Trip

Pleasures Great & Small

by CZeitler

This is a good time of year for reflecting on the blessings that we have, both great and small. I’m not sure how to define each of the blessings I am grateful for, because those that are considered essential are the most expensive so it is hard to call them ‘small’. Given that I will start my thanks with my ‘essentials’ and then work my way through to what happened yesterday. There is not going to be any crafting content, though I am very grateful for the supplies, tools, and physical ability to work with my crafting supplies.

The essential blessings I am grateful for are the home I have to live in, reliable transportation, food in my fridge and freezer (I love this time of year for the $.99/lb Turkeys). I have a full-time job that pays me enough to cover my bills, gives me over 22 days of vacation/floating holiday each year, and is a positive environment to work in (occasional patron problems notwithstanding). I have my health, pretty much, and my hands still work.

I am also grateful for the non-essential blessings that I get to celebrate. I have an amazing family that I know I can speak to, visit, and enjoy in so many ways. I was able to visit my sister yesterday, she was looking for a pegboard and I just happened to have taken the same pegboard off of my walls a few days earlier to put up a new bookcase. I was able to purchase new bookcases a couple of months ago so that I can get my supplies organized in a way that is useful to me. I have the creativity, skills, and supplies to create ornaments and other presents for my family.

I was able to purchase tickets for a livestream of my favorite YouTube channel, participate, and laugh along with Sorted Food. I will also be able to rewatch this stream as well as those that I have purchased in years past. I was able to take the time off so that I could watch and rewatch the streams at my leisure.

Yesterday when I visited my sister I was able to purchase lunch, gas, and a few treats and snacks for both of us to enjoy over the holiday season (and hopefully beyond depending on how hungry I get). I purchased a prickly pear fruit from an Asian Market my sister found. It was lovely to try, tons of seeds that I am going to try to dry, and a slightly sweetly mild flesh that I was able to eat. It tasted like a very light kiwi fruit, with a little sour tinge that was pleasant as I got very close to the skin. We went to Ikea where I found the Vintersaga Ginger Thins cookies were a dollar less than they have been, so I purchased two tins for myself and two for my sister. These cookies are amazing, I had to hide a tin from myself in the freezer or they would both be gone before the week is out.

Finally we went to Grandpa Joe’s Soda store. I had looked up the prices online, and was pleasantly surprised to find that many of them were slightly less since they do not have to worry about shipping. I did not get the Grizzly Energy Drinks though I was very tempted, I did get a Jones Select Zero Sugar Rootbeer, which was just as lovely as I thought though I drank it on the way home so I do not have a photo. There were several candies that I decided I could not resist. I bought two different Cherry Mash treats, and tried one today, It was lovely, the milk chocolate was a thick shell that tasted lovely and smooth. I expected some juice, like a chocolate covered cherry, instead there was a dense sweet nougat-like cherry flavored filling.

The other cherry mash is ‘Big Cherry Milkshake’ and will live in my freezer with the Brachs Swirl Gumdrops, until I rediscover them in a frenzy for something sweet, hopefully a few months in the future. I do have an extreme sweet tooth, horrid when you’re a type 2 diabetic, however I have been low key craving some of the sour candies that I enjoyed when I was in my early 20s. This store had them, though I admit I cannot remember which flavor I enjoyed. I guess I’ll just have to try all three of the flavors I purchased, sigh!

I do think that the Mango version is what I really enjoyed since I can remember the tin colors, however I hope that all three flavors are good. I was also very lucky to be able to purchase some sweets to share with my colleagues. Originally I was going to pick up a huge bag of tiny sweets that was under $10, however the bag admitted that in could be cross contaminated with tree nuts, to which one of my colleagues is allergic. Instead I found some bags of freeze dried treats that were $1 per bag, I could not resist. There are five different types and the bags to not fess up to any kind of nut tree contamination so they should be safe for my colleagues.

I am safe, warm, loved, relatively healthy, and able to feed myself. I have the freedom in my budget to send presents to my family and treat myself and my sister to a few treats to enjoy over the holiday season. I was able to purchase a few supplies to support my joint health and ability to keep crafting for years to come during the Black Friday Sales. I plan on putting a post up about those very soon.

Along with all of these small blessings, I have a supportive outlet for me to remind myself of these blessings. Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope that you all have a lovely holiday season depending on what you celebrate.

Live Life a Little More Abstract!

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!

Giveaways & More

by CZeitler

I am going to give you my caveats one more time and at the beginning of each post. I was lucky enough to attend H&H Americas as a demonstrator for the hand Weaver’s Guild of America I am not supported or affiliated with any of the organizations that I mentioned.

I was very careful while attending this show to ensure that I was not drawing the vendors attention away from their primary customers, this is often these organizations livelihood, and how they make their living so I did not want to in any way draw from that. Even though I did not draw the attention away, all of the demonstrators were very generous with their time and often without my even asking, they offered samples. This post I’m going to talk about the samples that I received and in the next one, I will mention the items that I purchased while I was there.

Each day had slightly different offerings, but I have mushed them all together into the single post. First there was a golden ticket drawing, I sort of want to say that everyone won this, but I don’t have proof of that. Brewer quilting and sewing had two different prizes and since I somehow received three messages that I won, I received both of the prizes. One is a lovely little pouch with handles and zippers, and the other is a mini box opener. Both products are extremely well-made, and I anticipate using them for decades in the future. The vendor and display were absolutely amazing.

Spun silk world Company was extremely generous with their samples. I received two sets of three puffs along with a sample of Eri silk and a sample of Mulberry silk. As I stated in my first post, I will be doing a comparison of this along with plying up the samples that I spun during the conference in a future post. Even though I’ve been home for a few days, I still have not taken my wheel out of the car, so I certainly have not gotten my spun fiber onto bobbins yet. The colors were very rich. I have three different pinks as well as some amazing grays that I am so excited to be playing in the near future. Again, this is not an advertisement, but I do have to mention that this is the absolute fastest I have ever been able to spin silk. Their fiber is absolutely remarkable and if you were starting to spin, I recommend this as a silk to try.

Woodsy Craft Co, OMG! I just love their wooden shapes that can be colored in with their special acrylic markers. What I find remarkable is that the markers lay down a very fine line as opposed to the craft markers that I’ve worked within the library where they not only lay down a thicker line, but they bleed. I had the opportunity to test this and I could’ve colored in the entire shape, however there was still a lot of the show to look at so I wanted to move on. They do have all of the supplies to turn these into banners as well as small kits for single banners and bigger kits for organizations. The demonstrator was extremely friendly and willing to speak to me. She even took down the information of my manager so that she can recognize the name if an order comes through. I am going to recommend that we order these kits because they are just amazing.

There were several publishing companies that had booths, as I was familiar with them I did not spend time stopping by to check them out. However, on the second day, there were two authors present at separate booths that had their books and we’re signing them. I offered to purchase a copy of each of the books, however they were signed and gifted to me. I believe they were doing that for everyone. I am so excited to take my time and explore these books as they are simply phenomenal. I was planning on purchasing both of them in the near future anyway and I certainly am going to recommend them for purchasing for the Library as well as possibly loaning them out so that some of my patrons get an idea of what can be done. Both of the authors were absolutely delightful.

I stopped by the Oxford punch Company because I have a kit, and I know the basics of how to do rug punching, but I always love ogling their tools. They have an amazing new stand that can hold between three and six punches, along with some accessories, and it looks like a fabulously compact way of storing their items when I mentioned that I love their punches I was offered a free sample kit, which was extremely generous. I love the smiley face, and I look forward to taking time to create my little wall hanging in the near future.

On my second day, I discovered a part of the conference that I hadn’t even noticed the first day, it was so huge. In this part, there was a heat press as well as a sublimation ink printout, and a bag that you could put it on. This was so much fun and I love that. I got a chance to see exactly how sublimation ink works. The heat press could not have been easier, though they did have a note that you had to be careful because it would get very hot.

There was a beautiful fabric line by Camelot fabrics and I will be having pictures of those not next post, but the one after that. When I asked for a business card or their information, they gave me a set of three hair ties instead that has their website on it. Since I’ve been home, I have been looking online to see where I can purchase the two panels that I greatly admired, and I have not found an online retailer in the US yet.

The stitchin’ tree had a lovely demonstration of their traders dice, and they also explained along the way how they use it to sell items in a retail environment, which I found fascinating. Each participant was given a free set of dice as well as the information to order more and a wide variety of uses other than what was mentioned in the demonstration. These little dice are amazing, each person brings a particular number of whatever is being traded. For example, if you are going to be trading skeins of yarn, each person would bring six. Three would stay by that person and three would go into the kitty. Each person would roll the dice, there are three dice, then the dice are turned so that the words can be read by the player and whatever action it tells you to take you do for each die. For example, if one is trade across one is a kitty and one is hold then the player would choose a skein of yarn that they like from the player across from them and trade it for one that they did not like take a yarn from the kitty in the middle and keep a hold of what they have for the third die. Gameplay will end when all of the items from the kitty have gone. The presenter mentioned several times that when they have a family reunion, they bring all sorts of coins, not only different denominations but international coins as well and use the dice to create a fun. This was so much fun, not only to participate in, but to learn about and of course the dice at the end are just lovely.

Knit the Rainbow is an organization that donates items to LGBTQ plus youth in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. If you were looking for an organization to donate your handmade items to this is well worth your time. We actually have need in our own community so I will not be bringing this to my supervisor, however, if you were in a more affluent community or if you simply do not have the same need that we do I highly recommend participating with this organization. They also let me take a button home.

Last, but definitely not least Last but definitely not least Scented Stitches very generously gave me some extra samples to give to my patrons as they will be expiring in July so she was unable to sell them in her store. These are simply delightful, moisturizing bars in an almost mini deodorant, type container. The vendor was absolutely lovely and generous, and I’m going to have to keep one of these for myself as it smells wonderfully, and I can always use moisturizer.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!