Every Day bring a slightly new challenge to the forefront. I’m still chipping away at my 100 day challenge, I did have one slip when I found some Fat Quarters for $.50 at Walmart. I plan on making a simple children’s quilt from them for the Holiday Season.
I have managed to work on several projects over the past week and a half. Much of my ‘good’ yarn has been put in plastic bags for easier storage. I have started spinning again and gotten a few ‘puffs’ of wool spun. My singles yarns that I purchased or were gifted years ago are now being made into a large granny square that might be sold or gifted as a decorative throw. I made a sale in my Etsy Shop (total of 2 now, lol). This makes me want to finish the skull earrings I have embroidered, they need their jump rings and earring hooks. My Tie-On Pockets have also made some progress.
I am doing my best to look on the bright side and get through this last hurdle. There is a Quarter left in the year, this Sunday is the Autumnal Equinox so I will use these next three months to close out this chapter of my life and welcome the New!
I hope that you have a great day and remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
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!
Okay, so I have not gotten any real crafting done even though it is over half-way through January. I went to visit family, I was supposed to stay for 4-5 days, then they planned a reunion type event so the stay was extended to 10 days…then two flights were cancelled and I wound up staying closer to 13 days. Fortunately with the holiday I wound up missing only a single day of work and I discovered that I can easily make the drive by myself, since I had to rent a car to get back to my car at the airport.
I had a ton of fun visiting with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and cousin’s children while I was there. For a long time I was working 3-4 jobs and taking care of mom so I was unable to go to any family events, plus mom didn’t really want to, so I have a huge gap of time where I lost touch. It is great that I am able to get to know my relatives as adults.
All of that being said, I did not get much crafting done. I brought and completed a small portion of my Tula Nova EPP, however I do not have a photo of it. What I did gain however is a better understanding of what kind of organization might work well for me. One of my cousins has 2 very busy children, however they manage to keep their items in, relative, check with the use of storage furniture. Not just bookcases but storage with drawers that can be labelled. I know, this is not revolutionary information, however I’ve been trying to get away with the cheapest form of storage possible and it just isn’t working. The bookcases always look sloppy and the plastic drawers can rarely hold anything well. I tried ordering Ikea furniture however there were some shipping problems so instead I have some dressers arriving from Home Depot.
Hopefully these can help me to get my materials under control and my home looking like a home instead of a wreck….which honestly right now it looks like a wreck.
Since I am going to focus on getting things in check, then using the supplies I own before purchasing more, my shop is going to take a brief hiatus. I am thinking about switching to a quarterly model where I plan on having a new set of items available every 3 months or so.
I think this is probably enough of an update for now. I’ll hopefully have some crafting content next time, however it might also be some organizing content.
Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
So, every now and again, about every 28 days or so, I get a huge urge to clean or be productive. The week before this urge hit I was staining my front deck and trying to get the paint off of my back deck. This past week I have been cleaning and reorganizing at home and at work, my work crafts have been shifted to a ‘craft closet’ which I am trying to organize in a way that will work for me. At home I have been trying to group crafts according to type, get my floors swept up, and generally get my house in a state where I can stand it again. Of course, this is not an urge that came from the ether, I had signed up for the annual Get Organized HQ summit online, though I did not purchase the annual pass this year I just watched what I could while it was available. If you are looking to get organized I highly recommend this resource, it is on sale right now for under $100 to get tons of resources and information on how to organize your home and even crafts this year. (I am not affiliated I just really like them).
Because of this organizing I have uncovered a ton of UFOs (UnFinished Objects) as well as supplies I forgot I owned. This did not stop me from going to the Western New York Fiber Fest on Saturday with a friend that I do not see very often, but I am very proud of myself I just bought a couple of stickers, stitch markers, and very cool potholder weaving loom needles (as well as a possible contact for getting some more Schacht Bobbins made).
Due to this organizing and finding ‘lost’ projects I have decided to attempt to make the rest of this year and next into about 16 months of finishing. I might start small projects intended to use up scraps of fabrics and explore some new techniques but most of the rest of 2023 and all of 2024 are going to be focused on using up what I already have, finishing projects, working on my house, and figuring out what (if anything) will sell in my Etsy store. I also plan on looking into a few smaller craft fairs around me to see if my items will do better in person than they are online.
I will also confess that part of this ‘finding and finishing’ came about when I discovered that I had a couple of Tula Nova pieces already completed but I had put them in a box and forgotten that I put them in a box. I’m also planning on starting from the center out, because when I looked at the next couple of steps in the pattern I realized that the pieces I have been spending all of my time on are in the very last part of the pattern. This is a copyrighted pattern that I purchased so I will ask that you not use this photo to ‘make’ your own pattern from.
Of course, I have been doing little bits and pieces of sewing along the way, I made up a little bowl that I am thinking about putting snaps on to turn it into a pouch, as well as a couple of quilted bookmarks I’m thinking about putting in my Etsy Store for about $5 with free shipping.
This is a quick addition to fixing the crafting photos, I did spend all day yesterday sleeping! Taking a day to just completely chill and catch up on my sleep has always been my form of self care, prior to getting on an ADHD medication I would need to do this once a week to completely recharge myself. I was worried that I would be unable to ever accomplish this again since I have been super productive these past few months, and consequently I’ve been getting a little shorter in my temper than I would rather. Saturday I had a very busy day and so my body finally allowed me to have the form of rest that seems to rejuvenate me the most. Due to this I am in a much better mood and I feel like I can take on the world again. I’m not sure if this form of rest is going to be every other month, or if my body will settle out and allow me this kind of rest more often. Just a PSA, your body will let you take care of yourself and if what you need is to just sleep a day away then that is what you need.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hello Everyone! The first part is information about my mental health so if you want to skip to the crafting content skip to the ****************.
My site and store have not been updated in a few weeks due to a slight adjustment in my anti-depressants (anti-anxiety for me) and the time at which I was taking them. I was taking them in the morning, this resulted in my consuming more caffeine to keep myself awake and not taking my ADHD medication (which is a stimulant). By changing my anti-depressants to evening I am able to sleep better and not spend my entire day trying to stay awake, I am also taking my ADHD daily to see the difference it makes. After half a week I have more energy and I am able to better focus on accomplishing various tasks.
I also had a friend visit to see my new house for the first time, it was so much fun to catch up with her!
My new desk has re-ignited my desire to ensure that my first floor work area is optimized, or at least I can access everything I need. This of course means that I have to move everything out into the open before I can store it away. I did find my shuttle tatting supplies about 6 weeks before I am set to teach needle tatting to a guild, so that is going to be great to demonstrate the difference between the techniques. Right now the room looks a fright, I did manage to finish weaving off the warp I had set up for coasters that I plan on giving to the guild as prizes for the EGLFC (Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference) in October. This allowed me to push that loom to a wall and put items that I use more frequently in front of it.
There is a cubby that I built years ago, not very well admittedly, that had been against a wall but hidden with items in front of it. That is now next to the loom against the wall, mostly accessible. There are 3 cubbies that have longer term storage items that I placed a small end table against. I then pushed my desk up against that end table to create a seamless corner of work space, where I can still access most of the cubbies, that I feel will be very functional.
These moves allowed me to better access my 16 shaft table loom, which brings me to one of the reasons why I started all of these adjustments. Mirrix Looms had a program where they invited everyone to weave every day in April. It was such a success they decided to bring it back in July. This has resulted in my spending the first three days of July finishing off the coasters, so I could put that loom away, and making my 16 shaft loom more accessible. Much earlier this year I put the warp for some towels through my reed, and found out that despite what I thought my warp is wide enough to fill the entire loom…this means that I need to go back and start at the beginning to rethread my entire reed. I thought I could ignore this and just leave the extra threads off of the warp, so I began threading the heddles, however the truth is if I do that I will always hate these towels. I checked with Mirrix and warping up my 16 shaft loom does count as ‘weaving’ toward their goal. I do understand how ridiculous all of this sounds, however I need that external motivation to get myself working on this huge project.
All of this does not mean that this is all that I have been working on! Last Monday I taught a guild how to make scissor fobs, and I will be repeating the lesson with another guild this Saturday and yet again on the 22nd. The first class was such a success I am very excited to see what creations the other guilds come up with given the supplies available! I purchased a lot of supplies for these scissor fobs and I am hopeful that I will get the supplies cost back so I can invest in teaching another class next year, though I am not sure what in yet.
If you have not gotten the gist yet, I never have just one or two projects on the go at a time. I have also been doing some work on my house, my front garden is planted with new blocks for my potted plants, they are a dye garden plus a couple of vegetables, so I look forward to seeing what hues I get out of my garden this year. I’ll try to get a good photo of my straw flowers by next post. I also went a little too far at the 70% off fabric sale at JoAnn Fabrics, though I hope to make a couple of lap quilts in the next week or so, yes I know I’m getting a bit too ambitious again!
I think that is all of the progress I have to report on for now, if I like how the workroom looks by time I’m finished I’ll try to add a photo to this post. I’ll probably have a post about organization products I use in my house in time for the Prime Sale on Amazon with affiliate links by next week. Clicking on the affiliate links will not cost you anything but I might get a small stipend.
Until Next Time Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
As you can probably tell, I managed to get my light box set up to take some new photos of the items that I have and will have for sale on the etsy website. I love how the lights and white background work together to make the items look more visible. I know that I still have a little bit of editing work to do on the photos but for now I love how they look and hope to have the listings updated by next week. There is an update to my setup however!
My family gave me a (very generous) gift card to Michaels. Last week Michaels had a half price sale on their storage items. This means that I got the two storage units for $30 out of pocket. Then I had a coupon that arrived from Michaels for $10, due in part to my recent purchase, so the table top was about $20 out of pocket. As you can tell I adore this set up and already have it fixed up to take my photos and work on some projects.
I think that is all for this week, I have not had time to do much crafting between getting my desk set up and working on a minor plumbing issue. Here is hoping that the plumbing is fixed for now.
Until next time Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
A Little More Abstract 