Buying

Who Am I This Week?

by CZeitler

This post contains some affiliate links. Clicking on the links and making a purchase will not cost you anything extra but I may get a small stipend.

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

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

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

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

Glass Cutting Set

or special order the glass to be the correct size.

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

Glaziers points


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

Window Glazing Compound

After that the install is easy.

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

Cut Resistant Gloves

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

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

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

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

Putty Knife

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

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

For my back wall I purchased some Shiplap

Shiplap

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

Deck Sealer

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

Nail Gun

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

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

Random Orbital Sander

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

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

Storage and Organization Ideas

by CZeitler

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

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

Storage Desk

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

Clear Plastic Storage Bins

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

Daylight Ceiling Light

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

Compression Bags

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

Plastic Bookshelf

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

Reading Chair

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

Broom with Scraper

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

Seasonal Storage Bags

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

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