Recharge Weekend

by CZeitler

I hate the weekends where I have plans yet all I wind up doing is catching up on my sleep and recharging my social batteries. I acknowledge that they are essential, and I feel better on Monday, but they always feel sort of like a failing on my part. I did a few things this weekend, I went to the weaver’s guild meeting which was fun, crocheted a trio of freehand lace pieces which I blocked this morning, and generally rested.

For me, that and sleep were what I needed to accomplish. Do I wish I had done more? Of course. Will everything I need to do get completed? Also yes. By giving myself the grace to completely rest this past weekend I have recharged myself for the upcoming month. This morning I was able to work more on my attempt at a bog jacket, I am all the way to the split for my head, and feed myself a decent breakfast. Due to a strange schedule this week I will have tomorrow off to make progress on the bog jacket, I am still deciding if I want to keep a ‘head hole’ or maintain the split for the entire front of the jacket.

I am deliberately increasing the draw in so that the neck portion is a bit more reinforced at the selvedges. It has occurred to me that the draw in after washing might be more extreme than I was planning on, good thing I overbought yarn for this project!

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Project Finish & Falling Shelves

by CZeitler

While sorting through bags of random beads I separated out the black, and similar to black, tube beads to fill in the raven image I painted late last year. I love how it turned out, however it took me several months to decide how I wanted to frame/mount this piece. I decided on purchasing a miniature flat canvas from dollar tree and gluing the excess fabric semi-taught around the back of the canvas. This allows the piece to be secured to the canvas, yet it can easily be removed if I decide to use another method in the future. I will be low-key on the lookout for a frame that I may be able to use in the future to place this behind glass. I cannot express how happy I am with how this has turned out!

On a completely different note, one morning I was allowing myself a bit of a lie in when I heard a loud noise from upstairs. I was concerned that my new-ish roof had collapsed, a critter got into the house, or something equally as horrific…not quite. The plastic shelves I had ordered about 3 years ago from amazon had decided that they no longer wanted to stand. Of course this was the one room I considered ‘finished’ and had not planned to make major changes to. I laughed to myself and decided that I would deal with that once I had completed my projects on the first floor. It has been almost a week and I still have not started to assess the damage. I did make significant progress on the projects I have on the main floor, and hope to get to the second floor in the next couple of weeks.

Until next time, live life A Little More Abstract!

Pattern Testing

by CZeitler

I had the privilege of pattern testing the Quiltlets Quilted Bracelet Cuff, whose pattern you can purchase here: https://authorkathrynmykel.com/store/quiltlets-quilted-bracelet-printed-pattern/

I am not an affiliate and do not make any money from this, though the kit was sent to me for free. This is a fun, scrappy, pattern that would be a great use for your scraps and as gifts for friends. I only did two of the simpler patterns available, and they both turned out amazing! I was using the Benartex fabric that was included in the test kit and the fabric is fabulous to work with. I did the flip and stitch method with the Foundation Paper Piecing, other than that I followed the lovely directions included.

Organization Idea

by CZeitler

I follow a wide variety of makers of all sorts. Artists, textile artists, fiber artists, crafters, quilters, sewists, historical recreationists, and so many more. They all bring something different to my creative adventures, color theory, design inspirations, organization inspiration, or just a new way of thinking of the world and materials found within.

At present the artist that is inspiring me most is Sue Spargo. She has a lovely online shop, creates amazing quilts using wool fabric and raw edge applique, along with embroidery and so much more. In one of her promotional emails she showed how some of the supplies she uses are organized, in a binder. Not just any binder, but a binder with card sleeves and plastic bags that fit in those sleeves containing supplies. *Mind Blown*!

I have been using Photo Boxes, found at Michaels (never pay more than $15 for them), to organize many of my smaller supplies and I love how they work. However I do stack them, and I find that having to dig around, even with a sheet detailing what is in each, tends to take some of the spontaneity and creative impulse out of the crafting. I decided to take Sue Spargo’s idea a half step further and purchase a 3 ring binder that has a zipper (essentially a trapper keeper).

I spent much of yesterday deciding what is going in there and getting things organized. I still plan on sewing up some 3 ring binder pouches to add slightly bigger items or embroidery projects on the go. This is just another step on my way to crafting organization! I love drawing inspiration from all of the sources available to me, if you get a chance check out Sue Spargo, her kits and supplies are amazing!

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Summer Opportunities

by CZeitler

Summer tends to lend itself to a wide variety of opportunities. To spend time outside, gardening, visiting the beach, and so much more. There are also a wide variety of learning opportunities available, some of which are free online. I am not affiliated with, nor do I endorse any of these courses. There are opportunities to ‘upgrade’ these courses for a fee, which I am not affiliated with, nor do I endorse.

From August 10th to the 18th there will be a Craft Discovery Summit, https://masteryroute.com/crafts/

September 21st-28th will be a Quilter’s Paradise Summit that you can register to be notified about: https://masteryroute.com/quilters-paradise-waitlist/

November 9-16 there will be a Needlework Paradise Summit that you can register to be notified about: https://masteryroute.com/needlework-waitlist/

HobbyScool also has a lineup of seminars and retreats, all digital, that you can find here: https://www.hobbyscool.com/

The upcoming classes are:

August 18-20 Back to Creativity Summit

September 15-17 Art of Handmade

October 15-17 Festive Fall Workshop Series

November 10-12 Elves’ Workshop Summit

December 15-17 Create and Reflect Retreat

Get Organized HQ does also tend to have a free fall event that I have found worth attending in the past.

If you are looking to ‘up’ your skills with paid courses there are too many for me to mention in this blog post. I will attempt to add some into future posts.

Learning opportunities can take many different forms, borrowing a book from your local library or guild, finding free online courses or youtube videos, attending a retreat or major conference, or taking time to talk with friends that share your passion. Not all learning has to be expensive if you are open to it! That being said, do not take those with experience for granted either. Attending a conference with world renowned artists is well worth the $3-5,000 it costs for room, board, other opportunities, and the chance to learn in person from an expert teacher is an opportunity not to be missed. In addition if you have the option to learn from an individual instructor then they should be compensated fairly. No matter your level, skill, and financial means you should be able to find learning opportunities for you!

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Mid Summer Catch Up

by CZeitler

Life has been really busy this summer, I am always surprised by how much time and attention Summer Reading Takes! It is amazing to see all of the excited people of all ages reading and getting their prizes, admiring their progress, and helping people have fun at the library. I adore my job.

All of this business at work, as well as a few fun projects with my Weaving Guild, has meant that I really have not had much time to myself. I will also confess that there was some background stress over dental work, the cost of dentistry even though I have a full-time job and insurance, catching up on bills because of the dentistry…needing some work to pass my car inspection….all of this has managed to suck up my physical and creative energy. I had yesterday off and I decided that a trip to the beach was in order, it is only about an hour away, however, this is only going to be my second trip in 2026. I arrived around 6 am, this is the full moon as the sun is beginning to rise. The colors are not great, however, the effect is still breathtaking.

The waves were quite strong and I had so much fun looking for pretty rocks, finding beach glass, and just enjoying the weather and water. On the way home I was being very careful about my driving, since I did not pass NYS inspection, and got pulled over for something I thought was resolved. Lol.

Despite this I have been making progress on a wide variety of projects over the past week. I gave up on ‘saving’ my entire warp for the ‘Bog Jacket’ project I am attempting. This allowed me to cut off the rest, section by section, straighten them out as best I could, and then chain them to be used later. I do not know the precise yardage on my loom at this time so I am not certain if I can completely weave the jacket out of this piece and then the sleeves out of another. Right now I plan on the split starting about 36″ into the weaving to create the back of the jacket, and letting the split continue for the rest of the weaving. I can then use some kind of fastener to keep the jacket shut or use it as an open jacket. I did adjust how I started the weaving, instead of doing 3 picks and then creating a hem stitch, I decided to use twining at the bottom of the weaving to separate the threads, I feel that this eliminated the need to use waste yarn at the beginning of the warp to preserve those few inches.

I have a couple of other projects I am working on, however, I have reached the end of today’s post. I will try to get on a better schedule of posting shortly. Until then, remember to live life A Little More Abstract.

Vacation Weaving

by CZeitler

I was lucky enough to attend the wedding of one of my (many) cousins. In doing so I also took a day to shop around at places that I would never be able to go to otherwise, including a couple of thrift stores I was disappointed in. I did get some amazing embroidery floss/media at an embroidery shop that I had a ton of fun playing with. I also managed to go to a small yarn store and pick up a couple of skeins to play with. Part of my focus on weaving during this vacation is the ‘Weave Every Day in June’ Challenge by Mirrix looms. They specify that you do not have to weave every single day to participate, just submit your calendar of the days you did manage to weave.

One of my pleasures is eating, of course. I created a ‘snackle box’ for myself as an attempt at portion control during my trip, it served me well. I also tried Halal food, which was interesting. The cabbage was sweeter than I thought so it tasted odd to me, the cucumber salad was amazing, I love the white sauce. The beef and lamb tasted a bit too much like an Arby’s Gyro to impress me, however I am very glad that I tried it!

My cousin’s wedding was a sheer display of art, craft, and sheer geekiness that was inspiring to say the least. After seeing her and her husband be unabashedly geeky I realized how much my own Self-Sabotage and Imposter Syndrome is hurting me emotionally and creatively. That allowed me to have a burst of cleaning inspiration that was halted, abruptly, by my IBS acting up. YAY. On that bit of chronic illness TMI, I am going to sign off since my lunch break is almost over. Hopefully my cleaning and crafting mojo decide to keep going for the rest of the week. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Everything’s Going to Be All Rice

by CZeitler

About a month ago I purchased a great deal on frozen fish. Since then I have created a couple of amazing rice bowls to enjoy. Rice from the rice cooker, baked fish, Japanese BBQ sauce or Hoisin Sauce, and then sprinkled over with the ‘Everything’s Gonna be All Rice’ seasoning that was available at Walmart for a while. I have to go light on the seasoning since it does have salt which can then overwhelm everything. This has been a fun treat a few times a month to get me to eat more fish, eat at home more, and enjoy flavors that I do not always get to enjoy.

This is what happens when you are at work, as a librarian, and notice that the t-shirt you pulled from the clean laundry pile has a couple of grease stains that are now set in and do not come out with a shout stick. You sew a felt wizards tower to cover the stains. I think this turned out well!

I am also trying to sew a skirt for my cousin’s wedding this upcoming weekend, I lost the pattern until this past Saturday, so it isn’t just that I am procrastinating. The waistband is elasticated, my left hand had ligament repair surgery, so I improvised. I used a pair of table clamps to clamp down on the waistband while the elastic is slightly stretched, then I sewed the seam. This worked really well, though since the fabric is linen some of the fibers were slightly crushed leaving tiny shiny spots that are not noticeable at all.

I asked a cousin of mine if they would like a quilt. They readily agreed so I wanted to make some samples of different colored thread. I am looking at this sampler and even I can tell that the variegated is right out, the white just blends in too well with the background fabric. Fortunately I will be seeing this cousin at the wedding and various festivities around the wedding, so I am quite excited about that.

Other than some organizing and trying to put a shed up in my back yard that is all that I have been up to. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Travel and Time

by CZeitler

I believe I am almost entirely recovered from both the surgery and my cold. There is some white on my tongue that the Mayo Clinic website seams to indicate may be a bacterial infection, however salt water rinses should take care of that. I did manage to visit my cousin, though over the weekend rather than during the week. There is kerfuffle about the cars, however I will not bore you with that.

I absolutely love going to see my family, however I think I will limit my travel to spring and fall. In the summer work tends to take up most of my time with Summer Reading Programs, and I would like to focus on my garden some this year. Since I live in western New York winters can be dicey so I prefer to stay between work and home for those months. This means that, after the wedding, my next trip is likely going to be in October since I am teaching classes in September.

While I was visiting there was an amazing gem and mineral show that we attended. I purchased some lovely larger stones that I hope to use as focals or pendants, as well as a few tiny gem quality stones. I also had time to listen to a couple of audiobooks during my travels. One of which is “The Lost Art of Doing Nothing”. This is an amazing book that speaks about how in this day and age of instant gratification as well as the ability to entertain our selves with doomscrolling, or tik tok videos, we no longer take the time to allow ourselves to be ‘bored’. This means that all too often we do not allow ourselves to enter into a creative mindset. Most of the time the best of ideas come to you when you are in the shower or driving because you have little else to focus on so your creative mind can come out. Personally, I had a few good ideas while I was driving along so I used the notes app on my phone to make sure I will not forget them.

I hope to use this summer as a chance to explore my creativity, plant a beautiful garden, and set my workshop up for an amazing year of creativity. I am so very lucky that I have the opportunity and freedom to explore my creativity, get to spend time with my extended family more, and have an amazing job that I love. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Too Much, Too Soon

by CZeitler

This past weekend was busy, though it could have gone much worse. Friday I missed half of staff development day, with the directors approval, and my sister and I made the 11 hour drive to where my cousin and uncle live. We got there about midnight, and were up the next morning to attend the funeral, graveside service, and memorial lunch. We did a little bit of shopping and were back in time to get invited to a family pizza fest. We ducked out of that a little early and crashed hard. The next morning we woke early to catch a cousin we had not seen in a long time, then crashed a bit more before we had to pack up, check out, and attend a lovely brunch to commemorate the family. Much was made of the little banner things I made, I hope they truly enjoyed them. There were so many people I only got a few minutes with my uncle and cousin, however I did get to spend time with family I had not seen in a while.

I also found out that another cousin was engaged to be married, I have never seen him happier than he is with his fiance. I am looking forward to seeing the family again in June for (yet another) cousin’s wedding. I love being a part of a large family, I do need to save up a bit to give them a wedding present.

We drove home on Sunday, getting there about 1am Monday. I had an appointment to get a tooth pulled at 9:30 am, which we made. It was fascinating as I swear I was only out for five minutes, but it turns out the procedure took 30 minutes. I did spend the rest of the day sleeping instead of the shopping trip my sister thought we would be taking. My supervisor had scheduled me to come back on Wednesday since I am going to be working this Saturday. I really appreciate that since I was not up to much on Tuesday.

Today is Wednesday, I am not sure if I am reacting to the surgery and antibiotics or if I have the cold that was going around work last week. Either way I seem to have a runny nose, and a slightly dry/sore throat. Plans are always shifting here. Originally I was going to attend Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, then go on to H&H Americas. Then I chose to do a car shuffle with my cousin, sister, and myself. That meant that longer trips were off the table for a bit. After that I cut my vacation in half, however, I was going to go south east to help my cousin, that I did the car shuffle with, because her dad was having a procedure. The procedure was pushed back a week, so I am not needed, and I feel slightly like garbage so I do not know if it is a good idea for me to take the trip for a visit.

My cousin who lost her mom asked for me to distract her with a quilt I will be making her, I sent and email and hope to make progress on that. At present, if I am feeling better by next Tuesday I plan on visiting my cousin for Wednesday through Friday, leave early Saturday so I can swing by and change cars with my sister, then sleep on Sunday. I think that this would be the easiest way to not feel like I am missing out on anything and still give myself a little time to figure things out. On the other hand, if I still feel like something ran me over I will probably skip everything and sleep my time off away.

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!