What I Did On Summer Vacation

Besides wear cowboy boots and break wild horses?...something I never thought I'd do...buy a Nook.  I'm pretty fanatical in my love of books and I have way too many of them.  I love to read...always have.  So never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I would enjoy a (horrors!) electronic book.  But....times, they are a-changin'.

I actually love the wonders of my little techno reader (it's an amazing gadget!) so, I spent at least part of my summer vacation stitching up a quiltie cover thingy to beautify it's exceedingly ugly cover.

Right before we set out for our very long drive to Wyoming, I had ordered, and received, a lovely fabric milagro from my friend, Pilar.  Pilar's milagros are truly amazing and, with her generous permission, I thought I'd try my hand at working one into my Nook quiltie cover.

I started out with a soft piece of fawn covered leather, added some velvet leaves and got carried away from there.

Many mellow mother of pearl buttons later...

...a bit of lace, some torn fabric, a vintage brass charm...

...old lace, hand-worked pink tatting (in pale pink, no less!)...

...a transfer of one of my artist's trading cards for the inside of the cover...

...a handful of glass beads, a little more handstitching and...

...ta da!  Shabby perfection.  It's just so much more pleasant to look at than that industrial looking cover I had.  And, the best part is, it slips on and off easily so I can change it out on a whim.  Of course, this isn't ALL I did on my summer vacation...but that's a story for another post.

Comments

[Jackie]

Would you be interested in making a cover to sell? I love my nook. your right times are changing and it's hard not to love digital. I found your blog through the promotion on sharon tomlinsons blog and I am planning on taking your class. You two will be so awesome together:)

[Michelle]

LOVE your cover - so beautiful! I've been considering getting one - in Canada they have the Kobo (I have NO idea why it's called that! lol) That being said I had only heard of the Kindle before you posted about the Nook - very cool. I'm a tactile kind of gal but it is too tiresome to lug several books around - hence my attraction to these electronic readers...lol

[Chris]

What a fabulous cover! What a great idea~~I'm so glad that you shared this Deryn!

[Diana Frey]

Oh Deryn...your cover is beautiful. All of the fine details, color and texture....very yummy. I just ordered a new generation Kindle and look forward to its arrival.
Hugs
Diana

[Pattie]

The cover is quite awesome and sooooo Deryn!!! Now you ready for another one of those "doo doo do" moments?? We have been having the to Kindle or not to Kindle debate at our house for months now. Soooo lordy guess what was waiting for me when I got to my son's house??? Oh Yeah a brand spankin new Kindle!!!! For us it's more then perfect! We have an English lang. library but 90% are vacation/mindless novels you know either romances or video games with covers. When we order from Amazon it takes a good month and the courier adds a shipping/weight fee of around $20!!! I'm sooo smitten and my doubting Thomas is even lovin it! No lovely case yet as LW ordered a great leather cover that works like book covers. And since we do share this I can't see him going for the shabby look just yet. Might have to ease that in slowly! ;)

Pattie ;)
Mazatlan Mx.

[maureen]

Who remembered that you sew so well! What a lovely collage you've created. I'm envious of the wonderful closeups you take of everything. Is there a secret to such a good closeup? Enjoy your Nook and the treasures within your nook cozy.

[rebecca]

while you were making beautiful pious saints...i was making a bit of a bad girl sinner...

you can peek here..
http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2010/08/art-un.html

i love what you have created...this summer, in your cowboy boots!!

[Alice]

Oh man, I'm a book lover. Not sure if I could get used to something like this. But that beautiful cover is clever!

[Lee]

Awesome cover!! I'm always behind on the techno area, but maybe I'll get one in the future!

[Mary Green]

So beautiful, with so many wonderful details, thank you very much for showing us

[le petit cabinet de curiosites]

I love the fabric milagro and I admire your creativity , you are a source of inspiration

[sandra]

oh my, that is stunning! you've inspired to make a cover for my new MacBook, but i'll have to wait 'til i can unpack all my stuff!

[Renate]

It is fantastic! I love it!!! Particularly those wonderful MOP buttons...

[Kim Gibson]

I just got a Nook for my anniversary... and I LOVE it! Never woulda thunk it either, but what a wonderful thing it is... it is currently charging downstairs, and I can't wait til I can go back to reading my book. I am working on a cover too... but my vacation starts later this week, and I have been sewing like mad to get ready for it, so haven't done much more than planned and started to gaether things together. Maybe on vacation... but it's camping, so , maybe not....

[kelly snelling]

it is very pretty! i never thought i'd like an ereader either. tom got me one and i had him return it. then i wanted to take an 800 page book on vacation so i got the kindle. but now my second one is broken (dog ate first one, husband dropped second one). so i may end up with a nook yet. :0)

[Sharon @ norah'S]

WOW! You just whooped that out, didn't you. Sure is better than that commercial one. So lovely.

[Janet Bocciardi]

You are truly living the artistic life! This is beautiful!
I too am a life-long book lover and got to a point where I had no more room for both my jewelry and art books, as well as novels... so I asked for and received a Kindle 1.5 yrs ago. I love it. Much easier for vacation or short trips, since it's small and you don't have to figure out how many books to take. I reason that I'm saving trees. It's not the death of writing as some worried.

[Lola M.]

Ooooh, ahhhh -- love the cover! So you say it's a good gadget, eh? I've been considering something similar, I do love all my books but I never thought I'd have an iPhone, either:)

[Jackie]

So beautiful! I love all of the religious treasures you put on it and all of the amazing hand stitching!