I tried a commercial case for my Kindle, but it just wasn’t what I wanted, so I decided to make my own.  I dug out some vintage fabric from Knitt’n Kitten, a button from a batch I bought garage saling last summer, and some roving from my friend Marge, who had saved it from her mother’s stash.  I did use new felt to line the case, and I bought some hemp strapping.

It isn’t perfect, as I’m no seamstress (I’m taking my first class this Saturday, in hopes of remedying the situation), but it does fit the Kindle like a glove, and it looks pretty darned good.

The only minor disaster was the button.  I started out with a hand-stitched button hole.  It ended up looking like a surgery scar, and the button sagged.  I replaced it with a velcro closure, but I couldn’t part with the button, so I felted a little background for it, and used it to cover the horrible button hole.

I’m especially happy with the flower.  You can’t tell from the pic, but the petals turned out with a nice shape.

I actually used my sewing machine, and the world didn’t end.  I have ordered an embellisher, and have plans for the two machines.  Together, they will make me pretty things.

Here is what I remember about Brad.  He always got my Star Trek references, no matter how obscure.  He even understood when I referred to some godawful book.  Now who will understand when I slyly quip about Romulans separating their food?

Thanks for touching my life.

How a cookbook should look.

Originally uploaded by frykitty

How a cookbook should look

Originally uploaded by frykitty

Some series just get better and better. Bound to Shadows is the eighth installment in the Riley Jensen series, and is the best so far.

Riley has finally found her wolf’s soul mate, and he’s a killer. Not a nice, fuzzy killer, either, but a cold-blooded, mercenary sunovabitch. Just her luck. Now she has to deal with …him, fight for her life with Quinn, and track down the vampire behind two puzzling series of murders.

If you’re a Riley fan, this is a good ‘un.

Some books have the best fantasies. Part of why I love Kim Harrison’s books are because I want to live in a church beside a graveyard, and have pixies and gargoyles in residence. Unclean Spirits is even better. Jayne (pronounced juh-NAY) has inherited her uncle’s demon-fighting legacy. People who need help, a few dozen houses around the world filled with books and weird paraphernalia, and three hot guys to explore it with.  Oh yeah.

The writing is clear and sharp, the characters flawed but likable, and the plot is fast-moving and entertaining. Unclean Spirits is the first book in the series, and Darker Angels, also good, is out as well.

Love Sookie Stackhouse? Would you believe I like Harper Connelly better? Only a little bit, but it’s true. Grave Secret is the fourth book in Charlaine Harris’s series about a woman who can find the dead. There is Harper, and a few psychics, but otherwise the books are free of werewolves and vampires and such. The writing has a visceral, simple quality that is a bit darker than the Stackhouse books, and the world has a stark believability that I find very appealing.

In Grave Secret, Harper and Tolliver find themselves reluctantly embroiled in a mystery of inheritance, and even more reluctantly in a family mystery when Tolliver’s father is released from prison.

If you’ve never read this series, start from the beginning, with Grave Sight.

Book Recommendation: Soulless, by Gail Carriger. This alt-Victorian steampunk romp was a hoot, and I say that as someone who is not particularly taken with steampunk. Well-crafted, with tongue firmly in cheek. Miss Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster with a rare talent: her lack of soul allows her to neutralize the super…natural. Vampires go fangless and werewolves furless upon her touch. This knack, and her trusty parasol, save her from a vampire attack–by a vampire who shouldn’t exist. With the help of supernatural companions, one insufferable werewolf in particular, Miss Tarabotti investigates the matter, much to her own peril.

Janie fears the sleep of others, because what they dream, she must see. In Wake, the first book of the series, Janie struggles to maintain what little life she is able, as she begins to learn some small measure of control. The unusual writing style serves the book very… well. I was sucked in by page two. It’s a quick read, and one of the best I’ve had recently. Highly recommended.

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Originally uploaded by frykitty

Oops. I’m uploading a bunch of stuff from my phone to flickr, and accidentally blogged this.

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