My Winnipeg Weekend
Published January 29, 2012 | 
This past weekend I went up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for the Barony of Castel Rouge’s 12th Night event. 12th Night is a common event celebrated in the SCA. I always have a good time up there in Castel Rouge. I’ll be up there again in May for the Crown Tourney. I drove up with Tiff and Chris and stayed at Dave and Robyn’s. One of the 12th Night traditions is to give small gifts to friends. Robyn gave me this terrific bowler hat. She said I could use it for my steampunk costuming. She’s right. I thought it looked pretty nice on me 
The theme at this event was Indian, so many of the attendees wore saris and salwar kameez. Others wore the dress of their chosen persona.
A marvellous (really, truly, awesome) henna artist was there to create art on hands, arms and feet. If you ever get to see Kim at www.winnipeghenna.com, go for it! Her work is stunning. I chose a fairly simple design that went from the tip of my left forefinger to a band around my wrist. Kim sprinkled glitter over the wet henna. As the henna dried some of the glitter flaked off, but mostly it stayed until I showered on sunday night. Here is what it looks like now.
I had a wonderful time with old friends and made some new ones too. Here is my friend Lyndi (actually the person I based Rose Turner on) her dad Ron and me.
During court, seeing three knights swear fealty was stirring. Someday I really do have to write some medieval historical romance!
All in all, it was a great weekend!
Coming February 6: Wolf Tracker!
Published January 22, 2012 | Yes, I have the release date for Wolf Tracker! It will be available at Liquid Silver Books on Monday, February 6!
Click here to read a sneak peek at Wolf Tracker!!
13 Comfort Foods
Published January 18, 2012 | The winter here in North Dakota has been amazingly mild until today. We’ve had only a few inches of snow, temperatures have been consistently 20-30 degrees above average, it’s been sunny and it’s gotten below zero only once. I wonder if this is like to live in the south?
However, that came to a screeching halt today, when the high was -2 F and the wind was blowing strongly. It will be the same or colder tomorrow, with the windchill expected to be -45 to -50. When it gets cold like this I think of comfort food. Something warm and filling and nummy.
1. Mashed potatoes.
2. Home made beef stew.
3. Dad’s Favorite. Eggs, sliced potatoes, green peppers, bacon all mixed together in the pan.
4. Super Soup. My family’s recipe for minestrone soup.
5. Hot chocolate with whipped cream.
6. French toast made into a ham and swiss sandwich.
7. Mostaccioli. With lots of chicken in the sauce.
8. Bread hot from the over slathered with butter and honey.
9. Chicken and Stars soup.
10. Chicken potpie.
11. Chili.
12. Roast in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots.
13. Beef and Barley soup.
When it’s cold what do you like to eat?
Books I Want To Read
Published January 8, 2012 | Do you ever get so excited about a upcoming book that no other story can really satisfy you? I get like that. Here are a few books that I am on pins and needles for:
Only two more days until Lothaire by Kresley Cole is out!!! I just finished re-reading A Hunger Like No Other, the first in the series, and my fave so far. Not sure about Lothaire, to be honest. He’s a bad guy. I wonder how the author will redeem him?
Angel’s Flight by Nalini Singh is on my radar. It comes out Feb 28. At first I didn’t think the Guild Hunter books were as good as the Psy/Changeling books, but they are definitely growing on. Talking about an author taking a bad guy and redeeming him, have you read Archangel’s Blade?
The Alpha and Omega series is one of my favorites. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs comes out March 6.
Also out on March 6 is Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison. I really liked Dragon Bound, the first book in the series. The second was a bit meh, and I didn’t think I’d like Serpent’s Kiss, the third one, but I ended up loving it. The novella, True Colors, was pretty darned good too. Now I need to wait until March for the next. March!
The next Black Dagger Brotherhood book, Lover Reborn by JR Ward is out in late March. I kinda gave up on this series, but I might get this one. Tohrment was one of the original brothers and I’d like to see him happy again.
Another Psy/Changling book is coming out in late May. Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh. I think I’d read anything by Nalini Singh. Not only is she a fantastic writer, but I got to meet her at Lori Foster’s thing last summer. She was gracious and sweet.
What books are you looking forward to?
How To Sew A Knitting Project Bag
Published January 7, 2012 | Or a jewelry pouch, or an evening bag, or a cute little bag for just about anything. As a knitter and crocheter, I usually have half a dozen projects going at once. I decided that what I needed was individual bags to put them in to keep them separate. A plastic grocery bag will do, but it’s not very pretty and the little notions like stitch markers, tape measure and scissors always get lost in those bags. I’ve seen some adorable bags online and at my local yarn stores, but how could I possibly afford to spend $15-$30 for each bag? I would have to spend over $100! I’m somewhat crafty, so I looked through my fabric stash (as a costumer in the SCA I have LOTS of little scraps of nice fabrics) and devised what I think is a quick and easy-to-sew project bag. Even if I had purchased everything, I probably would have spent less than $8.00 to make this.
Supplies:
1/3 yard outer fabric
1/3 yard lining fabric
1.75 yards cording
small piece of plastic canvas
Directions:
1. Out of the outer fabric and lining fabric cut two rectangles 11″x15″ of each fabric. 4 pieces. If your fabrics are ravell-y (fray easily) you may want to serge or pink the edges.
2. Out of each lower corner cut out a 2.5 inch square.
3. 
Cut a piece of the lining fabric 8″x11″. This will be a pocket, and if you don’t want a pocket for your tape measure, scissors, knitting needles, cellphone, lipstick etc, just skip the next steps.
4. Fold the long raw edges inside and press. Place on one lining piece about 1.5 inchesw above the notches and stitch around three edges, leaving the top open. Stitch a few verticle lines to create compartments. I’ve laid a few items on top just to show you what could go in the pocket.
5. On outer fabric measure two inches down from top and mark a 1″ channel from side to side. This will be where the drawstring will go. Put outer fabric right sides together and sew sides from top to bottom, skipping the 1 inch where the cording will go. Hm. I’ve just realized I didn’t get a pic of that and it is darned confusing. Here is a pic of another bag in progress. You can barely see the pencil lines, but I marked the gap with pins and laid the pencil along the top line. 
6. Press seams open. At the bottom corner, line up the side seam with the bottom seam. Sew 
accross. 
Do the same with the other side. Now your bag looks little like a luch sack, right?
7. Put the lining pieces right sides together (the pocket will be inside) Sew the sides and bottom, but leave a 3 inch gap above the pocket. This gap will be used to turn the bag out.
8. Put the rectangle of plastic canvas over the wrong side of the lining at the bottom. Sew it down. I used the wide zigzag stitch to sew it just on the sides at the seams. You could also hand sew it.
9. Put the bag inside the lining, right sides together. Sew along the top edge.
10. Turn right sides out by pulling bag through the 3 inch gap in the lining. This is kind of fiddly, but it can be done. Put the lining inside the bag and make it look all pretty.
11. Stitch close to the top edge. Now make the channel for the cording by stitching two more lines around the top, one above and one below the 1 inch gap at the sides.
12. Cut the cord into two equal length pieces. Start at one channel opening and thread the cord completely around the bag. Tie cord ends together. Thread the other piece of cord completely around the bag at the other opening. Voila! A project bag!
13. Done! It was kind of a pain to figure out, but I think this little pattern can be used for just about anything. You could change the size to make it wider and shorter, or really tall and narrow like for a wine bottle. You could add more pockets or no pockets, or use some fluffy fabric to make a little bag for your ereader. What am I using mine for? It’s holding a crochet project. This is the beginning of a lace weight afghan that I am putting in a raffle basket for Lori Foster’s Annual Reader & Author Get Together along with some books, chocolate and other goodies. It’s not very big yet, but it has 6 months to grow.
If you have any questions on how to make a bag feel free to post. I think I’m a pretty decent romance writer, but I’m not sure how clear my crafting writing is
Posted in Uncategorized | 
bag, free pattern, how-to-sew-a-bag, knitting, knitting project, purse | 
2 CommentsThursday 13: A Peek at Sherry’s Wolf
Published January 4, 2012 | I am currently working on two stories: Eddie’s Prize, Book 4 in the After the Crash series, and the short story about Jumping Stag and Sherry. I plan to release this as a free read in February. That means I need to pick up the pace and WRITE!! Here are the first two paragraphs as a teaser. I thought I had 13 sentences here, but I think it’s actually 14. Oops.
What are you working on these days?
Sherry was so lovely. Jumping Stag of the Wolf Clan paused in the hallway outside the big room of the Plane Women’s House
to let his eyes soak in the beauty of his mate. He hadn’t seen her in nearly four weeks, since the day after he had made human wedding vows to her averted face and hunched shoulder. Those vows had meant nothing to her. For him, they had merely put into words what she was to him: the woman his wolf had chosen to be his mate, the woman he ached to share a bed with, the woman he would die to protect.
Recent Comments