Buying

Driving to H&H Americas

by CZeitler

So, the drive from Western New York to Chicago without any stops would’ve taken me nine hours. Not stopping is very unreasonable for me, plus I was passing very closely to an IKEA. This means that my trip was a lot longer than nine hours, but I had so much more fun than I thought I would.


I have been eyeing the Trofast storage unit for a while now. Not only were they on sale, but they had several of the drawers that would go with it. That were also on either sale or clearance. Plus they had purple. I knew that I needed another storage unit and I believe that this is going to serve me quite well. Since I’ve come home, I’ve already assembled it, and I’ve started filling it with items that I purchased at the expo. I intend to switch items around as I use them. I picked up some other odds and ends and a couple of things that were on clearance however, I think the most interesting for me is the Trofast unit.

I did need to stop somewhere for gas, and I noticed that there was a Kroger’s nearby. I had never been before, so I decided to give it a shot, imagine my excitement when I found out that they had 2 L of diet red pop. I grew up going to visit family in Western Pennsylvania so red pop and diet Red pop are very nostalgic for me since I can’t have the full sugar version. I’m unable to get it in my area. While I was in the area. I decided to get some lunch and see if the JoAnn fabrics that I saw nearby was still open. Imagine my shock and surprise when not only were they still open but they still had a lot of merchandise very good clearance prices.

Before I even started on the trip I had placed an order from a company called snuggly monkey, and they had some amazing felt and stitching designs that I am excited to get started with. I loved that this Joan’s had a ton of inexpensive craft felt that I can experiment with before getting started with the good.

The remainder of this post is going to be about the food that I ate in Chicago and along my trip.

There was a restaurant near Joanns called Rally’s, the food tasted amazing.  I got a meal deal which was a very small drink. Very small fries a strawberry pie and a double cheeseburger for $4.30.  Spilled part of the drink, but that’s life and the fries have a spice on them, but they are not spicy unlike Arby’s fries.

When I was at IKEA I grabbed a bite in the form of meatballs, potatoes, veg, lingonberry jam, and a diet soda. Lovely, though not really anything too special.

That night once I got to the room, I ordered a Philly Madres chicken sandwich. I usually enjoy the flavors of cuisine from India. However, this sandwich was a little bit spicier than as comfortable for me. I still finished it as it was not intolerably spicy.

I stopped at Speedway for breakfast because I couldn’t hold out until 711 and didn’t want to wait in line for the continental breakfast. I had a corn dog which was actually good. The dog itself was juicy much to my surprise but not in a bad way, I also had an empanada which I was quite afraid of because usually in Hispanic communities Mexican food is quite spicy, however, this was amazing.  They did also have some local donuts so I purchased four of those because they had two of an apple kind a raspberry one and a strawberry filled one that looked fascinating, heavenly.

At the convention center the first day I had a lovely boneless barbecue rib sandwich for lunch. My dinner that night was crab filled eggrolls, along with crab topped french fries. I ordered this through DoorDash to my room. It arrived and tasted delicious. There was plenty of crab throughout.

The final day that I attended the conference was Thursday and I did not feel very hungry so I did not purchase food there. I did get a drink called a strawberry bubbler which I later found out is made with a lotus energy, drink soda, water and sugar-free strawberry syrup. I am looking into buying myself a bottle of the lotus flower energy drink, but it’s going to be a little bit because I have to pay off this trip and some of the things that I ordered after I came home.

I left the convention center to head home at about 3:30 on Thursday, unfortunately that means I ran into traffic. It took me two hours for a drive that should’ve taken about 20 minutes. This means that by time I was done I was very hungry and so I stopped at Dairy Queen, hoping to get one of their meal deals. Unfortunately, it was a treats only Dairy Queen so I did get a delicious coffee blizzard, but I had to stop at the nearby McDonald’s to both go to the bathroom and grab some chicken sandwiches.

The rest of my trip home was fairly uneventful, I did get tired enough to stop and grab an hour nap before I finished my drive. I would much rather look stupid and or have to explain myself to a police officer then drive drowsy, I would rather live.

Since I’ve come home, I’ve been mostly sorting and organizing, though I did ensure that I have all of the supplies that I need to work on the next few projects I plan on experimenting with.

I came back from this conference with a renewed interest in my passion, as well as a renewed appreciation for good food. Until next time, please remember to Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Items That I Purchased at H&H

by CZeitler

I was lucky enough to attend H&H Americas as a volunteer demonstrator for the HGA booth. I am not sponsored or affiliated with any of the organizations that I will mention. I also was very careful to not draw the attention of the vendors away from their intended customers, as this is their livelihood. That being said, I was lucky enough to purchase some items while I was there, I will not be giving you the prices that I paid as I mostly paid wholesale prices.

This is Belagio cork fabric, I purchased three lovely, 15”x18” pieces. These are more like fabric than the cork fabric I have used in the past to make purses.  The designs are lovely, this can be ironed with a cover and a dry iron on high. This cannot be washed, only wiped clean.  I rolled them the opposite way to make it lay a little flatter as they arrived, tightly wrapped around a very firm cardboard, core. I look forward to working and experimenting with these, I believe that if I am going to use them in a purse or a pocketbook/wallet type situation, I would use a fairly firm stabilizer just to give them a little bit more body.

Graphic impressions toted themselves as a Candy store and they were not kidding. I did not get a chance to speak to the owner because she was, very rightfully, quite busy but I did get a chance to speak to her husband for a few minutes. I was permitted to purchase a wide variety of their small tools so that I can test them out and play with them. If I am being very frank, I was not expecting these to be of the quality that they are. If you would like me to go in depth on each one, please let me know and I can do that in the future.

There were several vendors selling silk in various forms. This vendor was selling their silk fabric and it is absolutely gorgeous. They were also very encouraging of my art quilt idea and helped me find a packet that contained a black piece so I can try the fabric out. She also mentioned going to her website to watch a video on how to use and care for this particular fabric.

There was wool felt fabric, tell me you didn’t know that I was gonna buy some. There was also an absolutely gorgeous burgundy velvet, and I look forward to experimenting with both of these. The Sue Spargo booth also had a wide variety of needle types, and one of the vendors there showed me where a lovely sampler pack was and so I picked that up as well. In the next post, I will show a picture of one of the quilts that I have been looking at online, but when I saw it in person, I found out that the depth of fabric and color and texture is so much more than can be captured in a two dimensional photo. When I came home I was also lucky enough to remember that I had purchased one of the books that Sue Spargo wrote about various stitches, so I plan on exploring that more in the future.

There was also a variety of products that absolutely blew my mind, but I did not purchase at the show for various reasons. Some of which are financial, lol. I will freely confess I did make a couple of purchases when I came home that I absolutely do not regret and that I am very much looking forward to receiving. Although my crafting budget is certainly done for the year as soon as I get the credit card paid off, I will consider starting up again, or saving to attend this show again next year.

The next post is going to be absolutely chock full of inspiration and beautiful photographs so until next time Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Temptation and Project Planning

by CZeitler

I have two ideas for projects that I would like to see through. The first is taking a stencil pattern, or a pattern that has large pieces that I can then ‘turn into a stencil’ to do reverse applique in the style of Alabama Chanin. My thought is based on the paper that children tend to play with where it is a black top and when you scratch at it with a stylus a colored background is revealed. I hope to have a very colorful fabric laid down first, sprayed with temporary adhesive, with possibly a thin batting and then the plain top fabric, all of these would be face up and have the temporary spray adhesive on them to prevent shifting as the pattern is drawn on. Draw the pattern on and stitch around the entire pattern either with a machine or hand stitching. The next step would be tricky, cut away the top fabric and batting within the stitched pattern without cutting the backing fabric at all. I suppose, writing it out, I could trace the pattern on the top fabric with the batting adhered and cut it out (probably spraying with fray check) before putting it on the backing fabric. At this point I would need to reassess and decide if the ‘raw edges’ with stitching is sufficient to keep the piece from fraying or if I should do a turned edge reverse applique to keep everything looking tidy.

The second idea I have is an art quilt. I love the look of Dark Fey and other gothic inspired aesthetics. At present I plan on creating the main image with applique, likely a figure, and using other textile and fiber art techniques to create the accessories, background, and other objects within the piece. This is likely to be a very long term project, though I am extremely excited to get started.

Finally the temptation, one of my dad’s very Irish Cousins married a Scotsman. They are lovely people and I am invited to visit whenever I can, though the last time was 2018 before mom passed. I cannot help but see the new line released by Lewis & Irene Fabrics as a temptation to make a quilt for an excuse to visit again. The line is Highlands, I discovered it through an email from Fat Quarter Shop, https://www.fatquartershop.com/lewis-and-irene-fabrics/highlands-lewis-and-irene-fabrics?utm_campaign=1172113_Weekly%20NL%20-%20May%203%2C%202025&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Dotdigital&dm_i=5D15,P4EP,72WWNV,2Z6JM,1

The email also included a new line by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics called Color Wheel. I’m having a hard time deciding if that would be better for my reverse applique idea, or a new quilt for my trans sister…or both. Oh, to have unlimited funds, lol.

While I am mentioning things I would like to purchase I’ll throw in Storybook Quilts by Laura Piland who is Slice of Pi Quilts. The pre-order link can be found here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4300116701/preorder-storybook-quilts-14-quilt?etsrc=sdt

I hope that until next time I write you find time to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Batching Tasks

by CZeitler
A stack of colorful fabric pieces including blue, rainbow striped, and patterned fabrics.

At present I am trying to build my ‘side hustle’ into an actual business that brings me some income, joy, and purpose. To that end I have started batching some of what I have decided I want to create as well as signing up for some amazing opportunities. One of the major challenges, and ultimately advantages, that I have is my ADHD. Due to my body’s inability to produce the proper chemicals that induce focus it is either very hard for me to focus on a particular task, or it is too easy for me to go down a ‘rabbit hole’ and lose complete track of time. The latter has not really happened for me since I got out of Grad School, which unfortunately means that I have not been able to do any of what is referred to as ‘deep work’ since that time. After my diagnosis, at age 40, I was put on medication. The first was too strong, and had adverse side effects. My current medication allows me to focus on tasks, remember side thoughts, and come back to those side thoughts without having to write them down or keep repeating them with a single minded focus lest I completely blank on what I was supposed to be doing. It is a singularly unsettling feeling realizing that people can go around knowing what they have to do without blanking when they reach their destination then having to retrace your steps and thought process so you remember what you thought you should do two minutes ago.



Recently, I have learned how to utilize my ADHD, medicated state, and newfound purpose to create systems where I can batch my projects. I have two running at the same time currently. With JoAnn Fabrics closing they are having some serious sales. This is allowing me an opportunity to purchase craft felt at a very discounted price. I am using that felt to create pencil/pen/paintbrush rolls. With the scraps I am creating corner bookmarks that I am hand embellishing with a variety of techniques, embroidery, beading, etc.

To effectively batch my tasks I find that thinking about what the next step is going to be at night before I go to sleep gets me interested and motivated the next morning. That is not going to work for everyone, however it is the method that is working for me. I will walk through my creating pencil rolls as an example, each * indicates a day/morning so you get an idea of how long this is taking me:

*I had some leftover fabric and a lot of pens/pencils/markers. I wanted a way to take them with me in case I decide that I want to try my hand at being ‘artistic’ while taking walks on the beach. I did a quick sample and liked how it looked. Then Joann fabrics had a lot of craft felt remnants for sale for literally pennies on the dollar. This felt is both sturdy enough to hold pens and light enough to roll well. An idea was born, also I plan on going to a conference in the near future and would like something that I can ‘give away’ to promote my business.

*I started batching, the first step was to cut the felt to what I thought would be the correct dimensions. I took a few hours to cut all of the pieces that I would be using to very similar sizes.

*The next day I pressed all of the felt out since many pieces were wrinkled and I had over 30.

*I decided how tall I would like the pockets to be, out of fleece fabric I had in my stash and picked up on clearance, then cut them to the same length of the craft felt. After that, and on the same day, I folded over the top about 1/2″ and did a quick straight stitch hem to have the top looking nice.

* I took the tallest pen that I had to make sure that the felt would be tall enough, I discovered that the back and pockets were both too tall.

* After some frustration, I chose to cut down the felt and resize the pockets. Thus began my second batch project. I took a day to cut these down, while realizing that it was not realistic for me to plan on making dozens of these rolls in time for the event. That is alright, I already have an etsy store and I can bring some to gauge interest. The felt will be great for corner bookmarks.

* I cut down the felt to the correct size for the corner bookmarks and then cut some of them diagonally to create the flap for the page to sit in (thus making it a bookmark).

*During the evenings or when I have a few free moments and feel creative I use various threads to embellish the corner flap of my bookmarks and do the stitching that holds the two pieces together. Beads, buttons, thread, whatever I can get my hands on and whatever stitches I think of are being used to embellish these.

*I did a sample of the slots for my pencil wraps, using a seam ruler I placed it inside the pocket and that became a hard guide for my presser foot. This sort of worked, however I hated how it looked since there was a ridge in the middle of the slot where the ruler stretched the felt a little.

*After some thought I realized that I could use tailors chalk to mark the ruler spacing on the back of the felt and sew along those lines. I have completed one and like how that turned out.

*I had some faux leather and cut that out the same size as the felt so I could create a waterproof backing for the pouch. Placing the faux leather face down on the pocket side of my piece, I sewed along three sides leaving one open to turn and place the cord.

*I pressed the piece once it had been turned right side out. I hate how the leather looks since it just about refuses to lie flat. This could be in part because my iron is set to synthetics, however, perhaps not. I used sewing clips to flatten out the edges some as well as holding the open side so that I can use a top stitch to close that up, as well as inserting the cord.

This is as far as I have gotten, I just put the clips on the faux leather sample yesterday evening. I plan on sewing the sample closed as a demonstration piece. Fortunately I have quilting cotton and thin fleece fabric that I can machine embroider on, this should create a cleaner finish for my pencil rolls while having an embellishment to draw attention.

I am not working quickly, I am trying to be both efficient and produce lovely products with minimal waste. This is a great chance for me to explore different stitches with the bookmarks, play around with my embroidery machine, use up thread and cords I had lying around, and (hopefully) create beautiful projects that people will purchase to help fund my exploration.

I hope that this helps some of you who might be stuck trying to figure out how to get bulk products out the door. While I certainly took my time by taking each step one day at a time, there are ways that you can batch these tasks and do them within one day, for example cutting the felt and fleece to the correct sizes could have happened on the same day, even cutting whatever you would like to use as your ‘pretty’ fabric for the outside of your pencil roll.

I hope that this is informative and possibly helpful. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Progress Counts

by CZeitler

I am working on auditioning patterns to quilt my Aunts quilt with. A cousin suggested a couple of styles that hold sentimental significance for our family so I am going with those. I’m going to let the patterns ruminate for a little bit while I decide if I like them there or not.

This is not the only project I have going on at this time. I’m also still working on getting my craft room organized. It does not look like I have made a lot of progress, however I am considering every step a small win.

I have many of my fabrics, threads, and other crafts on the shelves, labeled, and mostly organized. In attempting to use up some of the smaller fabrics and pieces I am trying to make small projects. This should free up some of the space and help my organization as I see how I am using materials. This type of organizing is already helping me feel more motivated and willing to do some crafting.

I have been experimenting with making mug rugs using some basic quilting patterns on my embroidery machine, this also doubled as a good way to see how the pink thread was going to show up on white fabric. I have also been using some of my scrap fabric to play around with fusible applique on squares to see how I like them and what kind of applique I can do/enjoy.

Of course I cannot be happy with just one type of project, though I guess this could also be considered sewing.

There is some, very slow, progress being made on creating a beaded cord necklace. This craft takes a lot of beads, a lot of time, and patience to ensure that the white cord is completely covered and that the beads a laying where I would like them to be. I am enjoying this as my slow craft.

Other things are going on in the background, my local library had a book sale so I need to weed out some of the books I am no longer using to make room for the ones I just bought. I am attempting to coordinate programming for one of the guilds I belong to. There is some minor medical stuff going on in the background. Work has some exciting things going on as some construction is going to get started and we are ramping up for summer reading, which can add some stress.

All in all it looks like this year is going to be fascinating. I’m hoping to continue adding fun stuff, and hopefully add some items to my storefront again in the near future.

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

Still Chipping Away

by CZeitler

Every Day bring a slightly new challenge to the forefront. I’m still chipping away at my 100 day challenge, I did have one slip when I found some Fat Quarters for $.50 at Walmart. I plan on making a simple children’s quilt from them for the Holiday Season.

I have managed to work on several projects over the past week and a half. Much of my ‘good’ yarn has been put in plastic bags for easier storage. I have started spinning again and gotten a few ‘puffs’ of wool spun. My singles yarns that I purchased or were gifted years ago are now being made into a large granny square that might be sold or gifted as a decorative throw. I made a sale in my Etsy Shop (total of 2 now, lol). This makes me want to finish the skull earrings I have embroidered, they need their jump rings and earring hooks. My Tie-On Pockets have also made some progress.

I am doing my best to look on the bright side and get through this last hurdle. There is a Quarter left in the year, this Sunday is the Autumnal Equinox so I will use these next three months to close out this chapter of my life and welcome the New!

I hope that you have a great day and remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Putting Objectives to the Universe While Taking Steps Yourself

by CZeitler

I keep forgetting that not everything is up to me, there is a universe out there ready to give me a hand while I help myself. Part of this is coming out because I’m listening to The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and she is very much into the idea of a higher power, though she does admit that this can be any higher power you choose to worship, that is ready to help us out. A portion of this does come through, getting my downspout repaired and having more opportunities open up to me. I was wrestling with a ladder I borrowed from a friend trying to figure out how I was going to position the ladder between my porch and the Natural Gas meter that was placed right under my downspout when my neighbor came out to offer a hand. I accepted gratefully, he looked at the ladder and admitted that neither of us should get up on that ladder, so he mentioned that he had a friend that could fix the downspout. Yay! Of course it cost about half as much as a new ladder would have and I provided all of the supplies, so I was a bit put out because of that, but my downspout is fixed. I was able to get a gift card for some of the supplies from a survey site I participate in, so part of the supplies were free.

Soon after that I found out that someone that belongs to a guild I used to attend, right now I’m taking a hiatus until I get my credit card debt resolved, was opening up a new fiber arts store and they were looking for a teacher. Of course I volunteered, so I now have three classes and 8 ‘hang out’ sessions scheduled for her shop in May. This will be a great opportunity to promote her supplies, my skills, and library programming that we have to offer.

I have been steadily paying toward my debt, making other sacrifices to get this debt paid off. I sold a loom that I was not using to move forward to that goal. I recently heard from my accountant, yes I pay someone to do my taxes, and while I did not earn enough in my business in 2023 to make the paperwork worth it, I have returns from state and federal. If I throw one of that toward my debt I should be able to get my final credit card resolved. That will still leave me some leeway to take some trips that I feel I really need to take. Visiting friends and family that I have long neglected as well as taking a few small day trips to allow myself the chance to enjoy life rather than just exist.

By keeping these goals in mind I will be able to make progress toward larger goals. Getting my spending under control, making progress toward learning new crafts/arts, having fun, getting my house clean, make deeper connections to my friends and family.

Life is meant to be lived, I need to figure out what that means to me. In the meantime, remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!

Productive Burst

by CZeitler

I was lucky enough this past week to have encountered a rare productivity burst. Throughout this burst I was able to get one of my rooms organized, start several projects, and make progress on other projects.

Not all of my projects turned out great, but most of them did what I wanted. The first paragraph is going to be about outside projects I was able to complete during a warm day, and the rest is going to be about crafts I have started, some are a little more artistic than crafty, but everything I do comes back around to crafts eventually. Even my garden, which is what the next paragraph is going to be about, is going to have plants that are good natural dye producers. Speaking of, onto the outdoor projects.

During a windstorm my downspout decided to blow off of my house. This seemed like a sign to add a rain barrel to my gardening. I bought a rain barrel, and the device to connect it to my downspout. To see if I was able to get away with a cheap solution I purchased a connector that was a little too big, sealant, and some screws intended for a downpipes, under $10, and decided to try to connect it from the ground… It didn’t work, but I really didn’t think it would I was just really hopeful. 

This means that I am going to have to wait a little longer since I will need to purchase a 7′ ladder, new downspout, and probably an elbow for the top. I also noticed that there is no downspout on the gutter that surrounds my porch so I’m probably going to add one on just to be sure. The downspout was not my only outside project, I also managed to put up my mini pop-up greenhouse. It is weighed down with some stones from my front yard and it currently houses my mower, clippers, and a few other gardening things. This prompted me to finally put together my two workbench sawhorses, one of which is currently in the greenhouse. I’m hoping to start some plants in March or April. Okay, let’s get into crafts now!

In getting my home back in order I have discovered several projects that I have been meaning to work on for quite some time. One of which is my Unicorn in the Library fiber from Hipstrings. I finally managed to finish spinning it up, I did split the last puff into 4 pieces so that I could spin some other fibers in between that I will use as ply experiments. I also rediscovered my love for spinning silk, this caused me to spin up some lengths that I will allow my library craft patrons to use in their slow stitching project. That reminds me I need to make up a sample for that sometime this week.

I have been exploring some crochet techniques, mosaic crochet was not as much of a success as I would like, I found a Tunisian Crochet pattern video that I am working through and transcribing into a written pattern, and I will be seeking out resources for two sided mosaic crochet to eliminate the weird stair-stepping I am getting on the inside of my mosaic crochet.

Now we are getting to the part where I can never be content, I have to try everything. I don’t know if I mentioned that I bought a Rock Tumbler? If not, well yes, I bought a rock tumbler, some sample rocks, ceramic media, and enough grit to last me a while. I have been watching YouTube Videos by Michigan Rocks for some time, and my Aunt mentioned not getting around to using her rock tumbler, plus a way to force myself to go outside to find rocks all combined to have me starting this new hobby. I have had a ton of fun so far, I have owned it for a month, and I managed to get my ceramic media tumbled through the first 3 stages ( I didn’t bother to polish it), as well as some of the bag of tiny chips that I only half regret purchasing. They aren’t going to turn into anything great, but I’ll run them through the cleaning and two polishing stages to see if I can get them to have a shine. I did put about three pounds of the bigger rocks into each of my two tumblers to get them started on the stage 1, I’ll pull them off on Saturday to see what they look like. I’ll put out a post of how to get started Rock Tumbling, as well as linking to some great resources later.

Of course I cannot start just one hobby at a time, you think I have any self control? I haven’t started this one but it is going to go hand-in-hand with the rock tumbling, I plan on wrapping the rocks in wire when they are tumbled. To be able to sell these for something like a decent price I plan on purchasing some Sterling Silver wire. I’m not selling necklaces, just the wrapped stones for now. This brings me to my last two projects that I’m working on, skipping over the fishing poles I purchased today because I found out that there are ‘no license fishing days’ in New York State. I will need to find pictures of the types of fish it is legal for me to keep, and I have to remember to invite my friend out since I bought her a (cheap like mine) fishing pole.

Okay, so I did manage to have a sale on my Etsy site (thank you to whomever bought the Dino Plushie) and that caused me to realize that I hate having to pay Etsy out of what I had calculated as earnings. I know that people look for inexpensive items, deals, and sales. This means that I’m going to be paying about .20 per item, every quarter (I think that is how often), create listings, and pay for shipping, to make very little if any money. I do plan on creating some spreadsheet and other printable items to put up on Etsy once I have them perfected, to create something like a passive income stream. I have some great ideas I just need to slow down and find enough time to start working on them, I think I might start staying a couple extra hours on the days I’m supposed to leave early, or go to Panera Bread for a couple of hours before I’m supposed to be at work to get these things done. 

Due to the slow nature of my Etsy Sales I have decided instead of dripping my products onto Etsy as I get them done, and sort of rushing to get them done, I will take a little more time and sign up for a couple of craft shows this Fall. There is one in September and another in October I would like to sign up for. There are registration fees, I’ll need another table, and I need to take photos of my setup, but all of that should be doable by September. I’m really sort of excited about this, though I am not sure what type of craft I should bring. There is an apple festival that mentions having old-fashioned crafts, so I’m thinking about seeing if spinning and weaving would work for them.

I think that this is long enough of a rambling post to be getting on with for now. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!

No Crafting Content Yet

by CZeitler

Okay, so I have not gotten any real crafting done even though it is over half-way through January. I went to visit family, I was supposed to stay for 4-5 days, then they planned a reunion type event so the stay was extended to 10 days…then two flights were cancelled and I wound up staying closer to 13 days. Fortunately with the holiday I wound up missing only a single day of work and I discovered that I can easily make the drive by myself, since I had to rent a car to get back to my car at the airport.

I had a ton of fun visiting with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and cousin’s children while I was there. For a long time I was working 3-4 jobs and taking care of mom so I was unable to go to any family events, plus mom didn’t really want to, so I have a huge gap of time where I lost touch. It is great that I am able to get to know my relatives as adults.

All of that being said, I did not get much crafting done. I brought and completed a small portion of my Tula Nova EPP, however I do not have a photo of it. What I did gain however is a better understanding of what kind of organization might work well for me. One of my cousins has 2 very busy children, however they manage to keep their items in, relative, check with the use of storage furniture. Not just bookcases but storage with drawers that can be labelled. I know, this is not revolutionary information, however I’ve been trying to get away with the cheapest form of storage possible and it just isn’t working. The bookcases always look sloppy and the plastic drawers can rarely hold anything well. I tried ordering Ikea furniture however there were some shipping problems so instead I have some dressers arriving from Home Depot.

Hopefully these can help me to get my materials under control and my home looking like a home instead of a wreck….which honestly right now it looks like a wreck.

Since I am going to focus on getting things in check, then using the supplies I own before purchasing more, my shop is going to take a brief hiatus. I am thinking about switching to a quarterly model where I plan on having a new set of items available every 3 months or so. 

I think this is probably enough of an update for now. I’ll hopefully have some crafting content next time, however it might also be some organizing content.

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

Who Am I This Week?

by CZeitler

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The DIY bug bit me hard this weekend, combined with realizing that the quilt I’m working on has 6 types of blocks not 5, means that there will not be any crafting content this week. I will be writing about home repairs and the products that I used/recommend to accomplish these tasks.

I did not manage to get any more paper made, I did manage to get some home renovations complete, however. When I first purchased this house the garage was a bit of a mess. Since this house was built in the early 1900s the garage was an afterthought. This means that without back-up cameras getting in and out of the garage would be a nightmare, and my old car did not have back up cameras. Even now that I have the cameras I’m still not planning on using the garage for car storage. All of this to tell you that the busted out pane of glass, hole in the back wall, and door that does not sit flush were the least of my concerns 2 years ago when I closed on the house. Now that I have several of the inside projects completed or handled in some way, I can turn to the garage…though I still need to find someone to patch my roof I’m going to hope it holds out for another year.

I managed to ‘fix’ the pane of glass…if you do not have experience cutting glass and have been working with fabric where you need to lean on the ruler to make sure it does not shift…don’t take this task on alone or get the pane professionally cut, or better yet just buy the right size of glass to begin with if you can find it!

To start with I obtained a piece of glass, that turned out too small, so the first step needs to be measure your window pane. If you can find the correct size glass, purchase it. If you cannot find the correct size then you need to either purchase one that is bigger and cut it down to size using a glass cutting set, this is the one I should have purchased

Glass Cutting Set

or special order the glass to be the correct size.

After you have the correct size glass you need Glazier’s points,

Glaziers points


I obtained the push kind because they were easy to install, and Window Glazing compound,

Window Glazing Compound

After that the install is easy.

Brush away any extra dust or debris, wipe the frame down if there is no glass in it, or pick out any glass remaining being careful to not get cut. Wearing cut proof gloves,

Cut Resistant Gloves

is probably a good idea for this step and any steps where you are playing with sharp edges.

Push the Glazing points into the window frame flush with the back where the glass pane will sit. The pointy bit goes into the frame and the sticky outy bits needs to be facing you to hold teh .

Next fit the frame of glass into place, making sure that the fit is snug.

Once you have the glass in place use the window glazing compound around the edges to seal the pane in place and prevent water from getting into the wood. I ran a line around then used a putty knife

Putty Knife

I prefer a metal edge, to smear the compound toward the outer edges helping it seal better. Within a day or two it should be dry…as long as you don’t do this in the rain…don’t do this in the rain!

My fix will work for a year or two, and then I’ll get a pane of properly sized glass and take out my mess. I might just see if I can install a new window altogether, but that seems a little to ambitious right now. It does not look pretty (at all) but it should keep the wind, and more importantly cats, out.

For my back wall I purchased some Shiplap

Shiplap

The link is to some primed shiplap which would have saved me some time since what I purchased needs finished. Once I have the Shiplap cut down to size I will need to seal it

Deck Sealer

with the same kind of sealer I purchased for my front deck and back steps. After that I will use my nail gun

Nail Gun

to nail the boards into place covering the hole. I am not sure what I did before I had a nail gun!

Of course in addition to all of this I decided that August is the perfect time to do all of the home improvement projects, so I will also be sanding off the spray paint I used on my steps last year. Well, I say I’m sanding it off but most if it has peeled off already but there is some stubborn spots. After talking with someone that works in a home improvement store I decided against a cordless variety and I purchased

Random Orbital Sander

to help me get the back steps as well as my front porch prepped to be finished. I hope to get the back steps done by the end of the week, and work on the front porch while I’m on vacation the first full week of September. That is about it for home improvement projects this past week, though I’ll post progress photos on my back steps if I make any progress, though they are calling for rain most of this week.

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