Now I am not an advanced sewer, but I have tinkered around with sewing projects from time to time.  I’m really happy with the way the finished project turned out, so I though I would share.

The materials I used:

1 pair of men’s cargo pants from Goodwill $3

1 upholstery fabric sample $2

2/3 yard of new patterned corduroy fabric $4

1 new zipper $1.50

Embellishments: left over from other projects I had some metal brads, thread, and some felting materials.

Total cost was approx $10 or $11

Here is a picture of the finished project

Reused Cargo Pant pocket on front of purse with Flat Felted Embellishment Panel

Recycled Cargo Pant Messenger Bag Purse

I used a couple of the pockes off of the cargo pants.  I just cut them out carefully and sewed them directly on the outside of the bag (before it was assembled.  I embellished the front pocket by creating a piece of flat felting on which I designed a bird and flower pattern that resembles the corduroy fabric that I bought.  I sewed this onto the outside of the pocket, and edged it with some blue trim my friend Jill had in her stash.  I also used some metal brads on the pocket flap, and on the felt design, just to add a little zing.

The pockets though, were really what inspired the whole project, because I wanted pockets on the purse, but really didn’t think I was skilled enough to sew them.  These were so easy because the flaps, and Velcro and detailed sewing were all finished.  I just sewed them onto my fabric pieces.  The sides of the bag, and the underside of the strap are made out of the cargo pant fabric as well.

Reused Cargo Pant pocket on side of purse

Reused Cargo Pant pocket on front of purse with Flat Felted Embellishment Panel

For the inside of the bag I used the piece of upholstery fabric I bought which was out of the sample book that was discontinued at the fabric store.  They basically sell the samples for a small price after they have new updated sample books.  I used this material to make a very sturdy lining in the purse.  And since the piece of fabric was already finished on the edges, I was able to sew the top edge out as a small decorative band at the top of the purse, on the outside, before I attached the top zipper panel.

This picture shows the inner lining, (which I totally love) and where the lining was folded out to create a trim on the outside.

Cargo Pant Purse recycled upholstery fabric sample lining

Click on a thumbnail below to see the full resolution photo!

Click on a Thumbnail below to see the full resolution photo

Here are the current food growing totals…as well as last years totals so you can compare how we are doing.    We are definietly behind for the year, but I have started a bunch of fall crops and hope to make up the harvest in a month or two.

OK, so we picked 9.2 lbs of serviceberries in the last week or so off of our two serviceberry trees – Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’ (which by the way is a ‘Plant of Merit’ designated by the Missouri Botanical Garden – which means it is a plant with good qualities that deserves to be planted more…I have to agree!)

Last year we made serviceberry crumble dessert, but this year I decided to try a batch of servicberry jam. I also had pounds of strawberries I harvested (and some I bought when Whole Foods had a sale on organic strawberries a few weeks ago), so I wanted to make Strawberry Jam too. Now, I have never made jam before…so I had to do a lot of research…and buy a canner…and all of that. I was a little intimidated after reading all of the very specific directions from the USDA and various extension services, but I figured I could do it…my grandma did…and her mother, and her mother….

I read a lot of recipes, and I did not want to use a ton of sugar…which it seems many recipes call for. The whole reason I wanted to make the jam was to create a low sugar and mostly fruit spread. I didn’t realize the sugar is what makes it gel…if you don’t use pectin, or if you use certain pectins.

Then I found my solution…a pectin called Pamona’s Universal Pectin. I found it at Whole Foods and it is exactly what I was looking for. With this pectin you can use sugar, or honey, or agave, or artificial sweetener…and you don’t have to use a lot of sweetener.

I basically followed the recipe in the Pomona’s package for cooked low sugar or Honey…and followed the blueberry recipe, but I made variations with the fruit and sweetener.

I made 3 batches (each batch was 4 1/2 pint jars)

1) Agave Sweetened Serviceberry Jam
2) Sugar Sweetened Strawberry Jam
3) Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam

As of now…all 12 jars are sitting on my counter cooling…from the outside they look pretty good. I thought I would post some photo’s of my adventure…and as I taste each batch I’ll update on how they came out.

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger version of the photo

Click on a thumbnail to see the full resolution photo…they are worth the click!

Click on the thumbnail version of the graph to see it at full resolution.

Greetings

Well it has been a year since we began our journey towards a more sustainable suburbia.  I wanted to make a summary post about our energy use and review all the things we have done to make our home more eco friendly and report the results for the first full year.

A Brief Recap

Here is a recap of our starting point, in case you don’t want to wade around in previous posts to find out the particulars of our situation.  We live in a 2200SF ranch style brick home in St. Louis, Missouri, with a partially finished basement.  The house was built in 1972.  We added insulation in the attic about 6 or 7 years ago to raise the insulation factor from R11 to R35.  The windows are double pane, installed in 1988.  Most of our minor appliances had already been replaced in the last several years with energy star models…so there isn’t much room for reduction of energy there.  Both our heating and cooling systems were over 20 years old.  In the summer the air conditioner could not even keep up with the heat if it was above 92 degrees outside…so the house was warm…in the low 80’s during the summer.  In the winter, we kept the house pretty cool…I often wore fingerless gloves in my office, and always wore layers.  The gas water heater was over 15 years old and was leaking.  My husband and I both work from home, so we use more energy than a couple that works outside the home…we both have offices, computer equipment and many other electrical things that seem to add up a lot on our energy bills.

At the very end of April 2010 we had a 3 ton geothermal heating and cooling  system installed to replace the heater, air conditioner and water heater.  We had a 4 ton vertical loop system installed in the front yard (3 wells each 200’ deep) We had very good timing because all of the systems needed to be replaced…REALLY needed to be replaced…and all at once.  Putting in the geo HVAC system replaced everything at one time.  Also, we were able to take advantage of the 30% federal tax credit.

The Payback Period and Savings Estimates

We had priced other high efficiency systems, and came to the conclusion that the ground source geothermal system, after the federal tax credit, would actually only cost about $4000 more than a traditional 95% high efficiency system and new water heater.

My estimates on cost savings were that we would save about $1000 per year in energy costs…making up the difference between the geothermal system and a 95% efficient system in only 4 years.

Did we reach our goals?

After this first year, as you can see from the graphs, I believe we are on target to have reduced our energy use overall by over 50% and have saved a little over $1000 in the first year.

We also made some other energy efficient choices right around the same time, including replacing many of our incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) and a few LED bulbs.  In addition, we started turning off our computers at night (well I didn’t do this nearly as much as I should have) and we put a few things on timers to reduce the amount of time we ran them, like the dehumidifier and a fan.  These strategies have a smaller impact on our bills, but they do add up.

Conclusion

So after a year I am very happy with our decision to put in the geothermal heat pump.  We really feel good about the environmental impact we are making by reducing our household  energy use by 50%, and are really happy about the extra money we will have in the bank after a few more years of paying off the system.  Yay Sprawlstainable!!!!

Click on a photo for a larger picture