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.
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!
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!
I’m sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been trying to get some things related to my business accomplished, however, I have also recognized where all of my emotional and physical energy has been going.
To begin with, I am the type of person that if I surround myself (on purpose or accident) with negativity it completely drains me of energy, increases my anxiety, depresses me, and causes my IBS to get out of control. I recognize this about myself. According to my therapist I also have a hard time letting people in and when I do then I do whatever I can for them. Recently I have realized that someone that is undergoing their own mental health problems has been utilizing my compassion and friendship as a dumping ground for their negativity. At one point I had asserted that I could not take a ton of negative energy that day, their response was if I cannot talk about anything negative then I have nothing to talk about. Subconsciously, this triggered me to realize that if I want them to feel free to talk to me at all I HAD to absorb their negativity. This means that anytime that person asks me, “Are you okay to hear about this?” I felt that I had to respond yes, I was okay or they would shut down. Again, my attachment causes me to be blind toward these things until I am run down and messing my health up.
I had come to this realization before my trip. I was dreading the trip, my therapist did say that I could only provide the framework for a good experience and everything else is up to the guest. I am sorry about the car ride, they say that they forgave me, but they are also being very passive-aggressive.
If you come away from spending time with someone drained, and you dread seeing someone, then they are not the right person for you to be spending time with.
My energy for the next three months is going to be focused elsewhere. This is the last of my focused attention that person gets.
In terms of the crafts I have been working on:
One of my Aunts asked me to do some embroidering (on my embroidery machine) for her. This caused me to look at other websites that have embroidery files available, and it is amazing some of the artwork out there! There is some chatter about restrictions being placed on patterns, what I have seen is most of the retailers are trying to restrict large businesses from taking their artwork and doing major production with it. I’m not going to do that, though I do question whether they are able to restrict access that way. I’m not planning on doing any major production, however I am hoping to create some book covers for notebooks having to do with Pride right now. After that is done, and I have sent my Aunt all of the pieces she requested (and more of course), I am going to play a lot more with my Embroidery Machine and some of the amazing patterns available out there.
My garden is coming along pretty well, though I did thoroughly drown my carrots. I am going to take some time this week, since I took time off of work for another friends wedding that is not happening now (long story not mine to tell but the couple is still happily together), to work on my garden and figure out how I can mow around all of my planters. I might also just work on making paths/planting into the ground, so that I don’t have any grass growing in my front yard. I already put down landscaping fabric so that a lot of the grass is killed in the medium between the sidewalk and the road. After the grass dies down I plan on planting tons of bulbs to create beauty.
Okay, I have to get back to my full-time job now. Remember that no one is worth your health and happiness, Live Life A Little More Abstract!
As I wrote in my last post, I’ve been hustling to make earrings, necklaces, and other items, to stock up my Etsy shop, thinking of ways to improve my jewelry game to generate more (any) sales, etc. Then as I was looking at what tools I need to start getting serious about jewelry, soldering, etc., and pushing off whittling again, I came to a realization. In my mind I had switched around a few words of what I had created my etsy store for. I was working toward: “Crafting to sell”. My Original intention was: “Selling my Crafts”. I know, some of you are looking at that like, what’s the difference? The difference is intention.
For the first, “Crafting to sell”, changed the motivation of my work. I was not focusing on creating what I wanted or learning new skills to be able to teach my patrons at work, I was thinking about: “Will this appeal, does this go with the brand I am trying to build up, how can I market this?.”
For my original intention: “Selling my Crafts”, I was using up materials I already owned, learning new skills without worrying about putting something new out each day, and having the crafts I lovingly created going to new homes instead of just sitting around my house or being given as gifts to friends and family that didn’t really want them. I think that it is time for me to get back to my original intention, and allow the universe to generate sales from my lovingly crafted goods.
That is not to say that I am not going to post updates and new items onto my Etsy store. As one maker said, “Don’t wait until your crafts are perfect, put them out there and see if they appeal, then work on getting better.”
I have some loom beaded pieces that I am going to learn how to back, some cabochons that I am going to learn how to create beaded bezels around, and a secret project that I am working on perfecting before I, potentially, launch a kickstarter. Along with all of that I am trying to learn how to cut a straight line on my wood, or plane down to a straight line, without a power saw (Since I don’t own one). This is with the intention of making my own jewelry display, and possibly some of the projects I’ve seen on YouTube. There is one more thing, the next time I have some extra funds, I’m buying the whittling kit.
Remember to slow down, make sure you are working toward your actual goal, and Live Life A Little More Abstract!
I am never satisfied with ‘good enough’ and I have decided to take on some new learning projects as well as a new big project. I’m going to start with learning, those are wire wrapping (which I mentioned in my last post) as well as Bobbin Lace. I have some already polished stones that I have purchased over the last few years, a few are shapes, and copper wire is relatively inexpensive. These factors combined with the desire to not mess up expensive Silver Wire, has me trying to wrap some smaller stones. This is proving to be a little more difficult than I anticipated, but I expected that since I’ve tried a little playing with wire in the past. Currently superglue is keeping the wire on this cabochon so I’m not really happy with myself, however it is a learning curve.
Bobbin lace is proving to be a lot of fun, I’m not sure it is going to be something that I can teach my library patrons but perhaps.
I was looking at buying a banner for my craft booth, and for a 2’x4′ it looks like about $40-$60 is what that would cost. Perhaps if I want it very simple I could get away with $35…but why not make my own banner? Admittedly, it is not going to be waterproof since it is going to be a Machine Embroidered Quilt…but on the other hand, it’s going to be an embroidered quilt banner…I’m so happy about this idea!
Okay, so this was a short update, but I hope you found it as inspirational as I did! Live Life a Little More Abstract!
I have always loved the look of bookcase quilts. I have decided to make a personalized spin on a bookcase quilt. It is one of my annual goals to try to read 100 books each year, I have recently started to allow rereads to count. Otherwise, I will never make that goal. What is more fun than combining those two goals? To do that I have started embroidering what will be the book spines with the titles and authors that I have read. I discovered that I can fit eight to ten spines on a fat quarter. I used a peel and stick wash away stabilizer so that the fabric was stable enough for the embroidery machine. I made sure that the stabilizer was on the far side of the fat quarter, so that there was plenty of room to cut the spines a part down the middle.
Since I do not like changing the thread, I decided to ensure that there were at least one or two other books in between each so that I will not have a huge chunk of the same color spines. There are a couple of series that I decided would be OK if they are the same color, so that is why all of my Shelly Laurenston books are on this fat quarter. I have decided to give myself about half an inch to an inch around each spine so I measured that out and cut each one out individually.
Since we have not even reached the halfway mark of the year, I am not going to worry about sewing the spines together quite yet. It’s probably going to be a couple of months before I do another batch of spines, so that I have enough titles to avoid embroidering a whole batch of titles right next to each other, on the same kind of fabric. When I do assemble the quilt, I plan on assembling the spines in the order that I actually read the books. I have trimmed the tops and bottoms of the spines, so that there is plenty of room just saw them together yet the books are not all the same height.
For a few of them, I have experimented with adding a different color to sort of look like fancy spines. Right now I have them in blocks 14 inches wide and I will eventually add a background color to the top so that the actual block is the same height. This is as far as I’ve gotten planning this quilt, it has been put on hold for right now, until I have read more books and until my Etsy shop is open. My Etsy shop will be opening June 2, 2023 and I hope to see everyone there.
Until next time, please remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract.
A Little More Abstract 