I have officially completed my very first plushie!  This is the mama elephant from the Sew Everything Workshop book.
The body is cuddly gray fleece, the ears and accents are a rose colored corduroy.
Here she is (sorry about the color, my camera doesn't like the lights in my bedroom):

This one shows the true colors:

Thanks for looking!

I revamped this patio set a while ago, sorry I don't have a before picture.  A friend of mine had it sitting in her yard, unused, and was going to throw it out.  The chairs and table base were a faded yellow and really rusty in spots.  The cushions were in really bad shape.  They had originally been covered in some gross pea-green vinyl, and it was torn and mildewed and not anything I would want to put my behind on.  The glass top had broken in half and had to be recycled.
After some sanding, painting, new foam, and a little fabric, plus an extra glass table top my parents had in their storage room, my friend said to me "hey, that looks great!  Can I have it back now?"
"uh, no" I said, "but you can come visit it anytime!"
It was my dining room set for awhile but now it lives on the patio where it belongs.
Here it is, in its finished state:

And a close up of the awesome Alexander Henry fabric:

Thanks for looking!

Long time lurker, first post...
Please let me know if I do something wrong (or right!).  I'm not sure that this is the right place to put this, but it seemed the closest.  If it should go somewhere else let me know.
Being an environmentally conscious (if not perfectly environmentally responsible-I drive when I don't absolutely need to and dry my clothes with an electric dryer in the middle of summer, among other things) type, I hate throwing away kitchen scraps.  I also have a great container garden on my patio that could use some fertilizer, but the organic stuff is quite expensive.
However, our yard is xeriscaped, so we don't really need, or have room for, a compost heap.
I decided that vermicomposting (vermi=worms) was the way to go.  After doing some research I decided that I didn't need to spend $130+ on a commercial worm bin, and that, being a crafty type, I could make one myself.
I made use of this great tutorial and my boyfriend's tools:
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm
Without further adieu, here are some pics of the making of the worm bin.
This morning I said to myself, self, where does one buy red wigglers? 
Why, at the local garden store, of course!  Rick's nursery.
Here they are (well, their container anyway...)

The beginning of the project, with some of the supplies laid out:

We added a petcock (spigot) in the bottom container to drain out the "worm tea", or liquid that results from the composting process.  it's really good for your plants!

Me drilling holes in the bottom of one of the containers--I can use power tools!

The holes:

I also drilled tiny holes in the sides and lid for ventilation:

Then I shredded newspaper and soaked it in water to make bedding for the worms:

Then I added the worms (with some dirt-it helps them digest their food):

And here it is, in its (almost) finished state, ready to compost our food!  My boyfriend is going to build a frame for it so that it sits up off the floor...


Thanks for looking!