Buying

Assistive Tools

by CZeitler

Yes, I am only in my early 40s. It could be commonly thought that I should not need any type of assistive tools since I do not have any major disabilities. However, I have been crafting ever since I was about 5 years old, so my joints see a lot of stress. Due to an incident at work, a previous job, I had to have ligament repair surgery in my left wrist…and according to the orthopedic surgeon my bones in that wrist are dissolving. Horrible things that the human body can do for 800 please Alex.

All of this means that if I want to keep crafting and maintain a good quality of life for myself I need to take care of the joints as best I can. In addition to physical concerns, I also have ADHD which means that organization is very difficult for me. I can put things ‘away’ and have a logic to my organization, however, I then forget where I put everything and cannot remember if I have something or not. The one that drives me insane is ‘I just saw that five times in the past week, but where did I see that?’

Due to these circumstances my assistive tools mostly revolve around keeping my joints supported and healthy, as well as basic organization, or advanced organization if you prefer. I will be mentioning some basic devices that work for overall maintenance of joint health and organization, but most of what I will be talking about is specific toward crafting.

Starting with organization, my favorite tool is this label maker. I can customize the size, font, tape, and even add some symbols to the labels using a simple and free app from my phone. The labels are not huge, however I can easily get two lines of text while still having them legible. I use these to label the clear boxes that I prefer to use for storage. I have also begun using what is sold as a photo storage container, that has smaller containers inside, for storing a wide variety of items. Each individual mini box is labelled inside of the larger container. To keep things in order I have set up a system where each item in the box is labelled on a sleeve, and the item name on the sleeve corresponds with the box label. I currently have 3 of these boxes, though they are not all full, so I have a sheet that corresponds to each box. It sounds complicated, however it is easier for me to pull the sheets, check which box has what I am looking for, then pull the box. Previously I had been pulling the boxes out, opening them, looking at what was in each compartment, and then putting things back willy-nilly. For me, organizing is often a trial-and-error method which is why I seem to be constantly rotating through different types of organizing supplies.

I also enjoy putting labels on several sides as well as the top of a box, that way no matter how I choose to store it I have an easily seen label. While I prefer clear containers, sometimes it is not possible such as in my Kallax Units. This is another way that my labelling system comes in handy. Not to mention my unfortunate tendency to put things on top of other things, labels come in handy then, though I hope that my final bookcase will help prevent that tendency by forcing a place for everything. This will probably mean a spate of attempting to use things up and de-stashing items, however I hope that the result is a productive workspace in 2026. Enough about organization, how about getting to items that help my hands, joints, and more?

The first three items are for holding items so I do not have to pinch things quite as often or tightly. The first and third pictures are items that are intended for people working on circuit boards, soldering, or similar. I can easily use them to hold a piece of embroidery I am working on, some fabric that I plan on stitching, wire for a piece of jewelry I am working on, or similar. The top middle is a clamp intended for woodworking. Since it is very adjustable I can use it with an embroidery hoop to hold things steady while I try to stitch. The larger picture on the bottom is of some ‘bead stoppers’ intended to be placed on wire/string/filament that you are putting beads on so they do not fall off of the end. I have not been beading much recently, though I have a couple of projects that might change that in the near future.

Just today I have been working with my embroidery machine, and so had to discover a new assistive device. I have a small flat head screwdriver that I use to tighten up the hoop so that my fabric does not slide around while the machine is running, this has happened a couple of times. I was very productive this morning and managed to get five motifs embroidered on the quilt this morning…and now I have to wear my wrist brace because my thumb joint is protesting. Of course, I have to wear the brace on my ‘good’ hand because that is the one that I have been using, lol. This caused me to see if there is any kind of screwdriver that I can use without having to create a pinching motion, there is! I T-Handled Screwdriver! I will order it when I next get paid.

There are a few more tools, such as the ones I mentioned in an earlier post, however I will have to get to those later. I did discover that the Crafteaze pillow by Valari is manufactured in India and their supportive gloves ship from China. I have not had an opportunity to test them yet, though each finger in the gloves is finished with a serger so they seem to be good quality.

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

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!

Black Friday Sales (Pre-)

by CZeitler

Before I received the bill to get my sewer pipe cleared out I took advantage of some of the Pre-Black Friday sales from smaller retailers. I do not know if the service I used upped their prices or if I misremembered how much the service was last year, but ouch!

One of the first places that I purchased from is Snuggly Monkey. I absolutely adore this small business, they are so friendly, reactive, and always have neat tools. I knew that I wanted to buy something and I am trying to flesh out a set of needles so I have something to reach for no matter what project I am working on. To that end I purchased Sashiko Needles, Beading Needles, Bullion Knot Needles, Ribbon Embroidery Needles and some plastic embroidery thread bobbins (to try a 3-d printed file I will talk about in another post). They came within a week, are packaged beautifully, and I appreciate obtaining more tools at a very good price. Highly Recommend.

I have been looking at Felt Right for a couple of years. I would like to start up a podcast or some streaming however I know that my rooms echo too much to try. The library that I work at had a recent renovation and they used Living Felt, it looks amazing! To that end I purchased a 6 tile sample pack in colors I wanted as well as 4 small diamonds to test out how they will work and look in my area. The 20% off coupon was a great incentive, making these very reasonable if you are trying to get a few at a time.

I did not order the Craftease pillow when I ordered the rest of my ergo friendly items, so I lucked into a sale. I managed to get the pillow that I wanted, gloves to help my circulation, an extension clip and their black friday gift box for under what the pillow alone would have cost me. I checked and the gift box will include another extension, an extra pillow cover, as well as lotion. Since my hands are already starting to dry out, crack, and bleed a bit so the lotion will help.

The yarn I ordered from Crochet.com and knitpicks.com has already arrived, great prices, I love the quality and cannot wait to use it!

I had purchased a couple of things from bigger stores when they had insanely low prices. There are plenty of great deals out there, I am trying to stick to what I need to make my crafting life easier and more productive.

If you are looking for another small business to buy from I highly recommend: https://www.thecraftivist.com/ I purchased a punch needle kit from them years ago, the packaging, owner, and quality of the goods are unparalleled.

Wrist Concerns

by CZeitler

I like to pretend, most days, that my left wrist is just fine. I don’t twist it too much, make sure I don’t lean on it or carry anything super heavy with it, but the truth is that I had Ligament repair surgery in 2020. 90-95% of the time my wrist does not bother me, if I fall and try to catch myself then I go to the hospital for an x-ray, if I pinch with my left hand too much then it becomes sore or the joint locks up. Fortunately I do not fall that often, winter in the north east can be problematic, and I am aware of my limitations and try to keep to them. The last time I fell the x-ray showed a concern that the orthopedic surgeon explained to me. The little bones in my wrist are dissolving. Again, the vast majority of the time my wrist does not bother me, however this morning I woke up to a sore wrist. I cannot think of what I did to exacerbate the situation, so I decided I need to look into items that can assist me by decreasing the strain placed on my wrist, and other joints, while I am crafting.

The two closest parallels I can find would be crafting with arthritis or carpel tunnel syndrome. I highly recommend getting any surgeries or medications prescribed by a doctor as they have extended my healing and ability to craft for at least five years. I am not giving any sort of medical advice. The first step in ensuring that you are not causing lasting damage is to listen to your body. All too often I hear people saying, I crocheted/knitted until my hands hurt so much I could not hold the hook/needles. Please do not do this, if your wrists and shoulders are getting tight while you are crafting then take a break, stretch, do something else for 15-30 minutes, and see if your joints are feeling better. Again, this is not medical advice.

The rest of this post is just an FYI of what items I am going to be purchasing to assist my comfort and health while crafting. I am not in any way affiliated with any of the brands and I plan on giving a complete and honest review a week after purchase and then (hopefully) a month or so after purchase.

First I have purchased Furls size-G Crochet hooks. I can tell you right now, I love these hooks. I have purchased them in the past, and passed them onto a cousin that is crocheting more than I am. These are hard hooks, made from metal, acrylic, or wood. If gripping something softer would be more of an aid I would look into getting some pencil grips for arthritis.

Second, there is a website called Crafteaze.com where they sell pillows to offer support while engaging in crafting activities. While you are seated the pillow wraps around your torso so that you are able to rest your elbows and forearms on the pillow as well as allowing the pillow to take some of the weight of your project. This greatly decreases the strain on your shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. I have tried a couple of other methods to make crafting on my chair more comfortable, hopefully this one will work. The pillow is currently on sale for $100, the crafting variety is about $109. This is going to be the most expensive of my ‘ergonomic’ purchases, hopefully it will make the greatest difference.

A pair of electric scissors. For little things like snipping off stray threads my regular scissors work just fine. When it comes to cutting out patterns, designs, etc. every step is more difficult. I realized writing this article that I do not sew as much as I would like because I need to lean on the ruler with my left and and use the rotary cutter with my right. However I am not supposed to be leaning on my left hand so it becomes very sore very quickly. Isn’t it fascinating how often we just work around problems without thinking them through? I am going to mark my pattern/fabric with chalk or erasable pen and use my new electric scissors to cut the pieces out. Hopefully this will help. The pair I will order are $18. If they work and hold up I will add a link if not I will keep trying until I find a pair that do work.

Stainless steel hemming clips. Yes, I am discussing my wrist pain, no that is not stopping me from trying to expand my crafting. I have been working on making my own Victorian Dress, since I am plus sized and don’t want to wear polyester unless I cannot help it. This means that I have been doing more long hems than I am used to. I can, and do, pin them then fight with the pins because I have inevitably placed the pin heads on the side of the fabric facing down on my sewing machine. I will be getting 40 for $12 and hope that this prevents my having to hold the entire piece in the air while I desperately pinch the hem in place trying to get the pin in.

Tube turner, these are a great way to turn long narrow pieces, like straps, inside right. Essentially they are a straw with a dowel of the correct size to push the fabric through. I am hoping that these are sturdier than the average straw but for $9 I do not know.

Magnetic Helping Hands Soldering Station for $24. This device is about 9″ long and 6″ wide with 4 magnetic alligator clips with rubberized tips. I am hoping that this will be able to hold some of my stitching in the air so that I can do the stitching hands free without worrying about the bulk of a hoop. I have a floor quilting frame out of PVC, however it is too big for me to use it to stitch smaller projects.

Finally, I am purchasing a High torque electric jar opener. Normally for $20 I would not risk this being junk, however Sorted Food (a YouTube Channel I love) reviewed a similar device a few years ago and they were shocked at how well it worked.

I already have a couple of wrist braces as well as similar devices that provide ergonomic support to my wrist and hand. I am considering ordering a pair of compression gloves as well to assist when I am not in active pain.

At present this is a minor inconvenience to me, however, it has given me a much greater appreciation for those that have constant pain, or very limited mobility. It is my fondest wish to find methods/aids that I can utilize to aid individuals with mobility concerns to discover/rediscover crafting.

Until next time please remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract and listen to your body.

Summer (Crafting) Challenges

by CZeitler

Each summer seems to go by faster and faster as they years progress. This year I am going to focus on making sure that I have Fun and accomplish some of my crafty tasks that I would like to do. Part of having fun is making sure that I go on what Julia Cameron calls ‘Artist Dates’ each week. Yesterday I went to the beach to collect pretty rocks. I discovered that my water shoes rub on my bunions, it’s still foot numbingly cold in the water, and that I really enjoy listening to the waves crash against the shore. I am considering making some kind of quilt to memorialize this summer of adventure (hopefully). If you are looking for some kind of a challenge this summer there are plenty of opportunities.

I am not sponsored by any of these organizations, however these are a few that I have discovered.

Tour De Fleece is going to occur this July while the Tour De France is happening. The facebook group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447931545237090/ and there are plenty of fiber sellers that can provide you with their kits if you google Tour De Fleece. I know this as a spinning event, however you could easily do any kind of fiber craft.

Similar to this a Sewist found out about Tour De Fleece and decided that they wanted to do a Tour De Fabric: https://www.quiltnlearn.com/quiltalongs

If you don’t like those parameters there always seem to be various Crochet alongs, knit alongs, quilt alongs, sew alongs, etc. Perhaps you want to go to X number of retreats this summer (1 is a number), or you want to challenge yourself to creating/finishing a piece this summer. Whatever your challenge I hope that you are able to make progress toward getting it done.

As a ‘Photo Tax’ I have made progress…okay I started…quilting a quilt top for a family member. She made the top and asked me to do the quilting. I almost have the center motif done, hopefully she likes it when I am done.

Live Life a Little more Abstract

Birthday Freebies

by CZeitler

This is completely at odds with my previous post and doesn’t have a lot to do with crafting, though because I’m me there are some crafting freebies and birthday promotions included.

First, I sign up for a lot of emails and promotional emails because I don’t mind throwing those that do not apply to me in the garbage and this also gives me a feeling that I am not missing out on anything. I know that these can stress some people out so this might not be the right path for everyone.

If you don’t mind this path then I’ll try to break these down by sections, the first is makeup. I’m not really a makeup girlie, however there are a few birthday promotions that I have signed up for. Ulta and Sephora give you something free for your birthday month. I’m not sure what they are this year since I have not bothered to pick them up, you can get them in store or online with an order. Bath and Body Works also gives you a free item up to $10 if you make a purchase.

Food is going to be the next step, I’m a very big food person as well as a big freebie person in case you could not tell. If you are in a region where you have a Tim Hortons you get a free reward item for about 2 days before your birthday as well as on your birthday, this is redeemable only once but you do have the 3 days to redeem it. This year I got a ham and swiss sandwich for free, it was delicious. Panera has a reward, though that might only be if you are in their sips club which I am still in a promotional period for. I get a free bakery treat within a week of my birthday as well as a $1 bagel each day for the week of my birthday. Normally the bagels are $2 and for the price you can get it sliced in half, toasted, and with butter. These bagels are easily a meal on their own so I look forward to taking advantage of this. Dairy Queen is offering me a free medium sundae, dipped cone, or shake starting on my birthday and going for about 3 days to redeem. GFuel gave me 15 XP points which is good, their lowest reward starts at 100 XP, which is 3 fuel sticks for water bottles. Bones Coffee sent me 500 points which is enough for a $5 giftcard on their website. I had forgotten about this company so it turns out I have enough points to get a K-Cup sampler to bring in to work since we have a Keurig at work. I am going to get a free item from the McDonalds menu, I just have to figure out what their most expensive thing is, lol.

Craft, Hipstrings gave me 200 points toward a gift card, their minimum to redeem is 500 points. Funny enough I find that this is a great way to remind myself of companies that I used to purchase from but have forgotten about, I actually have enough points for $10 off of a Hipstrings purchase so I need to decide what I would like to get! What fun! Missouri Star Quilt Company gave me a coupon for $15 off of a $60 purchase anytime this month. Bloom Daily Planners is offering me a free set of stickers up to $10 with any other purchase. Create Room Co has given me 500 points toward a… well, I’m having trouble figuring that out. Their furniture is aspirational at this point in my life so I have made due with Ikea (if you want me to tell you my Ikea picks please let me know). Knitpicks sent me a 15% coupon off of my next order. Gist yarn sent me $10 off of my next order of $50+. Brooklyn Haberdashery sent me enough points for a $10 gift card off of my next purchase of $60 or more. Ranger Ink gave me $10 off of a purchase of $50 or more for 24 hours. Cricut offered me a 20% off coupon plus free shipping.

I think that this is about the end of the birthday promotions and freebies I have recieved thus far. If there are any more I will edit this post. This is a good way for me to end this difficult month, so if you have the bandwidth to deal with promotional emails then this might be an uplifting experience for you. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract.

H&H Aftermath

by CZeitler

I will freely admit that since I have returned from H&H I have gone a little overboard with my inspiration and trying to bring those to fruition. There was a bit of a lesson to everyone about how disease is still out there, I and several other attendees, came down with COVID when we returned from H&H Americas. I wore a mask the entire show, except for meals, so that I would not get sick and miss more work. Despite my precautions I tested positive. Next year (or trip) I will get a booster beforehand to minimize risk further.

Due to my excitement about the binding tool and information by Pauline’s Quilter’s World I ordered the tool set from Fat Quarter Shop and the book “Pauline’s Quilting World: Quilt As You Go Handbook Book” from Amazon. I could not order just the tool set, so looking at the items that were on sale from Fat Quarter Shop I also got several mini charm packs, as well as a half yard of one of the Highland patterns and a half yard of one of the colorful fabrics.

I also ordered some amazing beads from Artbeads, they had some beautiful seed bead assortments I am hoping to use to experiment with the seed bead mosaic techniques created by Sabrina Frey. I was able to see this in person at H&H, they were absolutely gorgeous. I will be ordering the Skinny glue and art edge foam strips from fire mountain gems when I am ready to take that project on.

I did order 2 shawl buttons from Jul Designs to try out. I am really excited to see what they look like and how they work.

The final 2 things that I ordered are the Spindles I need for the class I will be teaching in May as well as the wet felting fibers I need for the class I’m teaching in June. Writing this out I realize I have not ordered as much as I thought, so I’m doing better that I thought.

Remember to 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!

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!