Crafty Garden Mom: March 2013

3/29/13

CGM Podcast Ep #46: A Chat with Marie Bostwick

Listen to the episode HERE

Show Notes

Life Update:

Is Mother Nature playin' with me?
Sam is having fun bouncing through Spring Break
Maddy is...Maddy
Upcoming Texas trip

WIPs and FOs:

Easy Street - I finished all of the blocks BUT......
King Spiderweb quilt
Color Affection shawl

My Interview and Chat with Marie Bostwick!

NYT bestselling author of the Cobbled Court series
Her NEW BOOK, Between Heaven and Texas, is on sale 4/30/13

Visit her website HERE for more information and lots of great content about Marie, her books, her bio, her quilting, etc....

~~GIVEAWAY!!!!~~

One lucky winner will get an advance copy of Between Heaven and Texas AND Marie will send them a signed bookplate

and 4 recipes from the book!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

~~To enter: Please leave 1 comment below~~ telling me which of Marie's books you've enjoyed OR which one you'd like to read besides Between Heaven and Texas. For a list of her books, visit her website HERE. They are all listed on the right side of the homepage. Giveaway runs through 4-12-13.

1 entry per person. PLEASE make sure you leave either a vaild email address in your comment, or that you are not a no-reply blogger when you comment, so I can reach you. If I can't reach you within 24 hours, another winner will be picked.

Thanks for listening!

CGM

3/26/13

My Cutting Table

For years I cut all of my sewing projects on a standard cutting table purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. It served me well. However, in the last year as I acquired more fiber stash for both quilting, sewing, and knitting, I began to run out of space to hold it. I know, I know, "so stop buying!" Wait, did my husband get to you too?

Overflowing stash not withstanding, I knew I needed something more functional to hold my current WIP fabric and yarn, books, tools, and various other items that were taking up space on the floor under my cutting table and around the outer edges of the room. Then I saw several quilters on Instagram were using the smaller IKEA-style bookshelves with cubbies from WalMart or Target to make their own cutting tables with built in storage space! Lightbulb/A-ha moment right there for me.

Off I went to my local Target and I picked up 4 of the ClosetMaid cube organizers in white. (First time I went they weren't on sale, so I waited a few weeks and got them for $39.99 each vs. $59.99). They measure 36" x 36" and each cube is 12" x 12".

Then I waited for my wonderful (and handy!) husband to get in the mood (with a little "help" wink-wink from me) to put them together and go with my "vision" for cutting and storage bliss. He was like, "yeah vision-schmision, lemme knock these out before golf season starts" and rapidly put them together over a weekend.

Here are some pics of the table-in-progress (taken by DH):

He used L brackets on the inside corners and mending brackets on the inside backs to hold the 4 shelves together in the rectangular formation I wanted. You can see that layout in the picture (sorry it's fuzzy!) above.

He then went to Home Depot and had them cut a piece of laminated plywood to the exact measurement of the top. He secured this with screws into the top four corners of the bookshelves and used the little white caps that came with the shelves to cover them up.

And voila! Here is the finished table:

Finished measurements: 37.75"w x 62" l x 36.75"h

We also put some 3/4" iron-on white laminate around the top (Band-It brand - Home Depot!) to give it a more finished look.

I couldn't be happier with my new cutting table! It fits perfectly into the space I have, and I am taking full advantage of the extra storage space.

CGM

I've linked this post up in the following places:

3/21/13

Thursday Thoughts

Dear God how much longer do I have to
put up with a pissy 2 year old?
Seriously, she is
driving
me
crazy
I know, I know
She just turned 2 in late January
And there are so many moments where
she is so completely awesome
I just want to eat her up
as all 3 meals to my day
But when she's not so awesome
yeah, words fail me.
These are the days when
that part of me that sometimes wishes I was a stay-at-home mom
thinks, "the Hell you do girl,
you and this kid would be goin' at it all day
versus a few hours during the week!"
And just those few hours have been
wearing me out lately.
I won't even go into all the ways
my patience has been tested
the last few months
Let's just say that between the
car seat
getting dressed
eating
bathtime
going to bed
it's a wonder I'm not a falling down drunk
by 8 pm
But then again as I recall with Sam
year 3 ain't much better
and my friends with teenagers tell me
I might as well get liquored up now
because I ain't seen nothin' yet
Note to self:
send DH's vasectomy doctor a thank you card.

CGM

3/20/13

Been...

Been knitting on this:

Color Affection Shawl by Veera Valimaki

Plucky Knitter yarn

Been sewing these:

Easy Street blocks: Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt

Been reading this:

The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila

and this:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

If you have a Kindle you can read the first 5 chapters of Cinder free!

Click HERE for the link.

Been watching (and really enjoying!) this series:

The House of Eliott (tv series)

Been dealing with this:

And trying to keep one step ahead of the thoughts behind this face:

Cue the song "Devil in Disguise" here....

But can't stay mad at her when she often looks like this:

This is her "I wan' a snack puh-wease Mommy..." face. Works (almost) every time.

What have you "been" lately?

CGM

I've linked up here for WIP Wednesday, check out all of the crafty productivity out there!

3/12/13

What The Girls Are Reading This Month

I often get asked for suggestions on kids books for certain ages. And while I love getting asked about books of any kind, it does take me a minute to get my bearings when it comes to specific age groups. Because when a mom asks me for a good book recommendation for their 10 year old boy, I don't think he'd appreciate our current favorite reads of Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, or Goodnight Moon. Even though they're the first children's book titles that come to mind.

But just as I share what I plan to read each month, I thought it might be nice to also share what my girls' are enjoying as well. Yes these will be age, and somewhat gender specific. But particularly for Maddy who is 2, children's picture books tend to be rather gender neutral. So those of you with kids under the age of 8 will probably get the most "use" out of these lists.

Also for reference, my older daughter Sam, who is 6 and in Kindergarten, is reading at about a 2nd grade level right now. I can't take all the credit for this (thank you Reading Eggs) but frankly I do kind of feel that for having a mama whose j.o.b. is in books and all the reading and phonics work we do together...she dang well better be reading at higher than grade level LOL!

Maddy:

Samantha:

What are your kids reading this month?

CGM

3/6/13

CGM Podcast Episode #45: Stifled by Stuff

Listen to the episode HERE

Show Notes

Life Update:

March snowstorm....really?
Feeling a need to declutter around here

WIPs and FOs:

Easy Street
King Spiderweb quilt
Finished a mini quilt for a magazine submission...just in the nick of time

New Segment: classic movies! I share my love for old films and the fashions in them as worn by Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Barbara Russell, and many more...

Movie featured this episode:

How to Steal a Million with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole

Don't Forget About 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 March: $15 gift card to JoAnn Fabrics!

Book Review:

Oops! For the first time ever I do not have one! I explain why and instead give some suggestions for upcoming reads I have, and you should add them to your list too!