If so, you should check out the new Kindle app from the folks over at Amazon!

Using their new Whispersync technology, the app saves and synchronizes your reading location across your Kindle(s) and your iPhone and/or iPod Touch. Now you can read a few pages on your iPhone and pick up right where you left off when you return to your Kindle. (Note: Kindle newspaper, magazine and blog subscriptions are not currently available on the iPhone or iPod touch.)

So, what’s that you say? You have an iPhone and/or iPod Touch, but you don’t have a Kindle? No worries! With this application, it appears you can also purchase & read Kindle version of books on your iPhone/iPod Touch without actually owning a Kindle! Per the Amazon website, no Kindle is required to purchase and read books using the Kindle app.

Here are a couple of other photos showing the application in action:

Ok, so is this the ideal way to read a Kindle version of a book? Probably not. However, it’s nice to know that if I get stuck somewhere with a long wait and don’t have my Kindle with me that I can pick right up with my reading on my iPhone. Yay for technology!

WOO HOO! I can’t believe it, but I actually managed to decrease my total number of WIPs (works in progress) by ONE last year!! Hey, that’s realllllly good for me as most years I end up with more than I started. ;) On top of that, of the 21 new starts I had in 2008, I actually finished 12 of them within the same year which is also equally amazing for me!

In looking over my spreadsheet, I definitely have some older, more long-standing WIPs that I need to pull out and show some love to in the near future. One of my stitching goals for 2009 is to knock some more off my current WIP list and cut back on the number of new starts. Ideally, I would like to get my outstanding WIPs down to 15 or less which means finishing at least 7 more projects that I start in 2009.

There is a tradition among the online stitching community of having “Guilt-Free January”. During the month of January, you are free to start as many new projects as you like free of all guilt. I haven’t actually decided yet if I’m going to participate this year. I have plenty of projects I really love already started. I think I want to focus on them for a while instead, especially since I’m sure I’ll be starting a couple of new class projects in early February when I go on the stitching cruise with a group from my LNS.

In case you are interested in a bit more detail of how my 2008 stitching year went, here are the numbers & info:

2008 Finishes:

Quaker Quarterly Exchange – Ackworth
B is for Bunny – The Sweetheart Tree
Tiny Little Quaker - Papillon Creations
Stitcher’s Chicken – Sisters & Best Friends
Broom Hilda’s Hat - Margaret Bendig
Hannah Beeby test swatch (finished into floss tag)
Dazzle – Margaret Bendig (needlepoint)
Lilies Quilt Corner – SHEAR Creations (needlepoint)
La Petite Holidays Halloween – Curtis Boehringer (shop model for LNS)
Samplar Noel – Fancy Works
A Christmas Wish – Blue Ribbon Designs
Gingerbread Cottage – Country Cottage Needleworks
Coffin Buzz - Plum Street Samplers
Peace – Elizabeth’s Designs
November Twirls – Bent Creek (adapted to say Autumn Twirls)
Where There is Hope – Little House Needleworks
Christmas Tree – Jane Chandler
Snowman – Prairie Schooler
Ellen’s Hat in Noro yarn (knitting) – all 3 hats are pictured together (l to r)
Ellen’s Hat in Paton’s SWS (knitting)
Ellen’s Hat in Bernat Satin (knitting)

Hopefully I can have an equally productive 2009 with my stitching. Of course, since getting my Kindle, I haven’t been stitching nearly as much as I’ve been reading.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but then something else would come up that I would post about instead. Since I haven’t quite finished my 2008 Year in Review post, I figured this would be as good a time as any to post this handy-dandy Kindle tip.

I LOVE my Kindle which, btw, is named Margarette after my grandmother who passed on her love of reading to me. As much as I love her though, I haven’t been such a fan of the default case that comes with it. Even with the little lip inside the case on which it is supposed to rest, I found Margarette was often slipping out which I found rather annoying.

Many Kindle owners resorted to an adhesive-backed Velcro® solution. They would place a piece of either or the hook or loop portion on the back of the Kindle and the opposite hook or loop on the case. While I agree this is certainly a viable solution, I didn’t want to have to put anything adhesive on Margarette.

As I was reading the KindleKorner Yahoo group one day, someone mentioned a tip they had seen floating around on one of the various Kindle blogs for a way to more securely hold the Kindle in place in the native case without resorting to any additions. It was simple a matter of once you have the case opened, to slip the elastic band up and over the lower right-hand corner of the Kindle. I gave it a try to see how it would work. BRILLIANT! I never had a problem with Margette slipping out of the case any longer and it certainly makes it easier to carry her around with me while I’m reading if need be as well.

In case my verbal description left a bit to be desired, here are a couple of photos showing how to do it. As always, you can click on the image for a larger view. It really does work great!

Since I doubt I will post again before everyone starts ringing in the new year, although I’m sure many of my non-US readers have already done so, I just want to take a minute to wish each of you a very safe, healthy, and happy new year. I hope we all have an amazing 2009!!