I am working on auditioning patterns to quilt my Aunts quilt with. A cousin suggested a couple of styles that hold sentimental significance for our family so I am going with those. I’m going to let the patterns ruminate for a little bit while I decide if I like them there or not.
This is not the only project I have going on at this time. I’m also still working on getting my craft room organized. It does not look like I have made a lot of progress, however I am considering every step a small win.
I have many of my fabrics, threads, and other crafts on the shelves, labeled, and mostly organized. In attempting to use up some of the smaller fabrics and pieces I am trying to make small projects. This should free up some of the space and help my organization as I see how I am using materials. This type of organizing is already helping me feel more motivated and willing to do some crafting.
I have been experimenting with making mug rugs using some basic quilting patterns on my embroidery machine, this also doubled as a good way to see how the pink thread was going to show up on white fabric. I have also been using some of my scrap fabric to play around with fusible applique on squares to see how I like them and what kind of applique I can do/enjoy.
Of course I cannot be happy with just one type of project, though I guess this could also be considered sewing.
There is some, very slow, progress being made on creating a beaded cord necklace. This craft takes a lot of beads, a lot of time, and patience to ensure that the white cord is completely covered and that the beads a laying where I would like them to be. I am enjoying this as my slow craft.
Other things are going on in the background, my local library had a book sale so I need to weed out some of the books I am no longer using to make room for the ones I just bought. I am attempting to coordinate programming for one of the guilds I belong to. There is some minor medical stuff going on in the background. Work has some exciting things going on as some construction is going to get started and we are ramping up for summer reading, which can add some stress.
All in all it looks like this year is going to be fascinating. I’m hoping to continue adding fun stuff, and hopefully add some items to my storefront again in the near future.
Until next time, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
This post was started 2 weeks ago, however I am going to continue adding on instead of starting anew. I have decided to start 2025 strong and do my best to keep up my momentum throughout this year. Prioritizing connections, with friends and family, as well as keeping myself safe physically, mentally, and financially. Crafty Content will begin after the ****** line.
Yes, I know, lofty goals. The last thing that I did in 2024 was to visit my cousin about 6 hours away, it was so much fun and low key. For this first weekend in 2025 I am visiting my sister about 3 hours away. *Edit, the visit took place the following week, it was lovely.* Admittedly, that is more because she is planning on moving 1 day and 14 hours of drive time away from me, so visiting will be more difficult. I hope/plan to continue this trend by visiting my friend in Texas sometime before September. The most exciting for me is that I am going to be able to rejoin my weaving and quilting guilds. This will start in March, I already have the time taken off. My cousin invited me up for their Easter Egg hunt so I hope to make that as well (I already took the time off).
I am trying to minimize my craft spending this year. That does not mean that I will pass by an amazing deal (see the 7 zippers I purchased for less than $3), however I will pass on fabric, etc, that I will not actually use, or that I will store for ‘someday’.
The major obstacle that I have for this is not knowing what I have for each craft. To get things organized I purchased one of the photo keepers from Michaels, on sale for $13 from $40+, and have used this to get my sewing supplies organized. Needles in one, hand stitching thread in another 2, pins in another…well 2, safety pins in 1, etc. I do still have one of the units empty within the larger case, but that will get filled up soon enough. I used an amazing label maker to add a label on the edge of each mini case so when I open the unit I can see what I have in each one rather than pulling them all out to find what I am looking for. This has been so handy I am thinking of getting another, but not until I know what I would put in it…though Jewelry supplies looks like a good idea at this moment.
I mentioned earlier that I visited my Sister in Pittsburgh, this is also the location of the closest IKEA to me. We visited IKEA, this was great for me as it gave me an opportunity to see the various shelf options and organizers in person. I did purchase a couple of bookcases that I am using to practice some personalization options on, then they will be great for storing my craft supplies where I need them in a visual way. I’m not going to show you that process until I have it more refined.
Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
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!
It has been two weeks since I have last posted, but things have been moving forward. I received one of my tax returns so I was able to put more toward my debt as well as putting some toward my business. I ordered some PLA filament to 3-d print Turkish spindles not only for my job, but some extras for me to sell and use during my classes in my friend’s store.
I have potatoes in pots as well as strawberries in their bed. I looked it up and it seems that these two types of plants will not try to sprout until the time is right so putting them in the ground now should have no negative effects. I also planted up some seedlings in my home so I can give them a head start, I lovely combination of food and flowers to delight all aspects of my life (the flowers are also dye-plants, I have to tie crafting into everything).
Among all of that I am trying to figure out a fun project that I believe will be a big hit among the local sewing community!
Sorry for the quick post, I hope that you remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!
I keep forgetting that not everything is up to me, there is a universe out there ready to give me a hand while I help myself. Part of this is coming out because I’m listening to The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and she is very much into the idea of a higher power, though she does admit that this can be any higher power you choose to worship, that is ready to help us out. A portion of this does come through, getting my downspout repaired and having more opportunities open up to me. I was wrestling with a ladder I borrowed from a friend trying to figure out how I was going to position the ladder between my porch and the Natural Gas meter that was placed right under my downspout when my neighbor came out to offer a hand. I accepted gratefully, he looked at the ladder and admitted that neither of us should get up on that ladder, so he mentioned that he had a friend that could fix the downspout. Yay! Of course it cost about half as much as a new ladder would have and I provided all of the supplies, so I was a bit put out because of that, but my downspout is fixed. I was able to get a gift card for some of the supplies from a survey site I participate in, so part of the supplies were free.
Soon after that I found out that someone that belongs to a guild I used to attend, right now I’m taking a hiatus until I get my credit card debt resolved, was opening up a new fiber arts store and they were looking for a teacher. Of course I volunteered, so I now have three classes and 8 ‘hang out’ sessions scheduled for her shop in May. This will be a great opportunity to promote her supplies, my skills, and library programming that we have to offer.
I have been steadily paying toward my debt, making other sacrifices to get this debt paid off. I sold a loom that I was not using to move forward to that goal. I recently heard from my accountant, yes I pay someone to do my taxes, and while I did not earn enough in my business in 2023 to make the paperwork worth it, I have returns from state and federal. If I throw one of that toward my debt I should be able to get my final credit card resolved. That will still leave me some leeway to take some trips that I feel I really need to take. Visiting friends and family that I have long neglected as well as taking a few small day trips to allow myself the chance to enjoy life rather than just exist.
By keeping these goals in mind I will be able to make progress toward larger goals. Getting my spending under control, making progress toward learning new crafts/arts, having fun, getting my house clean, make deeper connections to my friends and family.
Life is meant to be lived, I need to figure out what that means to me. In the meantime, remember to 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!
Okay, so I did make one direct sale on Facebook and it really did come in handy since I am also trying to start building my own displays for the jewelry I am making. Right now I have re-opened my etsy store with plenty of earrings and some necklaces. ALittleMoreAbstract.etsy.com
Below are a small selection of the earrings I have been making, they are all on sale right now in my etsy shop with free shipping.
I’ve also made a couple of necklaces, and I will be putting some Embroidered Pendants on sale later this week, likely Tuesday morning.
As you can tell I have been very busy crafting. I also have been destashing all of my ‘good yarn’ to afford a ladder to repair my downspout. This just became a bit more urgent since I found out that the water is seeping into my foundation. If you are interested in bargain priced yarn then you can check out my destash link here: https://www.ravelry.com/people/czeitler/stash/trade/
As you can see I have been trying to ‘hustle’ a bit to get some more income. I’ve also found some Skillshare workshops that have been helping me to price my works in a reasonable way. So that has been my last couple of weeks, hustling to create, trying to build up my website, and working on getting rid of a few items that I no longer use. I hope that your week goes well and you remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
So, I have not made any progress on my banner or learning how to create bobbin lace. In the other hand I have been trying to figure out a good platform for selling my handmade crafts as well as creating stock. I am hoping to participate in two craft shows this fall, however, they require a picture of your booth setup during the application. This means that I need to have significant inventory to display in the booth. Also, as it happens many selling website platforms cost on a monthly basis. In order to afford the platform as well as create more inventory, I have been attempting to direct sale my jewelry offerings on Instagram and Facebook. I’ll post my creations at the end of this post, however this has left little time for anything else except working on getting my yard ready for urban homesteading this spring and summer. That is a post for another day however. I am also planning on taking out my first batch of polished rocks this week so I hope to put up a brief update then.
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 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!
A Little More Abstract 