Google Sketchup models your home

via Lifehacker: Model Your Home, Plan Improvements in 3D with Google Sketchup - Google Sketchup

Google Sketchup is free, and I think it does a very good job. Sketchup has quite a learning curve, and I'm not as crazy about some of the effects as some commenters are, but it's still great for this kind of home application.

A year later...

...I finally got around to installing Ubuntu. Of course, we're in a whole new distribution now: 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope. So far so good. Details to come.

Open-source sewing

Free Penguin Project: Free patterns to make stuffed penguins. From the project's description (because what's an open-source project without a good description?): "The starting point of this project was the question: 'Why is it that on the one hand in the Linux world all code of software is freely available and on the other hand the code to compile a soft toy penguin is still not open source?'"

Sewing often appeals to the same kind of DIYer that Linux appeals to, so it's a natural fit.

If you're more into the apparel side of things, Burda, a very cool European pattern company, has made many of their patterns available free online as well. The user community provides some great help with picking the right size and altering the patterns. As another bonus, you'll look about 50% more hip in a blouse by Burda than in one by Simplicity.