December and End of Year Recap

Read:

1. Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard
2. Falling for the Teacher by Dorothy Clark
3. A Season of the Heart  by Dorothy Clark
4. The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher
5. Labyrinth by A.C.H. Smith
6. The School of Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
7. River God by Wilber Smith
8. Stepping on Roses vol 1 manga by Rinko Ueda
9. 100 Poems by the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth

Stitched:
1. OUAT December block
2. Marquise by Jardin Prive

Finished:
1. Dr. Who biscornu
2. Celtic heart biscornu
3. Onigiri pincushion
4. Fox woodland framed piece
5. Give Joy pinkeep
6. French Country Snowglobe pinkeep
7. Kitty Tamagoyaki amigurumi
8. OUAT sampler
9. Marquise by Jardin Prive

I'm surprised I was able to read so much since I was busy with stitching and finishing last month. I had a lot of fun finishing up my cross stitch designs for my friends for Christmas. Hopefully I can do some more finishing this year.

Books:
Last year I only read 80 books, but there were quite a few good series that I was able to either start or finish up in addition to discovering some new authors.

My favorite series this year:

1. The Steampunk Chronicles by Kady Cross -  a story following Finley Jayne, a girl with a Jekyll and Hyde personality, and her adventures with Griffin King and his friends against the Machinist, an enemy intent on taking over Victorian England.

2. Something Deadly and Strange series by Susan Dennard - 1876 Philadelphia has been overcome by The Dead. Eleanor Fitt and a group called the Spirit-Hunters try to stop the source of this new rising of the Dead, a man who has stolen the body of Eleanor's brother.

3. The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa - Meghan Chase and her Robbie live a somewhat normal life until one day her kid brother starts acting strange. Turns out her brother Ethan has been switched with a changeling and Meghan and Robbie (aka Robin Goodfellow/Puck) must travel to the Faery world in order to get her brother back.

Discovered Authors: none of which are new, but I've just picked them up! O_o"

1. N.K. Schlaudecker - author of the Mayhawk Rising series. I actually went to school with Miss Schlaudecker, she was one of my sister's best friends. I ran across her book Mayhawk Rising and fell in love with her retelling of King Arthur's realm before his assent to the throne. My sister and I both went through King Arthur 'phases' as children and read everything we could get our hands on at our local library. This is lovely addition to the genre of Arthurian literature.....I hope to read any new books in this series!

2. George Mann - steampunk author of the Newbury and Hobbes series. This series is set in Victorian England and features the adventures of Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Ms. Veronica Hobbes.

3. Steven Harper - steampunk author of the Clockwork Empire series. My friend Amanda introduced me to this author as she had given me the first book in the series, The Doomsday Vault, as a gift. I've never been a fan of anything zombie related, but this is quite a good story. I hope to read more it, but I have a feeling I'll either have to ILL or buy the books as my local library and bookstores do not carry the entire series.


Stitching:

I had been in a stitching funk on and off for a while since I had found a new craft to love, crocheting amigurumi (I blame Amanda entirely! LOL) But there is always a designer that draws me out of stitching funk, Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Their Once Upon a Time monthly sampler definitely kept me out of any stitching funks last year and I even stitched on other patterns last year.

Many thanks to Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery! You girls always know how to get us stitchers in the mood to run to our stash boxes for fabric and threads and start on a variety of kawaii designs!

2015 Year Thoughts:

I won't make any resolutions this year in terms of crafting or stitching, but I hope to keep it up. The only thing I hope to do this year is to start designing my own amigurumis. In this endeavor, I wish my friend Amanda lived closer as I always have questions about various crochet stitches, etc. Well, I guess that is what online videos are for :)

I hope you ladies and  gents have a wonderful year of crafting, stitching, and reading. Thanks for all your support and for your comments.

Until next time ^____^