Books, and the start of a new obsession?

Greetings from Japan! Yesterday I took the short flight from Taipei to Osaka and then the train from Osaka to Kyoto. Wednesday is the Chairwoman's birthday, so since I was in the neighborhood (so to speak), I thought it'd be nice to bring her a gift in person.

But I still have some things to catch up on from before I got embroiled in finals. One of them is all the lovely books I have acquired recently!

The top book in the picture is a graduation gift from a friend in Austin. She knows I'll be heading out to California eventually, and she knows like cooking, so she wanted to get me something foodie- and California-themed. There are some delicious-looking recipes in this book, plus beautiful photographs. I'm planning on trying out some recipes once I get back!

The two bottom books are ones I got courtesy of my Lexis Nexis points. (For non-law people: Lexis Nexis is one of two popular legal databases that provide frequent-user points to law students. The points are meant to get students hooked on using the particular database so that when the students turn into lawyers, they'll choose to use that database when it actually costs money. (The databases are provided free of charge to law schools.)) I never accrued many points, but I got enough to get $50 worth of gift cards to Barnes & Noble. So I bought Favorite Socks and Amy Butler's In Stitches.

I am especially excited about In Stitches. I would really like to start sewing more this summer, if I can find the time; I never had time in law school, and my grandmother's sewing machine just gathered dust in a corner of my apartment. But the projects in this book are absolutely beautiful--just right to inspire me to get sewing.

I also treated myself to a pre-graduation present and bought Denyse Schmidt's Quilts and the Modern Quilt Workshop. (I'll put in links and pictures later, when I have more time! I didn't manage to get pictures of these books before I left.) Those are even more inspiring! I am rapidlybecoming obsessed with quilts. I'm sure my first few attempts will be a disaster, but I really like the idea of slowly putting together something as big as a blanket. As knitters well know, producing a knit blanket takes forEVER. Quilting holds out the (probably illusory) promise of more instant gratification.

Anyway, maybe this blog will expand to include quilting in the near future. We'll see!