I’ve added a page (at the bottom of Long Bits of Stuff) on cutting fabric using cardboard templates. I figured something out and wanted to share.

Pecking away . . .

This is definitely an “improve your technique” pattern.  I am getting better at getting clean points and matching pinwheel center points.  I think this quilt is just what I needed to clean up some less than ideal sewing habits I’ve managed to acquire.

At this point I’ve got 15 wedges that need to have green added.  I’ve got a bunch of the center parallelograms ready to install (green added).

I was working across the top and was going to work my way down but going up and down the ladder to get to the top was taking a toll.  I’ll go back to that in a couple days.  Until then I’ll peck away at the bottom half.

This is about 1/6th of the center of the quilt, a 24"x24" section.

This is going fairly quickly.  I’m working from the upper right corner completing blocks as I go.  The edge blocks take two different sizes of strips with a slanted end.

I like the quilt.  I think it’s pretty.

Basic nested pinwheel block, click to see the blocks assembled into a pinwheel

A couple years ago LouAnn and I attended the Aberdeen quilt show.  One of the entrants was a lovely nested pinwheel quilt we thought would be a good pattern for a workshop.  The quilt had big blue and green pinwheels and small green and yellow pinwheels on a dark background.  It looked complex but it was a single square.

After a bit of back and forth and discussion, we were able to convince Peggy Gelbrich to teach a workshop in that pattern for our Guild.  The pattern size for the workshop was a ~9″ block.  I wanted a smaller block in queen size.  Yeah, yeah, I know . . . ever the rebel.

Nested pinwheels

This is how far I got on the quilt top by the end of the two day workshop.  LouAnn and I pinned everything to a sheet and I put it away to bring out later.  This is later!

As you can see the background is black.  Rather than use pinwheels in two colors only, I wanted each pinwheel to be a different color.  Each of the large pinwheels is a different batik.  The yellow pinwheels are each of 6 or 8 bright yellows I had in my stash.  The small green pinwheels are all the same batik fabric.  The color distribution is complex enough to require working on a design wall.

Orange batik background fabric, dark green outside border, dark red inside border and gold flange

I pulled the sunset quilt off the design wall and have packaged it away with the black wedges, border and backing fabrics.  I’m short 4-6 more black fabrics needed to fill in the black section.  I’ll have to get by Sisters and pick up the little bits of fabric  needed for the last wedges and centers.  Until then, I’ve put this project away to work on another quilt I’ve had in the works for a while.  I’ll pick it up again in a couple weeks when I’ve collected the last of the fabric I need.

Wadly visited the neighbor to see if he could cull from his wood pile the right type of wood for lasts.  I’ve given up trying to find commercial lasts the size of my feet.  I’m going to try to make them.  This should be fun.

One section left to build

I got the purple stripe added to the quilt.  I love the dark purple against the dark green.  Lovely.

I picked up the material for the borders and backing.  I got a lovely shades of orange and green batik for the back and a great dark green for the border.  I wanted a fabric with all colors but Fabric Depot didn’t have anything that would work.  The colors were either too bright or too muted or not the right shades or in splotches too big in scale.

I also picked up a gold and a deep red.  The gold will be a flange around the center of the quilt, with the red acting as a 5/8″ stopper between the gold flange and the green border.

Cheesy corn dip

I got a great dip recipe from family that uses Ro*TEL.  Something in the Ro*TEL sets my system off so I’ve changed the recipe to use more organic ingredients.

1⅓ cups whole corn with red and green peppers, drained – Green Giant makes a 11 oz. version but the content or processing has something that upsets my system so I use the Safeway brand.  I imagine you could regular canned, fresh or frozen corn and with diced red and green peppers to get the necessary  amount.

1 cup diced tomatoes.  I buy a can of stewed sliced tomatoes, drain the liquid and dice the tomatoes but you could use a can of diced tomatoes and just use 1 cup.  Alternately, you could use the salsa of your choice.  Hmm . . . that might be better than diced toms.  I’ll have to try it.

Next is a can of diced chilies.  This is where you can choose how spicy the dip is.  If you use hot chilies, it’s gonna be spicy.  If you use mild chilies, you aren’t going to taste them.

A perfect match!

You’ll also need ½ cup mayonnaise.  I use Canola Mayonnaise (can’t do soy).

You’ll need ½ cup fresh grated Parmesan and 1 cup grated Pepper Jack.

Drain everything really well.  The better you drain everything, the better the end result.  Mix all the veges and let them sit for a bit in a colander before mixing with the mayo and cheese for best result.  Dump the mix in a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes at 350°.

Serve the dip warm with tortilla chips.  I love the organic blue corn chips with flax seed.  Great fiber, great taste, great match!

Update – I used a can of Green Giant white corn with chipotle peppers and it’s the best batch I’ve made so far!  The processing on this Green Giant product seem to be okay.  Go figure.

Tangled and lush understory

As the plants in the wall grow and mature, the understory becomes denser.  In daylight (this picture was taken in the dark using just the flash for illumination) there are small sections of the felt visible at the very top and bottom of the wall.  In the body of the wall you have to dig in behind the protruding leaves to see any of the structural felt.

In the center of the picture is a dieffenbachia leaf that has grown in size to be much larger than anything the parent plant produced.

I love the colors and textures in the wall.

Shiny leaves but no blossoms

I have a piece of hoya in the wall and the leaves look beautiful, shiny and healthy, but it hasn’t produced new growth nor has it blossomed.  The parent plant has some new growth and also hasn’t blossomed.

I bought this plant for the variegated leaf not knowing what kind of blossom it would have.  It’s disheartening to think I may never know . . .

Hairy begonia stems

As a Hawaiian begonia stem matures, it develops hairs along the stem.  The hairs are an indicator of plant health and established root structure.  Take a minute to click on the image to see the hairs in all their glory.

The spots on some of the leaves are left-overs from the worm casting tea.

Above the hairy stem is the new orchid blossom shoot.  Look how much it’s grown.

This picture was taken at night with all the lights off.  I used a flashlight to line up the camera.  The camera’s flash does a great job of lighting up the wall’s landscape.

Flush mechanism as flood tank fills

Though hard to see in this photo, there is a black hose attached to a white plastic elbow which allows water to flow into the counter-weight bottle when the water in the flood tank reaches sufficient height.

I made this change because the previous setup was too sensitive.  This is less of a surgical solution and more of a “hit it with a hammer” fix.  It works really well.

I haven’t gotten the second grow bed tray installed.  I’ll get there . . .

Closeup of mature wall

Patrick Blanc’s work is the inspiration for my plant wall.  In a search for new vertical garden stuff, I ran across this closeup of one of his projects.

I found this fascinating.  Watch the leaves move over the course of three days.

Almost full sized

The Hawaiian Begonia’s biggest leaf is almost the max size it will get.  This leaf is about the right length but isn’t quite the full width yet.

Dark green pinned on

The dark green is on.  It looks beautiful.  I’ve got the dark purple blocks constructed and (mostly) sewn together.  Maybe I’ll get that done today.

Boots!

I’ve got two pair of clogs made by Mark Casperson at Multnomah Clogs in Portland Oregon.  I got an email from him today about a new blog he’s started.  I just had to check it out.

Boots!  Mark’s making boots!  How cool is that?!  I think I’m going to have to have a pair of those . . .

Dark green blocks are now ready to add.

I finally got the light green section done and the blocks for the dark green section assembled.  I’ll get them sewed together and joined to the body of the quilt top next.  The dark purple and black sections are still left to do, but I’ve less than a 100 blocks left to sew to be done!

I moved the quilt top up to the ceiling so I could work on the bottom and now the clothes line is visible near the top.

One of the really good organic solutions for six legged pests is worm casting tea.  I make a really small amount, but if you need to treat a bigger area, it’s easy to make more.  Thanks to Ray on the Barrelponics Yahoo group for the instruction.

You’ll need a small airstone and a air pump.  My aquarium air pump has two ports so I plug into the spare for making worm casting tea.

I’m giving the instructions for a quart, as that’s the amount I can make and use up before it’s not any good any more.  It needs to be used within (if memory serves) a couple days.

For a quart, use filtered water, add 1.25 ounces of worm castings, drop the airstone in the bottom and let it bubble away for 12-24 hours.

Strain it and spray it where you need it taking care to get the under side of the leaves as well as the stems and tops.

Here’s the bonus bit.  It’s perfectly safe for plant walls and aquaponic systems.  Can’t beat that!

The leaf isn't fully formed but it's showing great promise.

At least one of the wood fern planted in the left side of the wall is doing really well.  The potted plants that sit in front of the wall block me from doing a close inspection so I have to wait until something pokes out into view or pull the pots away from the wall.  The pots weigh over 100 lbs apiece and I’m not yet curious enough to go to the effort of moving all three.  It won’t be long before the avocado goes out side for the summer.  Maybe then I’ll pull the pots away and take a good look.

The bright green spikey bits above the wood fern is the rain forest flowering cactus from Honduras/Nicaragua . . . heliocereus.  The plant is growing really fast . . . over 36″ of new growth just in that section of the plant since it went in the wall.  That’s a lot of growth.

The dumb canes (light green leaves) are also doing really well.  Both plants show good growth.

The dieffenbachia cuttings are also doing well.  The parrot’s beak croaked.  It wasn’t getting enough light.  I’ll start another lower in the wall where it won’t be blocked.  The jade plant is still growing, strangely enough.

I’ve been trying to come up with a seafood bisque I could eat.  All the recipes I come across are not what I want; a gluten free, thick yet creamy bisque with excellent flavor.  I think I’ve managed it.  I’m going to make it again today to see if I’m truly on the right track.

4 tbsp butter

1 large carrot (diced)

1/4 each green and red pepper (diced)

1/4 large onion (diced)

1 large potato (peeled and grated)

Low sodium Old Bay Seasoning to taste

1 tilapia fillet (complete slice down length, cut cross-wise in ¾” wide pieces)

1 dozen petite scallops

1 dozen 51/60 count shrimp (peeled and de-veined)

1 cup milk

In a large sauce pan melt 2 tbsp butter (medium to low heat).   Add carrots, peppers and onion.   Cook and stir for as long as it takes to get the potato grated.

Add potato and remaining butter.  Stir, stir, stir.  When the mix begins to stick, add a small amount of water.  Stir some more, adding small amounts of water if sticking.  Turn the heat way down, cover tightly and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir again.  If it’s sticking, turn the heat down just a bit and add a bit more water.  The goal is to get the potatoes just cooked without adding too much water.  Once the potatoes are cooked and before they start to fall apart, pour the mix in a blender and blend it.  Don’t over-blend, you want the carrots, potatoes, peppers and onions reduced to a textured pasty liquid.

Return to sauce pan on low.  Add low sodium Old Bay Seasoning to taste.  You will want to add somewhere between 2 tsp and 2 tbsp.  Stir and taste.  You will be adding milk at the end so the seasoning flavor needs to be just a bit strong.  You could add the seasoning at the end, but the amount of stirring required to mix it in would disrupt the fish and scallops, breaking the pieces apart.

Add the seafood.  This is the last time you will be able to stir without damaging the seafood so mix it well.  Cover and let simmer about 5 minutes.

Turn the mix very gently with a spoon to ensure the seafood is fully cooked.  Add milk.  Cover and cook 2 more minutes to bring the milk up to heat.  DO NOT boil once you’ve added the milk.

Garnish with a spray of low sodium Old Bay Seasoning granules and a few drops of heavy cream.

Serves 4.

Aphids on the Aphid Trap - smell-good fly paper for aphids.

Orchid blossom stalk is growing apace.

The Hawaiian begonia is starting to pop out of the wall.

It’s almost June, just another day or two to go.  The weather outside sucks.  It’s cold and rainy and only fit for foul weather fowl.  I’ve got stuff I need to do out there, but let’s face it, I’m a weather weeny.

The plant wall is doing well.  Terry added two more head-and-tail-light tetras yesterday and a fancy red tailed guppy today.  Having the wall keep the aquarium clean allows him to spend his energies admiring his fish instead of cleaning up after them.  He had a bit of a panic last night thinking he had a dead fish.  It turned out to be a leaf washed into the tank from the wall.

In the wall, the Aphid Chaser is chasing aphids and the Aphid Trap is enticing aphids.  The Aphid Chaser truly does chase the aphids off the wall.  From observation I’m going to say the aphids move down to get away from the Aphid Chaser.  At the bottom is my lettuce and tomato seedling and having the aphids end up there is not an ideal outcome.  To counter this I’ve added an aphid trap sheet to the outside edge of the trough and the aphids are traveling right past my seedlings to become stuck to the aphid trap.  This I consider an ideal solution.

I added a baby spider to the wall today.  Every little bit helps.

I’ve taken a couple other pictures to illustrate what’s happening in the wall.

The new blossom stalk on the orchid is continuing to grow.  This really pleases me.  I don’t know how long it takes to produce blossoms but I bet I’m going to get some.

Usually when plants are added to the wall there’s a period during which nothing happens.  The plants don’t grow, they don’t wilt but they don’t do anything else either.  Then all of a sudden the plant is producing flowers and/or new growth.

With the orchid this wasn’t the case.  It started growing and is working to produce blossoms.  It already had the right roots for this type of planting.  It’s happy, I’m happy . . . what more could we want?

The Hawaiian begonia has finally settled in and is beginning to produce the big leaves I remember from the parent plant.  The biggest leaf so far is on a 10″ long stalk and is about half the size it will be when the root structure fully adapts.  Mature leaves are about the size of a normal dinner plate on a ~12″ stalk.  Once the begonia’s roots develop enough to support it, I expect the plant to start producing blossom stalks (30″ long with tiny pink petals down the length of the stalk).

I love the textures, colors and shades in the plant wall.  The eclectic variety of plants produces something that warms my heart and soothes my soul.

Laid out flat with all square dance blocks attached.

The bog coat is ready to go off to quilting.  Wadly’s going to pick up a Warm and Natural bat today.  I have a nice piece of soft yellow batik for the lining though I probably should use navy.

I basted a strip of material in the center front to hold the edges together for quilting.

Lettuce seedlings in the wall gutter

I took the largest of the tomato seedlings from the wall gutter and planted them in the growbed outside.  Then it hailed and we had a spate of cold wet windy weather.  The wet part isn’t an issue, but the cold and hail and wind . . . toast.  <sigh>  I lost half the seedlings I planted out and the last two look like they’re on their last leg.  If we get a spate of warm weather they might pull through.  If they don’t I’ll put the 4 tomato plants still growing in the gutter in their place . . . when they get significantly bigger AND the weather improves.  I have sun shade cloth buffering them just a bit, but a big sheet of plastic would have been better.

I’m adding another growbed to my outside tank.  I like the new setup so well I’m going to max out the grow potential of the fish tank.  I have to inventory my bulkhead fittings.  I need two uniseals the same size for connecting another 5 gallon tank to the existing 5 gallon dump tank.  Adding another tank and bed will change the dump time from ~15 minutes to ~30 minutes.

I threw about a dozen lettuce seeds into the plant wall gutter.  By they time they’re ready to transplant out I should have the new growbed up and running . . . and warmer weather. <fingers crossed>

Gloxinia, Cape Primrose, Begonia and Waffle Plant all showing blossoms

Just a snapshot to show you what’s blooming.

I’ve added the Lightbox Plus plugin so you can now see the image (click to enlarge) without additional navigation.

This is the cobbled together frame. Three legs are pressure treated, one is cedar. Frame set into the ground (~4" holes) with mortar tray in place Flush tank in place, flush drain in place Tank side of the bed showing loop siphon and fill tubing The drain as the flood tank flushes

Wadly and I got all the bits put together and I’ve taken pics to share.

This system is designed to be built out of 55 gallon barrels (see the barrelponics group on yahoo) but I’m having a hard time finding clean free barrels in my area.  Instead, I opted for the $4.96 option . . . a mortar mixing tray from Home Depot.  The gas to go to where I can get 55 gallon drums is more than the cost of the tray.  Add to that the cost of purchasing barrels (current best price is $15 ea.) and I’m way ahead.

Wadly built the frame to support the mortar tray.  I think it’s clever.  All the wood is recycled bits and pieces assembled with torx screws.

I had originally planned for additional posts to hold up the dump tank until I got a clue <shaking head at self> and had Wadly cut me some 2×6 angled pieces to hold a 2×8 shelf.  I drilled a notch on one side of the shelf to accept the bottom of the toilet fill kit installed in the dump bucket.

The 5 gallon dump bucket is recycled and the  drain plumbing parts cost about $10.  I didn’t have any of the adapters and connectors for 1½” pipe though I did have some 2″ and a 2″ elbow all glued together which I used.  Everything is dry fitted so it can be disassembled and adjusted or cleaned.

All along the length of the drain pipe are skill saw cuts ¾” apart.  They are cut across the length of the pipe and go through 1/3 the thickness.  The next time I take it apart I’ll get pictures.  The end cap had six holes drilled in it.

When I build the next bed I will run one drain down the center and see how that works.  Or maybe use 1″ pipe instead of 1½”.

I have three tomato plans (SunGold, Beefsteak and yellow cherry) and 4 green pepper.  I will add red pepper as well when I can get some plants.

Wadly has cut a cover for the tank but the edges need routered and it needs waxed to keep the rain from soaking in.  It’s in the shop waiting for me to get out there and do the task.

Wadly and I got the new growbed up and running.  I am using the same Rubbermaid 100 gallon stock tank for the fish and bought a new (spent a whole $4.96) mortar mixing tray for the growbed.  It’s about 20″ x 30″ and about 7″ deep.  It doubles the grow area from the old bed.

I’ve got the dump tank (recycled 5 gallon bucket) set up and working, though a little more fine tuning will no doubt be required.  I’ve got to address the water into bed distribution line as the dump does two things that it shouldn’t, it spills water over the side of the bed from the rush of water and it digs a big hole in the gravel.  I need to moderate that and will pick up the parts today to make that happen.  Wadly and I jury-rigged what we’ve got.  It works but badly and I can’t fix it without a few more parts.

I also need to get a petcock valve for the tank side of the tee to regulate the flow to the dump tank.  For now I’ve bent the tubing and have a knee-high nylon (my favorite filter medium) around it to pinch the flow a bit.  That will work in the short term but in the long term I’d like to have a little finer control.

Wadly’s going to build a cover for the tank to keep the sun out and the algae growth (causes a big PH rise) down.   I had the tank covered with a piece of white tarp last year, but he’d like something with better eye appeal.

If you’re interested in a growbed of your own, visit the barrelponics yahoo group for like minded folk.

The combo of Aphid Chaser on the plant wall and Aphid and White Fly Trap 6′ away seems to be the ideal solution.  I have no more aphids visible on the wall.  I think this is an ideal solution.  It provides protection for the plants in the wall without impacting the fish in the aquarium.

The center leaf has doubled in size since the orchid was installed in the wall The bud on the stalk is developing.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the orchid to see what it would do.  It’s crammed in in the midst of a lot of other stuff and only gets filtered light.  It seems to be quite happy, showing new leaf growth and new bud development on the flower stalk.

Cricket, embedded in her favorite person

. . . that cats can’t be a man’s best friend.  Cricket prefers Terry’s company to anything.  She follows him around the farm.  She goes in the van or pickup with him when he goes to town.  She sleeps in the van when he’s outside working.  Odd cat.