Luffa Update: Mid-August

This has been one of the hottest if not the hottest summer on record in the mid-west.  Temps have gotten as high as 115 F, and we had several weeks with little to no rain and temps in the 100s every day.  To keep the luffa alive, I watered every day or every other day.  The one I grew on the south side of my fence seems to be doing the best.

 All of the fruit from this plant is growing on vines that poked through to the north side of the fence (picture above), which I found interesting.  This one is almost as big as a baseball bat.

 Here's what this plant looks like on the south side of that same fence.  There are plenty of leaves and many flowers, but no fruit on this side.

 This plant suffered and the leaves withered from one day when I forgot to water in 100 degree temps.  It does have one luffa fruit/gourd growing on it, and it was the first plant to start fruiting.  It is growing on the north facing side of a fence.

And one final update:  We got an early snowfall in October that killed all of the leaves on the plant.  I had about 20 luffa, but only 3 of them were ripe enough to peel well and remove the sponge easily.  If I had just a few more weeks before that first snow, I might have gotten 20 sponges from 2 plants.

See the other posts about my attempt to grow luffa in USDA zone 5:
Sprouting seeds
Plants in May

Playing with Water Marbles

Water marbles are often used in flower arranging.  They are a kind of plastic bead that absorbs water, and I've read they are similar to the material that contact lenses are made out of.  They come as tiny pellets, and when you soak them in water they expand.  They are lots of fun to play with!

*Safety disclaimer- clearly these are a choking hazard, so if your kids aren't old enough to play with regular marbles, don't let them play with these either.  They do fall apart if they are played with roughly.  They are non-toxic.  Funny story- my husband knows this for sure because he swallowed one on accident!  We put just one in a glass cup on the counter top with some water so we could watch it expand.  A few hours later, my husband grabbed the glass of water and drank it, thinking it was his glass from earlier.  He didn't even notice that he swallowed one, and they are a bit slippery so I guess that's understandable.

I bought ours from CrystalWaterBeads.com.  In addition to marble sized beads, they have many other shapes as well.  To hydrate your water beads, you let them soak in distilled water overnight.  My kids had fun watching them slowly change from tiny pebbles to big marbles. 

We threw them in a big storage tote so they could play without losing them.  They bounce really well and they slip and slide around too.

They played for a long time today.

When you're done, I've read that you can wash them with some dish soap and store them hydrated in plastic bag for the next time.  I tried it though, and they got icky a few days later. 

Pool / Beach Bag Tutorial

I purchased a mesh laundry bag to re-purpose into laundry room sink lint filters for my washing machine, and while I was cutting it apart I had an idea.  This would make a really handy beach or pool bag.  So I put one together and since I was super bored today, I also made a tutorial.

All you need is...

The laundry bag measured 22" x 34" and cost about $1.50.  I think I've seen these types of bags at the dollar store too, but I don't have one near me.

The fabric was some kind of heavy weight home decor or maybe even outdoor fabric that I've had in my craft room for a while.  The yellow print is from the Laurie Smith Collection 2004 and it's called "Zig Zag."  I had 1 1/2 yards of it, but I didn't use it all.  If you don't mind the straps being stitched together from smaller pieces, you could probably make this bag from 3/4 of a yard or less.

First, lay out your mesh bag and decide how deep you want your bag to be.  Cinch up the drawstring top and lay it on the floor.  You want to leave the cinched up portion so that your finished bag still has the drawstring for a closure.  I removed the bottom six inches of the laundry bag.  This left me with 18 inches between the bottom and the bag and the beginning of the cinched up portion.

Next, cut off the seams on the sides of the bag all the way up to the beginning of the cinched portion (along the dotted line in the picture above).  I cut off about 1/2 an inch on each side.

To make the bottom of the bag, take your decorator fabric and cut out two pieces that are as wide as your mesh and 6 1/2 inches tall.  For mine, the measurement was 21" x 6 1/2".

Turn under one of the long ends 1/4 inch twice on each piece of fabric, press, and stitch.  Then set them aside.

Next for the upper horizontal straps that become the top of the bag, you need to cut two pieces of fabric that are as wide as your mesh, and three inches tall.  For me that was 21" x 3".

To make these strips into the top straps, you turn under both of the long ends 1/4 inch, and then fold them lengthwise and press. 

Pin them to hold them together and set them aside.

Lastly for the handles you need two very long strips of fabric.  Since I already had 1 1/2 yards, I just cut these from my long length of fabric.  If you have less fabric, piece together enough to make two handle pieces that measure 3" x 56".

Press them the same way that you pressed the horizontal straps, turning under both long edges and then folding in half the long way.

Then take these long handle pieces to the sewing machine.  Sew down the length, close to the edge all the way down the open end of both handle pieces.  This is the way I prefer to make handles.  I find sewing right sides together and then turning the whole tube inside out to be really frustrating, but if you prefer you can make them that way instead.

At this point, these are all of the pieces you should have.

Now it's time to assemble the bag.

Lay the handle down where you would like it to be and pin it to the top layer of the mesh only.  Lay the horizontal strap on and also pin to the top layer of mesh only.

Lay one bottom piece on the mesh and pin.  Make sure it covers the bottom of your handle straps.

 Then sew these pieces to the top layer of mesh along these red dotted lines.  Sew an x inside of the red square boxes to give the handles extra strength.

Then turn it over and do the same to the other side of the mesh bag.  This is what is looks like opened up:

Now place right sides together, and pin along the bottom and both sides of the bag, all the way up to the original seam of the mesh bag.  Sew along the sides and bottom (the red dots in this picture).  Make sure to line up the horizontal top strap and the edges of the bottom fabric.

Lastly, box the two bottom corners.  To do that you fold your corners like this (with the bag still inside-out).  I measured 3 inches from the corner and drew a line.

 Sew along that line...

and then cut the corners off.  I used pinking shears to keep fraying down.

Turn the bag right side out and you're done.  I put two beach towels and some sunscreen in there and there was plenty of room for more (floaties, sandals, Frisbees, food, whatever).  The drawstring keeps it all contained.  It's perfect for some summer fun.

**As always, this tutorial is for non-profit personal use only please.  Make your own, make one for a friend, but don't make them to sell.**

Newborn Dress

I had a baby niece born this morning.  Luckily I had finished her present last night.  I've got to put it in the mail today.  I made a dress, matching diaper cover, and headband.  The dress is from this tutorial.  The only changes I made were adding the ribbon and buttons, and sewing the sleeves in a different way than the tutorial suggests.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Growings Luffa, May Update

 Well, I finally got brave and planted the luffa in the yard.  I was so scared that the harsh hot dry early summer weather we've been having would kill it and I'd have to wait a whole year to try this again.    I planted the first one in the first week of May, and kept the other one in the house until around May 15th, just in case we had a late frost.  By then it had started flowering in the pot in my house, so I wanted to get it outside.

They are along my wood fence, and I tied a nylon string to the boards to give the luffa something more to hold on to until it gets big enough to grab onto the wood.

It seems to be doing great.  Some kind of bug has chewed up some of the lower leaves a little bit.  It's probably the same thing that took a taste of my garden's broccoli leaves.  It has survived a huge wind storm that we had a few days ago.  The wind was strong enough to rip my neighbor's screen door off of the hinges.  The wind/dust storm pulled it off of the string entirely, but I twisted it back up and it's still alive.

The luffa flowers are  prettier than I was expecting.  It looks like an ornamental climbing vine with all of the pretty blooms.

You can see the tiny ants that are attracted to the little green structures along the vine.  They produce tiny droplets of nectar.

The rest of the garden is growing nicely as well.  We finished up the sweet pea trellis.  We used the cedar 2x4s from the previous garden bed, and I found some decorative wooden corner brackets at Menards to give it more stability.  It is attached to the wooden frame of the garden bed with Spax screws.

To read more about my luffa growing experiment, see my April post.

Office Chair and Living Room Makeover

We've had this office chair for about seven years now.  It was a five dollar DI find (DI is a store like Goodwill).  It's a very sturdy chair- all metal and wood.   I imagine it was someone's really nice office chair in about...oh 1991 or so. 

BEFORE

They probably made it to match computers back when they looked like this.  See how the blue cushion complements the shading of the power button?  It's symbolic.  Really I have no idea if that's even the power button...


 For years we've put up with it because it is very functional, but I've been working on redecorating my basement living room.  The blue didn't match at all, so it was time for a recover.

I found this chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby when I was in a larger town last weekend.  I bought 1-1/2 yards of it, and it was just enough for the chair.  I used some foam I had around to replace the seat foam.  It was harder to do than I hoped.  There was a sale on staples in 1991, so they used all of them on this chair, I'm sure.  I ended up cutting the blue fabric off the seat instead of removing them all.  I also couldn't figure out how to take the back off, so it has a slipcover instead.  That will come in handy next time something is spilled on the back of the chair.

 AFTER

But all in all I'm happy with it.  It matches my new green living room much better.

Remember my living room?  This is what it looked like shortly after we moved in.  The previous owner had most of the walls in the house painted this shade of brown.  They also left us this old brown couch.

BEFORE

Here's what it looks like now.

AFTER

The main colors are green, orange, grey, black, and light purple.  I tried to find a paint color that I liked that also coordinated with the red curtains, but I just couldn't.  I went with Glidden's color "Prairie Sage," but I had it matched to Dutch Boy paint because I like it better.  I think some day we'll switch to a grey couch, but for now I like having a couch that the kids can jump on and make forts out of without me worrying about it.

Felt Food

I finished up my felt pear toy play food.  I made it from the Book Big Little Felt Universe.  I've made the tomato and kiwi before too.  This one turned out pretty cute, even without making it slice-able like the book suggests.

And here's the banana:

And lastly the eggplant.  This one might be my favorite:

Mary Mary Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

This is the first year I'm starting some of my garden from seed indoors.  My only experience with seeds was a few years ago when someone gave me a packet of flower seeds as part of an object lesson in church.  I bought potting soil, planted the seeds, put them in my dimly lit apartment and watched them get leggy, then moldy, then dead.

Ever since I've been a bit nervous about trying to start garden veggies,with the exception of sunflowers and sugar snap peas started outside last year, which seem to be idiot-proof.  But I've been determined lately to try some things again that I have previously failed at and given up on, like bread making. First bread (going well so far), then garden seeds, then maybe pie crusts, someday...

While shopping in Menards, I saw seed starting mix and seed trays were on a big rebate, so I bought them on a whim.  I could have invested in grow lights and warming mats, etc, but I thought for this year, as a novice attempt, I'd just try my large south-facing living room window.

This time I read a lot online before I started and learned a bit more about starting seeds.  I had no idea there is such a thing as special seed-starting soil, for example.  You can't just use any potting soil from the store.  I bought jalapeno seeds, balloon flower seeds, money plant seeds, luffa seeds, moss rose seeds, and broccoli seeds.  I also had snap dragon and marigold seeds from my flowers outside that went to seed last fall, so I planted them too.

For comparison, I live in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5b.

Here's what the luffa looks like 19 days after I started them.  I soaked them in a shallow dish of water for two days (like this blog suggested) and then planted them in large (maybe 6 inch?) pots.  I planted two seeds in each pot, and one sprouted in each pot within 5-6 days, 50% germination rate so far.  I'm really really excited about these and I am going to be careful with them.  I want them to survive the transplant to my yard so they can grow vines of sponge-growing goodness up to 30 feet long.  I bought the seeds online from Peacefully Home Grown.

Update: Click HERE to see what the luffa looks like at the end of May.

One seed must have been damaged, because it's first leaves are all warped.  I'm waiting to see what happens with this one.

 Here is my broccoli, again at 19 days.

 And my little jalapeno.  It's not doing as well as the broccoli and luffa.  I suspect it needs more light than just a south-facing window as they have gotten a bit leggier than the other plants.

I'm excited to try these balloon flowers.  I love their little puffed up flowers and they're perennial.  They seem to be doing well in the window and haven't gotten too tall yet.

 And a surprise since the seeds were free, the marigolds are doing very well and almost all of them sprouted.

We put in some new garden beds this spring.  Apparently treated lumber no longer contains arsenic, so it's safer to use for veggie beds than it used to be.  Cutting these was a beast, but we got them finished and the beds are ready.  Strawberries are going into the one on the right.  I'm experimenting with square foot gardening in the one at the bottom, and cantaloupe, pumpkins, and some other things are going to be in the one on the top-left later in the year.  The burning bushes are also going to come out to make room for cherry bushes.  We put in a Sundance apple tree in the fall and we've got a honeycrisp one to put in this spring as well.  I love having a yard to grow edible things in.