Sunday, February 27, 2011

Garlic Plant


GEDC0358
Originally uploaded by sumantamandal
I planted garlic cloves 2" to 3" under the surface in 10" pots back in September-October. The warmth of last couple of weeks has done wonders. I can see green shoots in four out of the six garlic cloves that I planted. The sub-freezing temperatures of winter did not kill the garlic. I have read on the web that the cold of winter is needed to start the side buds. The side buds grow and swell become cloves.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Kindle DX Cover


GEDC0358
Originally uploaded by sumantamandal
Kindle DX is the largest (9.7" Display) e-book reader in the market today with a good ecosystem of publishers. We received this device about a month back and since then it has become the most popular device in our household. Unlike other electronic reading devices like monitor, laptop, this device is meant to be held in hand for hours.

Human hand is not used to holding plastic devices for hours. We are more used to holding paper books sometimes with paper hard cover or sometimes with fabric. Fabric/paper has more natural feel to it than a shiny piece of plastic. A cover for the device also helps to protect it from daily wear and tear.

The covers available for this model of kindle are either too expensive (over $50) or not in stock.

I had some denim fabric lying around (about a yard of fabric). I went to the local fabric store and picked up 1" wide elastic to secure the kindle device to the back cover. The black elastic was stitched to the four corners of the back cover. Card board from the packaging material was inserted between fabric layers to provide the necessary stiffness.

It took me an hour to complete this project. This is relatively simple project for someone with average sewing skills on a sewing machine.

This cover has been in constant use for last 2 weeks and its still holding strong.

This kind of cover can be made for any e-book reader. Borders filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. It seems that book publishing business is moving away from paper as e-book readers and tablets get more adoption in the market.

You can get really creative with the type and color of fabric for this project. Please try and share your project images.