Teadragon

Since the last update, things have kept growing! I've added tea tins planted with Black-Eyed-Susan vine, which is taking off, and also one of Winter Savory.

If you love to read Sci-Fi, you want to visit this article over at openculture. They have a nice list of class SF/F gems including names like Asimov, Lewis, and Dick available for free download. Some are downloadable reads, some are downloadable audiobooks/radio broadcasts, but any are excellent finds for the price of free.

Free Science Fiction Fantasy Dystopian Classics at Openculture

Using an old aquarium with a plant light turns our to be a champion way to sprout your spring plants. Starting your own plants from seed is cheaper than buying already-grown plants in April. At the beginning of week 2, I added some "Chioggia" beets, which should have some nifty stripes when they are grown. You can see here(in the pot on the far right) that they are already up and growing fast! It only took 3-4 days for the beets to sprout.

As I was looking at mini greenhouses and Wardian cases recently, and wincing from the prices, I began to think of an old aquarium I had sitting in the basement. It was not being used, and was already equipped with a glass top and power compact plant light. I immediately set about getting it scrubbed and set up in the kitchen. Now it has become the home to various pots of seed that will hopefully be this year's tomatoes, herb, flowers, and veggies.

Someone in a forum I was reading asked whether sewing and quilting can be considered art, just to get feedback from the group. I certainly think the answer is yes. To see some great historical example, have a look at the quilt collection at The Smithsonian Institution.

Page through the pages, click the quilt, then make sure you click the picture to see a bigger picture and close-ups of details. Remember most of these were done with no sewing machine, and prepare to have your mind blown:

If you own a computer, cellphone, or any other gadget, you should really listen to this fascinating episode of This American Life. Where do you gadgets really come from, and who makes them?

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory

SOPA has been in the news a lot lately. It looks likely to fail, but it has a companion bill, PIPA. The Protect IP act could break the Internet in many ways. People in different countries would not see the same Internet. It would make us as guilty of Internet censorship as we like to complain that China already is, except we would be censoring for corporate greed, not national security. It will help record and movie companies run competitors out of business easily.

I began learning to sew when I was 4 or 5 years old. It was a normal part of childhood for many of the kids in my family to at least learn to thread a needle, sew a straight stitch, and sew on a button. I can remember my grandmother, mother, and aunts sitting around talking and sewing, feeling fascinated to watch dresses, shorts, and even dolls appear from their needles! I've always wanted to be able to do all of that and more, but patience and time in a modern life are the big challenges.

This is a bootanimation I created for the HTC Desire Android smartphone using a public domain snip of Voyager footage that I found on Wikimedia Commons. Unlike the preview animation on the left, the bootscreen zooms in and then zooms back out again. It should also work just fine on Nexus One or any phone with 480x800 resolution. Your phone must also be rooted. Rooting voids your warranty, and I am not responsible if you mess up your phone.

I have a store-bought travel jewelry organizer like this one, and I decided to make one for a friend for Christmas. I thought I was being clever and making it easier by using velcro instead of zippers; wrong! The velcro was very hard to sew through with the thick quilted fabric I chose to use. I recommend you use zippers instead!
The edging is grosgrain ribbon, with a gold satiny ribbon for pull tabs and the tie.