Viking Wire Weaving Jewelry
A lovely handmade necklace and matching bracelet made of sterling silver wire in the simple and elegant style popular in northern Europe from 700 to 1100 AD. This was made to be a prize in the Not Going to Conference Conference on Romance Divas. Or maybe it will go to Diva Fest at nationals. 🙂 I’ll let Cup decide.
The Weaverfields Heir by David Bridger
A new release – THE WEAVERFIELDS HEIR by David Bridger
When Kate Richards inherits a dilapidated English estate from her estranged grandfather, she finds herself thrust into a world full of hostile new family members, mysterious Romany tenants, and strange visions of “the net” – an invisible web that connects everything in the universe. Kate thinks she’s losing her sanity, but the odd family stories and disturbing tales of locals convince her that something sinister is going on at Weaverfields, while the inescapable pull of the net draws her deeper into the secrets of her new home.
But with those secrets come danger, and an old evil that refuses to let go of its hold on the net – or on Weaverfields. The only person who seems to understand is Joe, a Romany street artist with his own ties to the land. Kate and Joe must master the net before the past intrudes on the present… in very ugly ways…
Read an excerpt and buy The Weaverfields Heir at Etopia Press.
13 Things I’ve Made This Year
Time for Thursday Thirteen. Here are thirteen things I’ve made in 2011: 
1. A warm handknit balaclava for my brother.
2. A Moebius scarf/wrap for a friend.
3. A dishcloth and scrubbie for the next door neighbors.
4 & 5. A hat and scarf for me
6.The petticoat to go with my steampunk outfit
7. The bustle skirt for the steampunk outfit
8. My steampunk outfit sans hat
9 & 10. I hand dyed the yarn and hand knit the socks for a secret sister sock exchange.
11. Socks that I knit for ME!
12. Sandbags for the flood fight
13. Wall Art. The covers of my two books framed between two handcarved wolf mirrors that friends gave me as a congratulatory gift for my first release.
Her Own Best Enemy by Cynthia Justlin
In honor of Cynthia Justlin’s birthday later this week, she’s holding a $0.99 SALE on her romantic suspense, HER OWN BEST ENEMY. This is a limited time sale, so grab it while it’s cheap!
Desperate to track down her ex-husband who disappeared along with their son, Grace Stevens delves into his past and uncovers evidence of a shocking dual life. The man she thought was an ordinary computer consultant is in fact a former high-ranking Special Forces officer with unique skills in military intelligence. With nowhere to turn she is forced to plead for help from Keith King, the one man she hoped to never see again. Against her better judgment she’ll have to put her child’s fate into his hands.
Keith has officially hit rock bottom. Framed for the theft of deadly missile components, the cynical Special Forces officer is in danger of losing the only thing he can count on: his career. His one shot at clearing his name lies in locating Grace’s ex, who was working with Keith on a secret mission to take down a cutthroat military traitor. But to team up with Grace he’ll need to spend 24/7 with a woman who has every reason to hate him. Out to use each other for their own agenda, desperate mother and disillusioned soldier find they must work together to stay alive, and in the process discover that sometimes even the best of enemies fall in love.
Thursday 13 – Flood 2011
Welcome to Fargo. Grab a Sandbag please. Here in eastern North Dakota we are dealing with our 3rd straight major flood. This year it has all been very quiet and laid back. If you are only in the city and not having to drive anywhere, you would hardly know there’s a flood. That’s because we knew this one was coming. In 2009 we had a mere 9 days to build miles and miles of sandbag dikes. This year we started building sandbags in February. And the river crested at 38.75 feet, the 4th highest crest in history. It is receding now, slowly. We’re expecting up to 5 inches of snow on Thursday nmight and friday, so that may slow things down. But the real problem now is in the rural areas. If you look at these pics and onder why is there a foot of water on the interstates, it because we live on completely flat land. Pour a glass of water on a table, and it will cover the entire table. Not very deeply, but it will keep running until something stops it. Here, there are no hills to stop it, so it just goes everywhere. In my county we have over 60 miles of roads closed, and another 50 miles that are drivable but under at least 6 inches of water. One of my co-workers Carla Busche (I wrote Sleeping With the Wolf for her), has to drive for almost two hours to work, since so many of the roads are flooded and everyone crawls along at a snail’s pace on the few roads that are open. It’s normally a half hour from her farm to work, but now she has to leave at 4:45 am to punch in by 7:00. Her husband takes the kids to daycare partly by boat.Fargo is weathering the flood well, but Valley City, only 55 miles away, is fighting hard. Pray for them. Here are 13 pics of our flood:Honey, we’re gonna need the boat.
This is prairie land, not a lake.
Updates!
What have I been up to lately? Aside from recovering from pneumonia? Well, working on edits for Wolf’s Glory. And working the day job. After missing a little over a week at my desk at NAS, I’m way behind on my work. So I put in my eight hours there, and go home to my other desk. My editor has been very understanding about me being sick. She said I should take care of myself first, then work on the edits. I have gone through the manuscript, made some changes and additions, and turned it in. My editor will review it and send it back sometime this week for me to continue to make improvements. If you go to the Excerpts Page you will find the whole first chapter of Wolf’s Glory.
Another thing that everyone in Fargo is doing is watching the river rise. Unlike in 2009 we have had months to prepare for this flood. I put in my shift at Sandbag Central filling sandbags back in February. This time around the flood fight is calm and steady. I don’t even have an emergency evacuation bag packed. Hm. Hope I won’t need one. The river is hovering right around 38.5 feet, 20.5 feet above flood stage. I believe that is 
the fourth highest crest on record. It may still go a little higher, but not much. As long as the dikes and sandbags hold we’ll be fine. There are about 60 miles of roads under water, including an interstate highway, so getting around is tricky. Rural kids are being brought to school via ATMs, canoes and air boats. Fun times here in the Red River of the North’s valley. Send positive vibes our way, everyone!
Steampunk Costuming Updated
It’s almost done! All I have left to do is put the skirt fastenings on and make the hat. I will make a blouse sometime in the future. That will be more useful if I ever use this costume for spinning demos. For the time being I will wear a lacy white camisole. I almost ordered Victorian boots, but honestly, I’ve already spent a lot of money on this costume, and I have some T-strap low heeled punps I can wear instead. At any rate. I’m feeling pretty pleased with the results.
I will make the hat next weekend. If you’d like to see the step-by-step of this project, I have a photo log of this over on my facebook page.
Steampunk Costume Attempt
Petticoat front
Petticoat back is fuller, for bustle
There’s a sci-fi/fantasy con in Moorhead in April and one of my friends is having a Steampunk themed hospitality room. So I’ve decided to sew myself an appropriate costume. I’ve ordered a corset and jacket from an online store. I won’t have time to sew everything by April 15. Hope they get here on time. Since I’m into historical costuming I decided to go with a Victorian outfit but since it’s fantasy anything goes, right? Anyway, yesterday I began the costume by making a petticoat out of white muslin with ribbon trim. I didn’t have a pattern (it’s a petticoat. 4 gores, a ruffle hem and a casing for an elastic waistband. How hard can it be?) so I measured my hips, divided that number by 4, measured myself waist-to-ankle, and laid out the fabric to cut 4 gores.
Then I sewed the gore sides together, made a casing for two rows of narrow elastic, sewed the black ribbon over the edge of the eyelet ruffle (can you believe how much that stuff costs?!!) and and sewed a couple red ribbon roses over the black ribbon.
I also picked up a black hat and I will be putting ribbon and a silk rose on the crown, and maybe some netting?
I wasn’t planning on spending a lot of money on this outfit, but between the jacket, corset, hat, fabric for the petticoat, blouse andskirt, I think I’ll be sinking around $200.00 into this project. I will have to go to every con I can find to get my money’s worth out of this outfit!
I’ll be posting as I go with pictures of the items I make.
13 Facts about March
It’s March! That means that here in North Dakota winter will be over in a month or so. Hooray!!! But March can be a treacherous month. Did you know that some of the worst weather on record occurred in March? Here are some random facts about March:
1. The word March is from the Roman god of war, Mars. March was the first month of the Roman year.
2. The Great Storm of March 12-13, 1993 affected 26 US states and much of eastern Canada. Syracuse NY had 43 inches of snow. Birmingham AL had 13 inches, Atlanta GA had 4 inches. Several NASCAR races had to be postponed for weeks.
3. On March 4, 1793 George Washington delivered the shortest inaugural speech ever, at just 135 words.
4. On March 15, 1941 the northern plains were hit especially hard by a blizzard. It was 20 degrees and sunny in the morning so folks went into town wearing their spring clothing, but by that evening over 150 people were dead in North Dakota.
5. In the US March is Women’s History Month.
6. In Japan, the spring equinox (around March 20-21) is a national holiday. I like that. It’s better than St Patrick’s Day.
7. On March 1, 1983 the low temperature in Quincy Missouri was -21 F. Yowza. That would be low even for North Dakota.
8. On March 22, 1457 the Gutenberg Bible became the first printed book.
9. On March 25 31 AD the first Easter is celebrated in recorded history.
10. On March 26, 2009 the previous record for flood level was broken in Fargo ND. It crested a week or so later at over a foot higher than the previous record.
11. On March 2, 1962 Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a basketball game. NO one has come even close since then.
12. In March of 1949 Newfoundland became Canada’s 10th province. (Not the Yukon)
13. The first St Patrick’s Day parade took place in New York City on March 17, 1762. That was before the Irish Potato Famine drove large numbers of Irish immigrants to New York.
Does any of this surprise you?
Far From Perfect by Portia da Costa
FAR FROM PERFECT – Portia Da Costa
Enduring passion, turbulent emotions, and an engagement of convenience…
Anna Felgate and Nick Lisitano shared a night of passion together four long years ago, and even though the sex was perfect, the emotional aftermath and the estrangement that followed were about as far from perfect as it’s possible to be. Both strong willed individualists, they’ve been keeping their distance ever since – even though they both secretly admit that they’re still hot for each other. But the best laid plans of estranged lovers never run smoothly, and a crisis in Nick’s family brings the two of them back together again. For the sake of his ailing father, Nick proposes a daring plan – a temporary engagement – and even though she knows she’s playing with fire and putting her heart in deep peril, Anna is compelled to agree to it.
Can these two former lovers pull off their deception without tearing each other apart in the process? And will they manage to resist their mutual desire and keep their hands off one another… or will they plunge headlong into an affair, perfect or otherwise?
