aphoenixrain

There's more than 13 things here. Regardless, here's my list of crafty to-dos for this coming year.


January - Finish Alex's blanket/Ben's pillowcases
February - Finish Apache Wedding Blessing/Two Birthday Blocks
March - Finish Craft Room Cushions/Two Birthday Blocks
April - Finish Book Bag
May - Finish Curtains for Upstairs Window/Two Birthday Blocks
June - Finish 1 Antique Quilt Top
July - Finish Stack and Whack Quilt/Two Birthday Blocks
August - Finish Overdue T-Shirt Quilt (2012 Goal)/Two Birthday Blocks
September - Finish Fall Leaves Quilt Top/Cut Pieces for Fall Leaves Quilt Backing
October - Start Cutting/Dying Scraps for Latchhook Rug
November - Finish Fall Leaves Quilt (if back from longarmer)
December - Finish Red Crochet Scrumble Blanket

So, in order to not re-create the wheel here .... here is a slideshow of *almost* everything that I accomplished craft-wise in 2012.





And, my list ....


January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks for birthday_blocks
April - Finish 2011 BOM top
May - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
June - finish blocks for SIL present
July - Assemble very late wedding quilt topper
August - 3x blocks for birthday_blocks
September - cut t-shirts for very late t-shirt quilt top
October - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
November - Finish 2010 birthday_blocks quilt
December - finish t-shirt topper from September

The last two will be carry-over to 2013. To read the more complete story, please go over to my blog post 12 for 2012 Wrap-Up Post at Treasures of the Phoenix.

* Best Book I Read (Fiction): Fool by Christopher Moore

* Best Book I Read (Non-Fiction): Manhunt: The 12 day Search for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson

* Worst Book I Read (Fiction): Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

* Worst Book I Read (Non-Fiction): Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger In The Stanford White Family by Suzannah Lessard

* Most Educational Book: Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

* Most Interesting Book (subject): Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott

* Most Interesting Book (overall): Tie: Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (fiction) The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (non-fiction)

* Book I Cried Upon Reading: As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto

* Book I Wish I Wrote: Plum Wine: A Novel by Angela Davis Gardner

* Book I Could Have Written: Heartbeat by Sharon Creech (May 2012)

* Book That Impacted me the Most : Communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks

* Book I Wish My Teenage Self Had Read: Communion: The female search for love by bell hooks (June 2012)

January

The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd
Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger In The Stanford White Family - Suzannah Lessard
The Stone Gods - Jeanette Winterson
Fool - Christopher Moore
The Binding Chair or A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society - Kathryn Harrison


February

Diary - Chuck Palahniuk
She: Understanding Feminine Psychology - Robert A. Johnson
The Madonnas of Leningrad - Deborah Dean
The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde


March

The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown
Bloodroot -- Amy Greene
The Behaviour of Moths -- Poppy Adams
The School of Essential Ingredients -- Erica Bauermeister
War by Candlelight -- Daniel Alarcon
The Language of Flowers -- Vanessa Diffenbaugh


April

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World - Stephen Johnson
The Reader - Bernard Schlink
Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer - James Swanson


May

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
The Straight Skinny - Garrison Keillor
Heartbeat - Sharon Creech
Incendiary - Chris Cleave
Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant a Playwright and a Spy Saved the American Revolution - Joel Richard Paul


June

Communion: The female search for love - bell hooks


July

Crush - Richard Siken
The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl
Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates - Wes Moore
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary - Simon Winchester
The Eyes of the Dragon - Stephen King
Sirens and Other Demon Lovers - Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Descartes' Bones - Russell Shorto


August

Princess: A True Story of a Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia - Jean Sasson


September

The Lake of Dreams - Kim Edwards
Leonardo's Swans - Karen Essex
Plum Wine: A Novel - Angela Davis Gardner
Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America's Soul - Karen Abbott
Wonderland Creek - Lynn Austin
Snow White, Blood Red - Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow (eds.)


October

Ash - Malinda Lo
Winter Rose - Patricia McKillip
As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl - John Colapinto
Color: A Natural History of the Palette - Victoria Finlay
Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer - Chely Wright
The Pigeon Pie Mystery: A Novel - Julia Stuart


November

The Invention of Everything Else: A Novel - Samantha Hunt


December

Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Stout
Virgin: The Untouched History - Hanna Blank
Sex with Kings - Eleanor Herman
Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age - Donna Lucey
Freud: Three Case Studies

So, as previously stated, I was ahead of the game for March already. So, I only had one birthday block left:



Mary's Shooting Star block. I love a couple of the fabrics here that I pulled from my LFS scrap bin. The cupcakes and the 30's piece came from them. I enjoyed this one, aside from the fact that my sizing came out *really* wonky. Because of the bias cut, she should be able to stretch it to fit, but I did a second block for her anyway.



I really like the music fabric and the shamrock fabric. Those also came from the scrap bin at my LFS. You can see some repeats in fabric that I used, (lizards, doghouses and robins) but I don't think she'll mind.

So...progress to date is......


January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present *halfway done*
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks for birthday_blocks


In addition, I made 5 postcards for our postcard swap here on LJ.



This was the first one, I called it "Beginning of a Quilt". Seriously, the colors were just what I had in my stash bag called, "random shapes" (I sort my scraps by shape, not color). So, it ended up being a brown and pink crazy quilted type. I wanted to get some of my surface stitching back, so I worked on my blanket stitch. I was pretty proud of it until I saw some of clumsy_chord's and aalia7's. Then I was less proud.




This was my second one and also made from my scraps. I love these swaps for that. This looked a million times better in my mind. It's hard to scale down these things, but I'm happy with my first real attempt of using some vintage lace accessories on it.




My third and the one I almost made twice because I liked it so much. I'm a tea drinker (can't have coffee) and I don't really feel awake until I have my spot of tea. I <3 the tea bag!




My fourth and one of the simplest in design. I like that I chose red ribbon and I'm pretty happy with my word stitches. Not as beautiful as aalia7's script, but I think it's really fitting for what I envisioned.




I almost didn't send this one. Seriously. I just wasn't sure how it would be received (I hope whoever gets it likes it!). It was just one of those images that I couldn't get out of my head and had to make it. I actually think I'm going to do something similar in a hoop for my craft room.

Also, one more additional finish. I have been taking a canvas class at my LNS and I finished my piece.



I wasn't as nervous about the canvas work, but I'm glad I took a class. This piece will go in the bedroom, along with a companion piece that I have yet to start stitching, but the colors are just perfect. Despite the pattern being off in a couple of places and my counting being off in a couple more, I don't think anyone will notice....

And, since I really enjoyed this piece, a couple more shots.



This is the center motif. I'm really proud of my couching here. I didn't intentionally mean for my squiggle to look like a S, but now I can't see anything else in it.



This is the border of one of the ribbon and bargello sections. I really like how the colors work together, although I do think the watercolor gets lost in some of the green and ribbon sections. What do you think?

January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks for birthday_blocks - 1 left!

So, time to update what I've gotten completed for my 12 for 2012 list. I cannot believe how productive this is making me feel!

January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present

Is now completed. This project, for me, was one that totally evolved as I went along with it, very gently. A lot of the time when I have an idea it just slowly comes into being and I don't worry too much about size, etc. I just figure it ends up being what it wants to be. I'm just glad that this idea really wanted to be a wall-hanging - I don't know what I would have done had it ended up being an entire quilt!





You can read more about the crazy-beautiful wedding and love that this is inspired by at my blog: Treasures of the Phoenix.

February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks

carilea's block had been done for a while already, but went in the mail finally. It's here again:






I'm not a panel person. Now that I've said that, I'll tell you that this wall-hanging is the first (and last so far) panel that I've bought. I got it over a year ago during an online shop hop. There was just something about the style that spoke to me. This is another project that has been percolating forever, I had finished the hand-quilting around the tree last August.



This past fall I added the buttons from my antique collection that has been passed down and collected on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.






March - 2 blocks for birthday_blocks - 1 left!

Way back in January I had mkissa's block already completed. And now it's in the mail on it's way to her:



Although I still like this block, I think there's too much white in it, and would personally prefer it if it were cream instead of white.

This past week, during my sick leave from work, I finished Ralu's blue and white block. This one is called Glory Boxes and so far, it's my favorite block from this year:





So....I'm done with my 12 for 2012 through March already (I still have one March birthday_block to finish, which will be done soon. So, what else will I be working on?

Well, I am taking a hardanger class at my LNS, so I'll show you that soon. Plus, I have some postcards to make for the fabric postcard swap! So, despite the fact that this list is working beautifully for me .... there's still crafting left to do!

January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present *halfway done*
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks 2 blocks for birthday_blocks
April - Finish 2011 BOM top *halfway completed*
May - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
June - finish blocks for SIL present
July - Assemble very late wedding quilt topper
August - 3x blocks for birthday_blocks
September - cut t-shirts for very late t-shirt quilt top
October - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
November - Finish 2010 birthday_blocks quilt
December - finish t-shirt topper from September

I can't wait to show you pics - but it will have to wait 'til this weekend after I gift the wedding present.....

January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present *halfway done*
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks 2 blocks for birthday_blocks
April - Finish 2011 BOM top *halfway completed*
May - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
June - finish blocks for SIL present
July - Assemble very late wedding quilt topper
August - 3x blocks for birthday_blocks
September - cut t-shirts for very late t-shirt quilt top
October - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
November - Finish 2010 birthday_blocks quilt
December - finish t-shirt topper from September

Not to mention I have another finish - the Polar Bears! They are finally done. After 4 years of taking pictures of progress, but probably close to 10+ years total work.



It's not the best picture of it, but I am so glad to be done. Now to wait for a framing sale at my LNS ....

stolen from hardhatcat who stole it from ofenjen

January - Wedding Wall Hanging Present
February - Valentine's Wall Hanging + 1 birthday_blocks
March - 3 x blocks for birthday_blocks
April - Finish 2011 BOM top
May - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
June - finish blocks for SIL present
July - Assemble very late wedding quilt topper
August - 3x blocks for birthday_blocks
September - cut t-shirts for very late t-shirt quilt top
October - 2x blocks for birthday_blocks
November - Finish 2010 birthday_blocks quilt
December - finish t-shirt topper from September