Luca's new bed

So, I turned an old sweater and an old blanket into a dog bed!

I'd like to give a thank you to my wonderful model for his fuzzy enthusiasm :) Luca was trying to lay on the bed thru all the stages of making it, and hopped right on and took a nap as soon as it was done. You're welcome pup <3

I keep forgetting I'm suppose to be blogging this stuff, so I forgot to document what I did with the completed one in the top and middle pictures, so the third pic is for your reference map.

I picked the sweater for warmth, softness, size and color, and the blanket because it already had batting in it and would make a soft, warm filler for the bed. It is actually the red blanket at the bottom of the third picture. I used a durable thick thread and a regular old needle to hand stitch. Don't worry, it doesn't need to be all that neat. The whole thing was done in less than an hour.

- Sew the neck shut on the sweater so that it lay flat. You can see the collar at the bottom of the second picture.
- Lay the sweater on an old blanket.
- Cut the blanket to the length of the arms. Move the sweater aside and roll the blanket down until you have a roll big enough to fill the sleeves.
- Lay the sweater back onto the blanket so that the arms lay the length of the roll, and cut the blanket along the bottoms of the sleeves until you reach the body of the sweater. Don't cut the flaps off of the blanket!
- Fold the flaps under the sleeve roll towards the body of the sweater so that they lay over each other, making a much softer bed area.
- Stuff the rolls into the sleeves and flatten the body of the fabric into the torso of the sweater. Bring the arms together to form the bumper around the bed, and sew the cuffs together. To make the roll look unbroken, take one cuff and put it around the roll inside the other sleeve, making the bumper lay together at the ends nice and snug.
- Tuck the sweater body around into the bumper roll until you're happy with it. Fold the bottom of the sweater inside itself and just moved stuff around until it is the shape of the hole made inside the arms and it all lays together nice and soft and even.Tack the bottom shut here and there to keep the shape.
- Tuck in the body of the sweater around the neck area so it defines the bumper, and sew along the crease.
- Keep going around the body of the sweater, attaching the bed to the bumper so that it all lays even. Be sure to attach the bed to the bumper low on the bumper, by the floor, so that it lays flat when it's done.

There ya go! Call the dog, pat the bed, and go have a sit while your pooch takes a nap :)

Growing moss on flower pots and things

This is great! I will be doing this in the spring :)


http://www.weekendgardener.net/container-gardening/antique-claypots-110711.htm

Hoop houses, the beginning

After all the success with my first really real garden this summer, I guess I couldn't bear to see it end! I have wanted to learn about using a cold frame or hoop house to extend the growing season, so I decided I'd better start trying. I deconstructed two large round tomato cages, bought a roll of heavy duty drop cloth, and raided the neighbor's leaf pile for insulation. I put leaves around the insides as well as under the plastic on the outsides of the hoops. I'm hoping the warmth from the leaves will aid in their decomposition, adding nitrogen and more warmth, and I can just keep adding leaves thru the winter. I have a couple bags of leaves set aside for adding to it. The fronts can be raised for ventilation, and the edges are all held down by old boards. I have material to add to the outside for insulation as it gets colder. The whole thing, planting included, took about an hour and cost me five bucks. I still have to see what the best way to water without freezing things would be. Here we go!

So, what's in it? Bibb lettuce, mesclun mix, romaine mix, spinach, and basil. All the things I ran out of windowsill in the kitchen to grow :)