Month: July 2023

Biting the Crafting Bullet

by CZeitler

This past weekend was about biting the crafting bullet and doing those projects I have been dreaming of, in one case for years. I will start with the craft I have been procrastinating about for less time, only a few weeks.

Earlier this year I saw the Tula Pink Deja Vu Nightshade collection that was going to be released in July. More important to this tale, I saw the quilts that Tula Pink had created to go with the collection. Immediately my attention was caught by “The Still Room” and I started looking for how I could pre-order the pattern. In my months of searching it seemed that I could order the kit for $186 or wait until the collection launched and then purchase the pattern. I waited, impatiently, for the collection to launch. Imagine my surprise when not only did the collection launch but the pattern was FREE on https://freespiritfabrics.com/projects/?page=3. The link is directly to the page that contains the Tula Pink patterns but I recommend looking at all of the free patterns. That being said, I still procrastinated for a couple of weeks. Finally over the last week I looked through my fabric and started pulling types and colors that I thought might work. This past weekend I bit the crafting bullet and started cutting out one type of block at a time to sew together. Instead of following the cutting diagram and cutting out all of the pieces for all of the blocks I decided to start with the blocks that had large motifs that needed to be fussy cut. Before going any further I am going to disclaim, at this time I have not purchased any of the Tula Pink fabrics, this project was entirely out of stash. I do hope to purchase some of this collection for some of my English Paper Piecing to take advantage of the fussy cutting. That disclaimer aside I have finished these first 4 blocks and no two are the same size, and they certainly are not the size called for in the quilt diagram, but I will be able to add sashing and such to fix them up.

Honestly, I think getting these 4 blocks finished this past weekend is amazing, however that is not all that I did!

I had made up some paper pulp from shredded mail, the recycling this week is paper so I thought I would finally start shredding some. I learned several lessons, the first is to take out all of the plastic windows before shredding paper that you want to turn into pulp because the plastic will tangle around your stick blender and then you have to unplug it to get the plastic untangled. The second is that even if you let your pulp sit in water for 3 days (I’m hoping 4 is okay because I want to pull another couple of sheets tonight) it just gets better. I know that it will likely start to mold in another day or two but there were also instructions for drying the pulp so it can be used later. The method is much simpler than I thought, there are tons of tutorials on the web so I don’t think I will go over it again here. I did purchase the kit from Crafter.com as well as the video instructions included there. I’m looking for ways to make more sheets of paper than I currently have ‘couching’ sheets for, so keep an eye out for that. I do love how the shredded mail had some weird inclusions that added different colors to my finished paper.

That is all for this week so until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Weaving Adventures

by CZeitler

So yesterday I taught my last planned scissor fob class, and it went very well. I had seven people take part and they all made beautiful scissor fobs. Someone did ask if I would be willing to teach another class for another organization that they belong to so if that goes through, that would be lovely. I organized and brought a lot of materials that I had created out of resin because we were going to be having a sort of garage sale event, however, no one was interested in my creations. They were mostly seconds that I had priced just for the cost of the resin and slight cost of the molds. However, since they did not, so at this point, I am probably going to either offer them through Facebook marketplace as seconds, or try to gift them to someone. Onto the very exciting parts of this post, the crafting.

so over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to get my loom, completely warped, and I have completed two towels, one of which was finished and washed. I am currently working on weaving the third towel and I love how the pattern is turning out. I’m not going to post a picture of the first towel because the warp was not accurate and there are a bunch of weird floats. I swear it took me almost halfway through the second towel to get the warps completely correct but I love how it looks now.

Yesterday I had a lovely phone call from a friend of mine that is on a very long drive back home, so we spent a wonderful six hours chatting. Since I am in capable of keeping my hands, still while talking on the phone, I managed to begin weaving, a beaded weaving project. That is something that I’ve been telling myself that I would do this entire week that I was on staycation, but it never wound up happening until yesterday. This was woven on my mirrix loom, and I spent another three hours this morning, working on it because I had another phone call from a different friend who was having trouble. It did take me about another hour or two to get a completely finished finish off the warp ends, glue everything down and put a back on it. So this less than 10 inch woven piece took me about 11 hours. That means that if I were to put this for sale just at my time at around minimum wage, I would have to sell this less than 10 inch piece for $165. That would not be taking into account the price of the loom, the thread, and the beads. I think that it’s beautiful but I don’t actually see somebody paying 165 for it.

Well, I have not just spent my entire staycation crafting. I did manage to get some things done around the house. I finally managed to get the thorn bush cut down from my side yard so I’m now working on figuring out how to get rid of the stumps so that it does not come back again. I am so excited by how much I managed to accomplish during my staycation and well I will not have another one until early September. I think that I am prepped and ready to get through August.

I hope that everyone has a great week and remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract.

We Are Warped

by CZeitler

I now have my 16 shaft table loom warped up completely and I have been weaving on it this week. A couple of threads snapped and a couple are floating rather than separating so I have to figure out what is going on with them. After I finished weaving the first towel, I decided to take each shaft off of its rail and take off the extra heddles that I had on the end. This was going very well until I reached shaft 14 and then the shaft decided to snap on me, essentially the bottom came off before the top was out of the rail, and it snapped. I was able to glue it back together using gorilla glue, however, that happened just this morning so I will not be able to put it back on until tomorrow morning.

I know that the gorilla wood glue worked because after half an hour the shaft stayed together without the clamp on. I did manage to get all of the extra heddle off and shifted where the last shaft is going to be by adding the pieces onto the other heddle. Essentially now only the 16th shaft is missing the part that keeps the heddle rods in place. Do I regret doing all of this, while the loom is completely warped up, not really. Considering how much time and effort it takes to warp up the loom, loosening the warp from the back beam and allowing the heddles to shift in place seems to be the best way to do this. That being said, I have not found out where the sticky warps are nor whether anything is shifted or twisted, so wait and see if this actually works or not. Since I am having a Weaving Guild meeting on Saturday and they asked us to bring our own place setting, I’m going to wash the towel now that I’ve hemmed it and see how it works.

There is one more aspect to this saga and that is the paper that I used to wind the back warp. Since it was not exactly the same size as the back warp beam, it wound up crinkling and wrinkling. Those crinkles and wrinkles cause the warped be held at a different tension which completely messed up my front tension. I should’ve seen this coming however, I did not. I am still debating different ways to potentially resolve this issue. The back warp reel is actually quite wide, though it isn’t 36 inches wide which is what I think the paper is.

I believe taking off the extra heddles will give me room to figure out which of my warps are crossing or doing other things that cause me to not get a clean shed. I also believe that if I can find some way to wind the warp on with even tension I will solve my loose warp problem, though I do not look forward to unrolling the entire warp just to try to roll it back on the back beam with even tension. Perhaps unrolling the back beam and pulling it through the front reed and heddles will help me figure out my threading problems, then I can concentrate on the tension problems. I hope to get both of those problems solved this week, though again it will all have to wait until tomorrow morning when I can get the last shaft fixed.

As you can probably tell, this has been my all consuming project this past week. The quilt as you go project went well, not everyone finished since I had between 16-18 (I lost count) people wanting to do the project. As a result, even though Wednesday-Sunday I’m supposed to be off, I will be coming in to work for 2 hours to set up and help everyone finish their potholders. Each person will be making 1 and I have enough supplies for 12. I’m also teaching Scissor Fobs on Saturday, so I will really have Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday off. That is alright, I will use the ‘on days’ to run other errands and take care of other chores around the house.

I think that is it for this week, so until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Storage and Organization Ideas

by CZeitler

This post contains affiliate links that will cost you nothing to click on but might provide me a small stipend.

this post is designed to give you an idea of some of the storage units that I use in my crafting practice. These are not exactly what I’m using except where I state that they are, however, they are what I would use if I was setting up a brand new crafting studio .

Storage Desk

I am a very firm believer in making sure that I have exactly what I need to start crafting on hand at all times whenever possible. To make this as accessible as possible I love having a desk that has plenty of storage already built in within it. This storage desk is not very big as it is just over 3 feet wide, however, it does have a lot of storage on the shelves.

Clear Plastic Storage Bins

I am a visual organizer that means that if I cannot see something it might as well not exist. I understand that this is hard for some people for which visual clutter causes them a lot of stress. If visual clutter bothers you I recommend some closed baskets, however, if you were like me, I recommend having clear storage. I have been trying to cut out plastic in my life for ecological reasons however, there are circumstances where I have not found a better solution. So that I know where everything is and that I can keep it corralled I recommend using clear storage boxes, such as the ones above.

Daylight Ceiling Light

Good lighting is absolutely vital to good crafting. This light bulb can be screwed into any normal socket and it provides three fan type appendages that have daylight LED lights. I love how much light this adds to any area, since I have a lamp with bendable heads I can adjust this light to shine on what I need it to. I also find during the winter having a daylight limp keeps me from feeling quite as down.

Compression Bags

I have a lot of yarn. I just do, and storing yarn takes up a lot of space. I have recently started using compression bags because I can vacuum out the air and squish down the yarn that I am not going to be using immediately, but still have it safe from any insect or other problematic concerns. Honestly, I love the fact that I don’t have to worry about any kind of dust or anything else getting into my yarn, especially my wools. I cannot recommend this storage option for things like fiber storage. If you’re planning on spinning your fiber, this will probably compress it down too far and cause matting.

Plastic Bookshelf

Yes, these are very inexpensive plastic bookshelves. That being said, for my small bedroom, where I do some sewing, and I wanted to partition off a space to put a reading chair these have worked beautifully as partitions and storage. I have actually managed to put quite a few magazines and books on the shelves without worrying about them breaking. For complete honesty when you are beginning make sure that you have all of the pieces fastened properly be careful that you do not twist the rods too far as I did have a connection sheer off. Other than that minor issue I have had no problems with the shelves, and as long as they are tightened, decently they do not wobble. If you’re looking for an inexpensive storage or just some inexpensive shelves to partition off an area, I highly recommend these.

Reading Chair

This is the reading chair that I wanted to add to my craft room. Since it’s only around $150 I was a little concerned that it would not hold my 250 pound plus weight however it holds up beautifully. The legs and frame are metal and so they hold up the weight just fine. More importantly, the cushion is beautifully comfortable. I have to be very careful that I do not spend my entire day just relaxing in my beautiful reading chair.

Broom with Scraper

The unfortunate fact of life is that if you craft you’re going to need to clean up at some point. Actually, that probably does apply to people that do not craft as well, but I cannot speak to that. When I had a contractor in to do some work in the house, they brought this broom in and I fell in love. One of the things that always drove me insane was that the way that I was taught to sweep is that you sweep everything up and then you lift the broom over the garbage can and use your hand to brush every extra bit off which seems disgusting. With this kind of broom, the little plastic teeth managed to scrape off all of the extra nasty stuff, and you just have to lift up and empty the broom pan.

Seasonal Storage Bags

The final thing that I will recommend, is these seasonal storage bags. If you make quilts, crochet, or knit, afghans, crochet, or knit things, like hats and gloves, and scarves and mittens, then these are going to come in handy. These are great for seasonal storage or just storage of any completed blankets and quilts. They zip up and there is a window so you can see what you put in. I always make sure to put in a few cedar discs and some lavender pouches just to make sure that nothing is going to be tempted to come in and mess up my stuff. If you’re looking at some longer-term storage of things like well, afghans in Quilt, then these are a good solution as well. I am tempted to ship items like afghans and quilts right in these bags so that people have storage options when they receive it but I think my shop will have to takeoff a little bit more than it has presently for me to be able to afford that.

If anybody is interested, I could start a set of blog posts regarding what I would recommend for beginners, sewers, quilters, knitters, crocheters, or whatever else you’re going to get into even resin art, but until next time, I hope that everybody remembers to live life a little more abstract.

Severely Sidetracked

by CZeitler

Crafting content will begin after the ******.

I went outside this morning to get my 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, also known as using my old fashion lawnmower to mow my lawn. I love my old fashion mower because it is not nearly as harsh on the grass as an electric mower, or a gas powered mower, it also is very environmentally safe, and the blades do not need sharpening. I had mowed my front lawn on Thursday because I had a little bit of time and I knew that since it was forward facing I wanted the front of my house that everybody could see to look nice. I had decided to leave the backyard that nobody except one neighbor can see alone until I had time on Sunday. Imagine my surprise, when my beautiful, plush lawn was scalped. I know that someone thinks they were helping me and giving me a hand, however, all I feel is devastated and violated. My lush green grass is now almost down to the dirt and it looks horrible. Somebody came into my yard without my permission and did what they thought was best without consulting me or talking to me or anything. I know that the short way of thinking of this is that somebody mowed my lawn for me, however, all I really feel is violated. If they think it’s OK to mow my lawn without permission what else do they think it’s OK to do without my permission on my property? I’ve been trying to slowly do some landscaping, last weekend I put out some new, stepping stones for my pots and other things.
because of this, I wound up going to my local hardware store to buy a blank sign. I put the sign out after I wrote down something to the effect of ‘Thank you for mowing my lawn. Please ask permission.’ I plan on keeping it up for a week. While I was there, They had bushes half price so I did get a bush for an area that I was planning on putting in the back and a nice lilac bush that I put in a pot out front. In total, I spent all of what I earned teaching yesterday on some of the yard work as opposed to saving it as I had planned to do. I also think that I might need to put out some cameras on the backyard so that I can keep track of what’s going on. I didn’t want to be that kind of paranoid person, however, I don’t want people thinking that they can do whatever they want on my property.

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due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not gotten around to creating the organization post that I intended to. Since it is mirrix, weave every day month I have managed to get some weaving done almost every day. The most exciting achievement that I’ve managed is that the reed on my 16 shaft loom is completely threaded, and I have almost half of the heddles threaded as well.

I did have to take a break in the middle of my project to create my own lease stick so that I could attach it to the back roller of my loom. For the life of me, I do not know what happened to the original, however, with some para cord, an impact driver, and some ingenuity, I did manage to get the lease sticks for the front and back of the loom finished. I have been having some trouble with the lease stick on my rigid heddle loom as well so I am not sure if I’m going to just use para cord to attach it to the front and back beams or if I am going to use the slightly thicker wood that I purchased to create my own lease sticks.

I did manage to get all of the pieces cut out that I need for the quilt as you go potholder class I am on Thursday, that did take quite a bit of time and playing around with the machines to make sure that they were going to work. I also had to remind myself that fold over binding is just fine because I am not going to try to teach 13 people on the fly how to do regular binding. I am not that much of a masochist.

I know that this is not the post that I promised you, I do hope to get to that before the 11th. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and remember to live life a little more abstract.

Room Re Organization and More

by CZeitler

Hello Everyone! The first part is information about my mental health so if you want to skip to the crafting content skip to the ****************.

My site and store have not been updated in a few weeks due to a slight adjustment in my anti-depressants (anti-anxiety for me) and the time at which I was taking them. I was taking them in the morning, this resulted in my consuming more caffeine to keep myself awake and not taking my ADHD medication (which is a stimulant). By changing my anti-depressants to evening I am able to sleep better and not spend my entire day trying to stay awake, I am also taking my ADHD daily to see the difference it makes. After half a week I have more energy and I am able to better focus on accomplishing various tasks.

I also had a friend visit to see my new house for the first time, it was so much fun to catch up with her!

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My new desk has re-ignited my desire to ensure that my first floor work area is optimized, or at least I can access everything I need. This of course means that I have to move everything out into the open before I can store it away. I did find my shuttle tatting supplies about 6 weeks before I am set to teach needle tatting to a guild, so that is going to be great to demonstrate the difference between the techniques. Right now the room looks a fright, I did manage to finish weaving off the warp I had set up for coasters that I plan on giving to the guild as prizes for the EGLFC (Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference) in October. This allowed me to push that loom to a wall and put items that I use more frequently in front of it.

There is a cubby that I built years ago, not very well admittedly, that had been against a wall but hidden with items in front of it. That is now next to the loom against the wall, mostly accessible. There are 3 cubbies that have longer term storage items that I placed a small end table against. I then pushed my desk up against that end table to create a seamless corner of work space, where I can still access most of the cubbies, that I feel will be very functional.

These moves allowed me to better access my 16 shaft table loom, which brings me to one of the reasons why I started all of these adjustments. Mirrix Looms had a program where they invited everyone to weave every day in April. It was such a success they decided to bring it back in July. This has resulted in my spending the first three days of July finishing off the coasters, so I could put that loom away, and making my 16 shaft loom more accessible. Much earlier this year I put the warp for some towels through my reed, and found out that despite what I thought my warp is wide enough to fill the entire loom…this means that I need to go back and start at the beginning to rethread my entire reed. I thought I could ignore this and just leave the extra threads off of the warp, so I began threading the heddles, however the truth is if I do that I will always hate these towels. I checked with Mirrix and warping up my 16 shaft loom does count as ‘weaving’ toward their goal. I do understand how ridiculous all of this sounds, however I need that external motivation to get myself working on this huge project.

All of this does not mean that this is all that I have been working on! Last Monday I taught a guild how to make scissor fobs, and I will be repeating the lesson with another guild this Saturday and yet again on the 22nd. The first class was such a success I am very excited to see what creations the other guilds come up with given the supplies available! I purchased a lot of supplies for these scissor fobs and I am hopeful that I will get the supplies cost back so I can invest in teaching another class next year, though I am not sure what in yet.

If you have not gotten the gist yet, I never have just one or two projects on the go at a time. I have also been doing some work on my house, my front garden is planted with new blocks for my potted plants, they are a dye garden plus a couple of vegetables, so I look forward to seeing what hues I get out of my garden this year. I’ll try to get a good photo of my straw flowers by next post. I also went a little too far at the 70% off fabric sale at JoAnn Fabrics, though I hope to make a couple of lap quilts in the next week or so, yes I know I’m getting a bit too ambitious again!

I think that is all of the progress I have to report on for now, if I like how the workroom looks by time I’m finished I’ll try to add a photo to this post. I’ll probably have a post about organization products I use in my house in time for the Prime Sale on Amazon with affiliate links by next week. Clicking on the affiliate links will not cost you anything but I might get a small stipend.

Until Next Time Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!