The books I've read in 2013.

These are the books (and novellas) I've read in 2013. And, when I wasn't reading, I was crafting. I also completed 4 crocheted blankets, and one super involved embroidered then quilted blanket. 2013 has been a busy year. My go to authors are Allison Brennan, Lisa Gardner, Karen Rose, and Chelsea Cain (she's amazing!) but I found that Liane Moriarty is a good author to read if you like Jodi Picoult type stories.

Have a wonderful new year!

1. ) Infection: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse by Sean Schubert (this is actually my    husband's old soccer coach)

2) Containment: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse by Sean Schubert

3) Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

4) Stalked by Allison Breannan

5) Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain

6) Did You Miss Me? by Karen Rose

7) Reckless by Allison Brennan

8) Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner

9) Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

10) Killing Justice by Allison Brennan

11) Stolen by Allison Brennan

12) The BFG by Roald Dahl (read with my 7 year old daughter)

13) Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain

14) Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

15) You Don't Want To Know by Lisa Jackson

16) The Princess of Coldwater Flats by Nancy Bush

17) Maggie's Man by Lisa Gardner writing as Alicia Scott

18) Night Road by Kristin Hannah

19) My Two Moms by Zach Wahls

20) Broken Silence by Karen Rose

21) Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

22) Cold Snap by Allison Brennan

23) Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin

24) Silent Echo by J.R. Rain

25) The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

26) I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

27) Too Close: The Beauty in Between by Lilliana Anderson

28) What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

29) 36 Hours by Allison Brennan

30) The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay

Secret Service CIA Snowman and Totoro

I have been very lax about updating my blog. I have a facebook Craft page I'm using much more regularly--Big Bang Momma Crafts where you have the opportunity to buy my crafts.

Anyway, today I decided to play with my small supply of polymer clay, and created these little guys. Since I don't have orange, and the black on white was looking a little spy-ish to me, I decided to deck out my snowman as a secret service CIA agent with a badge and scarf. He needed a buddy, so I put together a mini Totoro to hang out with him.

Thanks for looking!

It's a Red Pineapple Wedding Afghan!

I spent the first half on 2013 working very hard to complete this Anastasia crochet pattern from Herrshner's for my husband's cousin's wedding.   It was about 12 skeins of 2-ply red yarn. In the center, to crochet an inch, it was about 4 rows, and it took me about 3 hours (at least in the beginning) to complete. I am so pleased that it turned out so amazing.

Skull Quilt

I haven't blogged in a long while, as I've been working on finishing up some huge projects. When I get the gumption, I'll give more detailed info, but for now, I'm just going to post a link to the craftster page.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=427309.msg5092261#msg5092261

Teal Crocheted Accent Pillow, 14"

I  just recently finished a crochet project which took me 6 months to complete.  It's a wedding gift, for a September wedding, so I won't be posting about this project for a few more months.  So, last week I was off  to my crochet group, and I didn't have a project. So, I just grabbed different yarns of different sizes, and some crochet patterns, and off I went.  I ended up working on something different, but which led me to decide to crochet my first accent pillow.  Thankfully, I could save some money as I already had a pillow form at home!

I love working with this color by Caron Simply Soft.  It's so beautiful.  I just repeated two rows of pattern over and over, but I think it's very pretty.

One Tiny 4" Monster Hoopla

I recently made this "sweet" gal for my partner in the One Tiny Monster Hoopla swap on Craftster.  While I do embroidery, I wanted to go 3-D with this swap.  I crocheted the eye, and added some glitter to it.  I added the "the sock monster strikes again" (saying I found while searching online for ideas) , on the "clothesline" and added those cool colored clothespins. I knew it wouldn't be complete unless I added some socks.  I decided to crochet them (grey's wool and the maroon is acrylic). I love the yarn around the hoop for hair and the ribbon on the outside of the hoop. All in all, it reminds me a bit of Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. I love how she turned out, and I'm thrilled my partner loves her  too.

Christmas in July bag

I have become obsessed  with making bags. I made this one with some fabric I found at a yard sale.

Christmas in July, anyone?

You can check out and "like" this, and many other crafts on my Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/BigBangMommaCrafts

Shadow Photography

My 7-year old daughter came up with a great idea to photograph our shadows today on our walk. Here's a cute one with me and my kiddos.

Embroidered Animal Skulls

I am working on an animal skull quilt for my skull fascinated 5 year old son.  I decided  the easiest way (not fastest) to get the skull part was to embroider it. So, I found drawn images of several different animal skulls online, traced out the main lines to outline, and then stitched up this bald eagle in about 3 hours  to do.

Giraffe

Bald Eagle

Bat Skull

Bag for teacher's gift?

Need that special something for your teacher gift for your favorite teacher?  Check this out:

For more information, check out my ever expanding Facebook store. Search Big Bang Momma Crafts on Facebook.

My outside kitty cat, Zazzles

If you follow me, or my blog, you've probably guessed that I am obsessed with Big Bang Theory. So, when this adorable stray kitty showed up at my house, I had to keep her. Outside. Because hubby won't let me bring her inside. But, she's so stinking cute. So, we named her Zazzles. Obviously. Because that's what Sheldon would do.

Caldecott Honor Book "No, David" inspired amigurimi

My son asked me to make him a David ami from the Caldecott Honor Book "No, David" by David Shannon.   I didn't have a pattern, so I kinda followed an image I found online for shape, and then played around with creating him. This was my first no pattern at all ami I've made, and he loves it.  The picture I'm posting shows my ami next to the book for comparison.

I didn't have any flesh colored yarn in my stash, so I used two different colored white yarns, one acrylic the other cotton.  I know his teeth look really weird on my ami, but I think it turned out pretty good all things considered.

Thanks for looking.

Arm Chair Crochet Hook Holder

Last year, I found a tutorial a great tutorial for an arm chair pincushion which I used for a partner in a swap.  That tutorial only had pockets on one side.  After I made that one, I made myself an embroidered one with pockets on both sides.

Recently, I spent some much needed time with my best friend, and we spent the entire day crocheting. I was telling her about my arm  chair pincushion.  Since she doesn't sew (although she does embroider/x-stitch, so I guess I could have made it a pin cushion--I guess she could pull out some stitches and add some polyfilll if she decided it needed to be a pin cushion) I told her I could make her one for her crochet hooks without the pin cushion part.  

We met as middleschoolers in Alaska, and have both since moved far away, and both of us miss it terribly.  She married an Army man, and because of so, they have moved around. There most recent location, while much closer to me, is not  a great fit for her family and she is even more homesick for a better  place than I am.  I this Alaska girl attitude part was from a shirt my half sister had handed down to my daughter.  I had been saving it for a long time to make a hoop, but decided  she needed it more, so I heat n bonded it to the black fabric from my stash, and then played with the fun stitches on  my machine for the cute border.

The pink polka dot fabric for the pockets came from a dress my daughter outgrew, and was so cute I kept it in my stash for a project.  Nothing better than to use it for her "auntie."  The side above the Alaska girls was a bit wider, so I put more slots there, and decided to just do the one slot on the bottom so she can hold her current hook in that with larger slots for scissors/phone/remote, etc.

I had started the project on my machine, but had to leave to take my son to pre-school, and with no time to come home, I brought the  project with me to finish. I was excited, and I had another package for a swap to mail and wanted to make one trip.

I hadn't liked my previous edging to the pockets, so first  I pulled them out, and then hand sewed back on, and the best part. I hand sewed the whole back piece to the front.

 I happened to have this fabric in my stash too, which is perfect, because one of her 5 daughters had requested I used butterfly fabric for this project. I aim to please.

It was a labor of love, and I'm so happy to give this to her.  And, because I was in a hurry to mail it, I don't have pictures of it draped over a chair.

Boiling an opossum head....

What do you do when you have a 5 year old son who is very interested in skulls and fossils, and you happen to find some when you are out and about?  You collect them, build a shelf, and let him display them in his room.  Well, what do you do when you find a very recent opossum as roadkill just past your house?  Well, obviously your love your son so very much that you send your husband down to saw off the head and collect it, after going on line to see how you can speed up the process of decomp.

The results to that question I found on a great tutorial here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Taxidermy-Skull-Preparation/step3/De-Fleshing-with-boiling-or-soaking/

Well, we finally had some free time, so we decided to try it out.  Be prepared to possibly be grossed out.

The head...before bboiling...gross huh?

Next, we pull  out the grill, and get a pot of water boiling, then in he goes:

Ah, yes, there's that guy preparing to be a bones and no skin!

 

 

After checking on his off and on for several hours, we were pleasantly pleased to find the tutorial to be quite accurate and him to be mostly decomposed....just a few bits to clean up, and he'll be ready for display!

Pretty cool. We'll have to adhere the jaw to the skull, but that's science at work for you!

Ickbarr Bigelsteine Ami

I recently visited with my niece who I hadn't seen in three years and the first thing she asked  me was "Auntie Laura, can you make me an Ickbarr Bigelsteine ami?"  I was like, uhm, who in the heck is Ickbarr Bigelsteine? 

I posted more about how I came to make this creepy-cute guy on a Craftster post, which includes links to my inspiration, etc. You can find that here:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=422351.0

My First Try at Polymer Clay

I decided I wanted to try polymer clay, and I wanted to make soft kitty.  So, here's soft kitty from Big Bang Theory, as well as some beads (pre-glaze)

Bald Eagle Mini Art Quilt

I recently completed my first art quilt in my first art quilt swap. In returned, I received a beautiful art quilt of a manatee, which is my daughter's favorite animal. This prompted me to want to make another art quilt, but of one of my son's favorite animals, the bald eagle.

I found a neat printable on-line that had the body parts divided with what colors to use. I didn't want my bald eagle to be an exact replica, but I wanted it to be close, and  fun!  I love how the star fabrics are  light and dark, like day and night. And, as a bonus, I had everything already in my stash!   The loops for hanging was fabric I had, which coordinates with fabric used in the manatee quilt!

It measures about 15" wide by 13" high. 

Close up of the eagle:

 It was also my first time sewing things that small for something like this, as well as the detail of my machine going around the eagle. I chose to sew it after I put it together so the eagle is quilted on the back (the darker stars).  I used the invisible close on the last side to sew it up. I'm still getting the hang of that!  And, since what I had in the house was the heat resistant stuff you'd use in pot holders, etc, I used that instead of quilt  batting..so, I guess in  a pinch I could use it.....*gasp!* NO!! just kidding

Thanks for looking!  PS, sorry they are posted the wrong way...they shouldn't be!

Anything Goes Tiny House Swap, Rd 2

I've recently participated in the Anything Goes Tiny House Swap on Craftster. You make a tiny house (4"x4"x4" or less) in any medium.

My partner requested a pincushion, and she likes whimsical.I had no idea how hard it was going to for me to try to sew such small details onto a 3D tiny house, so I ended up mixing crochet and sewing and this is what I came up with (not my best pictures, sorry):

And, in return, my partner created an "A-Frame" house for me:

Two Lovely Shawls

And these are the lovely shawls I made for Foxy Sam.

This was a featured project on Craftster for the Crochet Board Jan-Feb 2013!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=420670.0

Despicable Me Sewing Machine Cover

I first met the wonderful Foxy Sam when she chose me in the Oct Birthday Swap to craft for.  She does amazing work, and we had talked about doing a personal swap.  Then, the next round of Invite Your Partner came up on Craftster, and we decided that would be a great time  to do our swapping!   I'm so glad we did!

She asked me to make her two shawls, and a sewing machine cover.  She loves the minions from Despicable Me, so I embroidered minions and color tinted them for her cover.

Soft Kitty

I played with my daughter's toy version of a pottery wheel using the Crayola brand Air Dry Clay. It's actually much harder to make pottery than I thought, probably even more so using a kid pottery wheel since it doesn't have as much "umph" as a real sculpting wheel.  I had wanted to try to make a vase, or cup or something, but it ended up taking more of a bowl-like shape.  Actually, it looks a bit like an ash tray if I were being honest, but I don't smoke, nor have the need of an ash tray, so its a bowl.   To hold keys, like in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment...on Big Bang Theory.

Now, I realize the dark colors on Soft Kitty are not usually the prominent color, but I wasn't sure I had enough gray to use the lighter color on bulk of the painting, so I purposefully reversed it.  It's not perfect, but it's cute enough.  You can't see in the picture, but on one side I wrote "Sing Me Soft Kitty." and the other "Purr Purr Purr." It shows up sorta okay.

Mini Art Quilt Swap rd 6

I finally  joined the Mini Art Quilt Swap on Craftster!  I was partnered with tapestrymlp and she has a love for Harry Potter, and I learned, Luna Lovegood. How awesome is that? I love Luna Lovegood, too!  As far as art quilts go, I realize mine is much more simplistic, but I thought it was fun.  I used blue and yellow (Ravenclaw colors) for the front, and I found *the most perfect* backing fabric on Spoonflower.com.

I received the most beautiful mini art quilt from my partner tapestrymlp.  She told me she was inspired by my nature theme, but I didn't have any more clues than that.  She fabric painted a manatee (my daughter's favorite animal)  It's gorgeous. It is loved  by my whole family.