually read a lot more than this, but for that particular challenge I mainly count the books I read solely for me and not work-related. I have been reading quite a few serious and very literary books lately (mostly work-related) so this month I'm going to dedicate to the pure fluff/trashy books I have had sitting on my shelf for a very long time.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by what they read...I'll just have to hope this isn't the only "What I'm Reading This Month" post you ever look at! You can visit me over on Good Reads to keep up with my bookish ways, and I would love to see what you bury your nose in too!