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