Planning

Happy New Year

by CZeitler

2026 is starting out with a bang. I live in Western New York so we have gotten about a foot of snow, not too bad really. The ice storm is mostly melted away, this weekend is supposed to be clear, and I am warm and safe in my home. New Years Resolutions are something that I have never really bothered with, they are too easy to fall off, often too unrealistic to maintain, and once a problem arises they are too easy to forget about. Given this history, I decided to set a few resolutions that I believe are easy for me to achieve, and goals that I should be working toward anyway. The first is to spend more time with my family and make sure that they understand that I love and appreciate them. My dad was the second of 11 children which means that I have a lot of family. To spend more time with my family I need to do some traveling, which means that I need to get my two smaller credit cards paid off. The third goal is that I am going to try to focus on my business a bit more than I currently am. Having my anxiety and ADHD medicated is helping me a lot, I hope that this is enough for me to focus on aspects of my life I want to be better.

For crafting I hope to stitch a small piece every day of the year, to add to an overall quilt. I also signed up for the Creatively Crafting Crypto-Adorable Stitch Along, which is a different cryptic pattern each month for a year, I hope. Upon purchasing the printable version of their annual planner with 12 free patterns, I discovered that the patterns are about the circus…I certainly hope that these are a separate project. I freely admit I felt very disappointed and misled since I have no fondness for circuses. Despite that I hope that the stitch along I signed up for actually involves cryptids. As far as reading goes, I hope to read 100 books this year, which is my goal for every year. Though I have these goals I will take whatever life chooses to give me and try to turn it as positive as possible.

I hope that everyone has a very Happy New Year, and that you can Live Life A Little More Abstract.

Good Things

by CZeitler

At work we have a ‘Kindness Cart’ with hot chocolate and tea on top for patrons (and staff) to have during some of our programs. I am diabetic so I should not be drinking full-sugar hot chocolate, but I also have an insane sweet tooth so I bought some no sugar added hot chocolate. I also gave in and bought the new sprinkle things from Walmart, they are so cute and fun. Surprisingly they actually add flavor. I also gave myself a couple of treats when the SpongeBob and Grinch collabs came out from Burger King and McDonalds respectively. I didn’t really want the pineapple drink so I bought a meal that had everything but that, and that means that I did not get the box, lol. While I enjoyed the ‘starberry’ pie, everything else was just meh. The bacon potato cheese bites were just like the potato cheese bites, and the sandwich had no extra flavors to it. The drink may be good, however I don’t think I’m going to bother trying it. For the Grinch Meal I bought the nuggets meal, I was surprised at how small the nuggets seemed. I sort of think I got a 10 pack a couple of weeks ago and they were much meatier. The socks are cute, I received the green pair. The pickle salt was used to dip my fries in, this kept it from being too strong. I now know that there is a free Walmart express delivery for orders over $50 added into the Grinch meal. I guess I’m going to see if I can get a set of groceries that are either non-perishable or that I can put in my freezer sometime this weekend.

Okay, that is enough life and food content, onto the crafting. On one of the Facebook sites I follow they mentioned adding. tape onto their embroidery frames to help the machine recognize the frame. I taped where they did, and ordered a new embroidery frame in case it really is the embroidery frame, as shown below.

This did not work for me. I finally got fed up and used some of the foam board left over from cutting out my vest pieces to add to the opposite side of the frame to boost it about an inch up. This was enough to get the machine to recognize the frame. I created a couple of Celtic Knotwork Hearts in red on white felt. I still have to rinse off the top stabilizer before I add a grommet as a hanger.

Right now I am eating lunch and I have a lovely Firelight Fables candle burning. After lunch I plan on getting more of my aunt’s quilt finished. I hope to have the entire thing completed this weekend if not today. Since the hoop is now working (I hope) each section should take about 5 minutes of active embroidery. The longer part will be hooping the quilt, making sure that the embroidery is falling in the correct place, and wrestling it onto the machine.

This Saturday and Sunday is the Sorted Food, a YouTube channel I follow, murder mystery live show. While I have to work on Saturday I get to see the start, and catch up on everything after work so that I can take part on Sunday and see if I can solve the mystery.

I have so much to be thankful for, family, friends, a steady job, my bills are (mostly) paid, a roof over my head, food in the cupboard. There is a lot that I want to get accomplished, however very little will actively affect my life. I hope to get holiday cards and presents out to my family, I hope to make progress on my business and crafts, I am making progress on getting my home organized. I live in the knowledge that I will do what I can, let go what I cannot, and be happy with whatever progress I make.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Thankful

by CZeitler

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA. Yes, I know about the problematic nature of this holiday, colonization, wholesale slaughter, attempted genocide, and all of the problems brought to the Indigenous Population. I could go on a rant about this, however I am trying to focus on the spirit of the holiday not the history, however difficult. This is a good time to reflect on the past year and what we have to be thankful for. Due to politics and other considerations the US is in turmoil. Over the past year I have lost three members of my family. Along with these losses the realization that I have not seen so many members of my extended family for a decade or more. While I do not go to a church, I do believe in God and His blessings.

I am blessed that this realization has come in time for me to see my family more before it is too late. I am now in a full-time job with decent vacation time and many family members only a few hours away by car. There are challenges and difficulties in my life, as with everyone. I have found that if I try not to stress too hard, a solution comes to me no matter the difficulties.

Over the next month I have so many joys to celebrate. The first weekend in December I will be making wrapping paper at the library for work, as well as watching the Sorted Food livestream. If it was not the first Saturday in December I would have taken the time off so that I can watch this, however, I am happy to bring some fun to people at work. Since Sorted Food is in London, it will start at 7 am for me so I will be able to see a couple hours before I have to go to work. Then on Sunday I will be able to see the entire stream live. I have taken Monday and Tuesday of the second week off, mostly to start to use up my vacation time.

I still have to make the presents for my family, I hope to work on that this weekend so that I am able to relax and enjoy my time off later in December. If not then the time that I am taking the second week in December should be good to finish the presents up and see if I can get them sent off. I am also taking off three more days in December, again to make sure I am only rolling over the number of days I am allowed to, and I hope to use that time to concentrate on reading.

I am very lucky and blessed. I am able to pay my bills, have food on the table, and send out some presents to family. I have not been able to see family for years, now I have the opportunity and time to rectify that. Despite my relatively minor health difficulties I am in decent enough health to be able to do things that I want to and enjoy doing. My transgendered sister has not been cut off from her medication, and seems to be in a decent job right now. Should anything occur I am in a place to offer my home and support should she need it.

I hope that everyone has an amazing weekend, Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate. Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract.

Back on Track (For Now)

by CZeitler

On the mend and on the go once more. I was able to visit my cousin, though I managed to forget all of my medications at home. It was a good way for me to better notice how much of an effect the anti-depressant is having on me (a lot of good effect!). I only cut my trip short by a few hours, so things went very well. I took my pills Sunday night and by work on Monday I could already tell the difference. When I spoke to my Psychologist he mentioned that I was likely going through some form of withdrawal as well.

I was feeling better, though not at 100%, last week so I took it easy until I felt that I was mostly regulated. While I was giving myself the grace and rest I needed some organizing and cleaning up did occur. Since we are heading into winter I am going to keep up with the oregano and garlic oil supplements until they run out, though I might cut back to twice a week.

This week I have found myself diving headfirst into crafting again, though some of them seem a little more like procrastinating crafts, I have gotten quite a bit accomplished! I had a large piece of faux fur left over from when I tried to make a sensory quilt, it was just the right size to be a cushion for my weaving bench. It is about 5 foot long and very puffy so I hope it will work. My house is a little too messy for me to take a picture of the enormous pillow. I have decided that this winter I wanted to weave a ‘bog jacket’. This is a lovely piece of clothing made from whole cloth with minimal cutting and seams. It is my plan to weave about 9 yards of cloth on my rigid heddle loom that can make 31 inch pieces. I am going to use Knitpicks dishie cotton for the warp and likely the weft as well since I have a 7.5 dent reed. I already have 2 inches of warp wound off, when I have a little extra in pay I will buy the rest of the yarn I need. Fortunately Dishie is very standard and I don’t need to worry about dye lots. I am currently debating about whether I want to buy all white to dye myself or buy some colored yarn.

In the middle of November I am going to be a part of a murder mystery show and I need to make progress on the dress I wanted to sew for it. One of the items that I have started is the tulle petticoat, photo below. Honestly I’m not sure it’s going to work out but this is so much fun. I pinned the tulle in and did a rough basting stitch for the first batch. I plan on pinning and sewing in the elastic today, followed by sewing down the waist band and then putting in a hem for my pull on elastic petticoat. the library had a lot of tulle left over from other projects and I am supposed to be a flamboyant medium so I chose my favorite color purple.

There was an amazing sale on cotton muslin so I have 10 yards of natural cotton muslin that I need to cut apart to dye for a dress. I need to make the first try with the pieces I cut out of a tablecloth I purchased at good will. I did wash the muslin however it is going to need a good iron before I do anything else.

My library was getting rid of a ton of receipt tape while we were doing construction and no longer have the right machines to use this tape. I have been wanting to try spinning paper for some time and I did spin a large piece of this paper tape, it turned out amazing but it is such a pain to create with my wheel. When I am feeling creative and bored again I will try a spindle to see if that is any easier. If that is not possible I can use it for some sewing projects or coloring projects. Maybe even just writing lists out.

The last project is working with watercolors on fabric. My library purchased a circuit maker 4 and one of my co workers found a great price on a light board so I bought one for myself. I was then inspired by a picture of a shape painted onto a linen cross stitch fabric then stitched over with sequins and beads as accent. That picture was of a dragon, amazing, and I decided to do the same with a crow outline I had. I taped down the paper to the light board and then taped the fabric over top. I started with blue, then red, the black over all of it in an attempt to add some depth. I took the fabric off of the light board after I had the outline completed to avoid any bleedthrough onto the board, it is a good thing I did so. I hope to do some stitching over top of this then add embellishments like sequins and beads. I have not painted over the crow with fabric medium yet since I am afraid I will blur the image and I love how it turned out. I plan on getting my guts up and putting the fabric medium on today before I start stitching.

I am making strides to keep my productivity up this weekend, here’s hoping I can keep it up. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!

Time Flies

by CZeitler

I took the bottom off of my sewing machine since I was having trouble with the bobbin thread catching and the top thread shredding. This took me quite a bit to clean out using an eyelash brush, it worked amazingly well. My machine is sewing like new. I also did a clean of my embroidery machine which has decided that it will not work about 50% of the time unless the hoop is slightly elevated on the side it is not anchored to, so it probably needs to go to the shop to be fixed. Since we are over half way through the library being closed to the public I brought my embroidery machine in for my colleagues to personalize whatever they would like, a few people have taken advantage of my offer which makes me feel good about bringing it in.

It is so hard for me to believe that we will be reopening to the public in two weeks. I have not completed many of the projects I intended to get done. My area is clean which is one of my main goals, I have a rhythm to my weeding and inventory project so I am pretty happy about my progress there, now that I have my ADHD medications I’m better able to concentrate and will make significant progress this week if I do not finish it.

I am trying to destash products that I do not use and have had some success in that endeavor, this will leave me with just the items that I actually use for storage and surfaces. There have been some projects that I have been meaning to get to so I am working on getting some of those completed and out the door. There is a decent amount of fleece I purchased on clearance that I planned to use for blankets. Then when I asked many of my family members stated that they preferred real backing rather than fleece on a quilt. Because of this I have cut it into a size that can be used for sensory mats and I will donate the fleece to my library for future use on the new ‘kindness cart’.

It has been my plan to create my own dress for our ‘Haunted Library’ murder mystery thing that we have going on in November when we are fully reopened. I have the pieces cut out for an initial sample so I hope to get that sewn in the next two weeks so when I go to a clearance sale with my cousin in October I know what kind of fabric might work and whether I can stand the pattern or not.

I have been working on getting some spinning done, though the fiber I first started with is a bit stickier than I thought it would be, I’m considering pitching it to spin something I enjoy. I also warped up my table loom with a fun pattern that I am doing in reds and greens for my Weaving Guild’s holiday cards, no one else is volunteering so I think I will end up doing it. I am also trying to get my Saori Loom re-warped with the cotton warp in a way that the threads may actually stay on and not slip or snap.

All of this in addition to being about a month later than when I told my aunt I would have her Quilt done, oops.

I also decided that I wanted to try to make a fall cloak with felt leaves, so I cut them out and laid them on another piece of felt. This led me to discover that I do not have enough leaves, and that unless I have some veins sewn into the leaves they look really stupid. I did manage to sew in the center vein in these leaves though I still do not have enough, and I think I want to use something other than felt for the base.

I think that’s enough for right now, I hope to get back to you in less than a Month! LOL. Until next, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Progressing

by CZeitler

I love how my Fey piece is turning out. The wings are tulle, the crown is made from beads that the person is for had purchased. I think I’ll add some red thread to the other side to signify their pain and death, then bind it.

You’re getting to know me and side-quests, these keyrings are my current side quest. They are faux cork with specialty ribbons as the loop. I love how they have turned out. At present they are being glued together then I’ll top stitch around the sides. I’m going to see if my sister wants one of the sparkly rainbow ones, or if I’ll put them all on my shop.

I am finishing up the three memorial pieces, rinsed off the top stabilizer this morning so I’m waiting for the other two to dry so I can do the fold over binding. I’m also using a tiny bit of fabric glue to ensure that the stitches on back will not destabilize, then I’ll whip stitch a couple of jump rings so that they can be used as wall hangings.

I am going to be seeing a lot of my family on Tuesday that I have not seen in years, if not decades. I have no idea how this is going to go. One of my relatives has offered me a place to sleep on the way there if I want to start out Monday night. Another has offered that I can stay with her and her daughters so I don’t have to leave immediately after on Tuesday. So I think I will head out early Tuesday morning the way I originally planned but then stay with my Cousin, I let her know I have to head out at 6am, so that should be okay.

I also randomly decided that I was going to sew a mask and a reversible hat for myself. I purchased nose pieces for masks when they were on clearance, so think that will be good for me this summer. The hat is more because I realized that with my thin hair my scalp can get sunburned easily and I need to prevent that.

I only have two more flowers and two more branches to hand sew before I can start embroidering the commissioned quilt again. All in all I have had a very productive week so far. I’m proud that I have gotten quite a bit of the items that I wanted to do complete. There are other things that I really do need to get working on, putting things onto my Etsy site, seeing about getting a couple of quick makes to set up an in person craft booth sometimes this summer, and so much more. At present the weather is going to be really hot and then thunderstorms so I don’t think I’ll be doing too much outside…though I did finally get my lawn back under control.

Things could be so much worse, I have no real room to complain. Given that until next time I hope that you Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Side-Questing

by CZeitler

The world is full of amazing opportunities for crafts and self expression. Sometimes there are so many opportunities I start five things at once…okay, often I start five things at once. I have made some progress on my aunt’s quilt, right now I am using clear thread to ensure that her applique is solid on the first set of flowers. I think that the center looks good, I’ll see if I can ask my cousin when I see her at the Funeral.

I am trying to find a pattern with Celtic meaning and a lovely phrase to commemorate my Uncle that passed, I’ll make three (one for each of his kids and one for his widow…maybe one for his ex?). Mostly that is adding the elements for the design and getting them stitched out.

My library is kicking off their summer reading program in two weeks and I found out last week that we will be having ‘spirit days’ that week. I will not be at work for two of them, however I will be at the library to volunteer at a booth for one of the guilds I belong to. This means that I need at least ideas, if not projects, for each of the other five days. One of them is for a piece of art or inspiration by an artist. I am currently working on an applique design for a t-shirt I purchased. Hopefully that turns out.

I am still low-key working on my Fey piece, it is currently percolating in the back of my mind as I sort through my fabrics, tulle, lace, etc.

There have been some great sales on embroidery patterns, I sort of need to lay off of purchasing those until I have made some products and sales.

In addition to all of that I have started playing around with Notion as a way to keep my projects organized and my inventory/purchases recorded. All of this is on top of my work stuff, a class I’m teaching this weekend, the funeral, and preparing for summer reading. I’ve bitten off a lot to chew, I hope I can keep up with it.

I did take time one morning before work for an artists date to the beach. Even though it means waking up super early I love going to the beach for sunrise, I got a great photo of the moon before it set.

Remember to live life A Little More Abstract!

Messing With a New (to me) Technique

by CZeitler

For a couple of years now I have been seeing layered paper creations, the layers add depth and the paper makes them easy to cut out using something like a Cricut. Then, right before H&H Americas I saw that Snuggly Monkey was selling patterns for felt creations, some where animals with beautiful layers, while others were Hobbit Doors. I fell in love and picked up two patterns and some felt. I was lucky enough to encounter more felt when I stopped at a JoAnns on my way to H&H. I tried to cut one set out, and found the pieces small and fiddly. This is entirely a me thing, with my larger fingers I’m not great at tiny detail work. I hope to get back to it in the near future. This did get me wondering how people managed to create the separate layers however. I could see creating several copies of an image, getting an Xacto knife to cut out different elements for the layers and working with them from there hoping that you did it correctly and things would work together. Then a colleague of mine decided that they were going to go through our filing cabinet of older office supplies and dropped off some Carbon Paper to see if I can do anything with them.

I believe that I wrote earlier about making some reverse applique work and an art quilt, I plan on using some inspiration images to get different elements to create a whole. Well as I was looking for inspiration, something struck me. I can use a printout of an inspiration image and then use the carbon paper and a mechanical pencil, without lead, to trace the elements I would like in each layer. This also allows me to embellish them and make notes to myself. I did find out that the carbon does not rub off of fabric, so the Fey image I traced on white quilting cotton is not going anywhere, but I can use that to my advantage to make sure it is completely covered. Fortunately, the carbon does not ‘bleed’ through the weave either. I realize that this is just the very first step on my journey with these new creations, however I am very excited to see where it might go. Hopefully I can create a small sample soon. If I plan on doing this out of quilting cotton I will need to make sure that I properly applique the edges.

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!

Un-Medicated Me

by CZeitler

It is fascinating to remember that without my ADHD Medication (it is on backorder due to manufacturing and regulations) I am still capable of being creative. I’m not as capable of completing tasks, however I hope to look on the bright side and get tasks started/thought of/planned until my medication arrives. I am very lucky that since I was diagnosed in my early 40s I have well developed coping mechanisms to employ that allow me to still get my work done, and come up with crafting ideas. There is, of course, a downside. I’m attempting to get ready to attend H&H Americas and will be leaving on Tuesday. This means that if my medication has not arrived by then I will be attending my first Craft Industry Trade Show…un-medicated. I’m sure I will get through it, I already have notebooks prepared and my cell phone brick charger ready so I can take digital notes as well. There was a rabbit hole that I fell down, I was thinking of getting a mini fridge that would plug into my car’s lighter/12v charging port…however when I spoke with my sister she let me know that the functionality was not great so it would be a waste of money.

Speaking of Rabbit Holes, Dollar Tree has new (to me) gel pens in a wide variety of colors and some even have glitter. I purchased a set of the ones I had not seen before and after testing all of them I was pleasantly surprised that there was only 1 dud out of 6 packages (of various quantities).

I have not made much progress on my pencil rolls, first because I will not be able to make as many as I would like to use as giveaways, second because I am at a tough part where I need to figure out the best way to create the pockets and what material I would like to use for the backs. Of course, this did not stop me from going down another rabbit hole.

I decided that I wanted to make a bag, not just a bag but a duffel bag with my ‘brand’ on it. Frankly, it did not go too badly at first. I was able to cut the panels out, quilt them, figure out the embroidery, make the pockets, add the zipper, all with minimal problems. Then came the assembly, and the fact that I completely forgot to add handles. As far as I can tell the pattern required the completed sides and bottom to be sewn together…this made for some very bulky sewing. I really think I did something wrong, or I need to read the pattern more carefully next time I attempt this. Since I am leaving in a few days I am not going to take the time to remake the piece, however as I learned during the Quilter’s Summit, no one gets everything right on the first try.

I am looking forward to my first industry event, seeing what is upcoming as well as what goodies I might obtain. It will be a ton of fun to meet people with a passion for craft. Spending 7 hours spinning will also be a ton of fun. My wheel needs a tune up this weekend and I need to make sure that there is enough spinning fiber. I should also look into packing clothes and making sure that I have the toiletries I need.

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