"I started photographing my domestic world and writing not just about what I had made,
but why I made it, examining the thoughts that accompany creativity and the act of making."
Jane Brocket from The Gentle Art of Domesticity p. 189 UK edition

Showing posts with label summer flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer flowers. Show all posts

Friday, July 31, 2020

Crafting in July



Ahoy! Thanks for sailing in through cyberspace today to see where I am near the grand Mt. Hood close to Portland, Oregon, USA., and to learn a bit about what crafting I have been involved in July 2020.

February 21, 2020, just before we were asked to stay safe at home except when providing or getting essential services, I filled the gas tank of my 2005 minivan.   Mainly since then, I have gone out once a week for groceries. One Friday several months later my youngest daughter came to drive me to the grocery store because I had pulled something in my upper right arm and was having trouble driving.  She drove me to a grocery store that took us past this nearby view of Mt. Hood where I used my iPhone to craft a photo.  July 24, 2020, the gas gage in the car still said I had a little over a fourth of a tank of gas but I had it filled again, five months since the last fillup!


Day by day I crafted tried and true recipes like these GF dairy-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies most of which are still in the freezer. I think I have concocted some sort of soup and salads every day as well.


In July when crafting a mile walk in our neighborhood I took a photo of these stunning purply blue Hydrangeas that are growing nearby.


From the tiny garden I crafted on the patio, the three Sugar Snap Pea plants I planted in the planter boxes produced these yummy pods and a few more.


Because I am not a very crafty gardener the hanging plant and the Cala Lilies at the front of the unit have been amazing to view and try to tend.


Although some of my Wednesday morning group of ladies who knit and crochet preemie blankets for a local NICU only met online in Zoom meetings these are one batch of blankets and hats that was dropped off in July!


A soothing satisfying craft for me is crocheting double-thickness potholders like the one in the photo above that I finished in July for a friend. The style is my favorite kind of potholder and one I made long ago and use all the time is in the photo with the cookies I showed you.


These blankets and hats were made by a new crocheter who is in her seventies.  Another friend from our Wednesday church group is a prolific knitter and crocheter and she also crafted these sweet rocks and dropped them off in my patio one day.  💕


During the hot days of July, I have also been crafting cool drinks of almond milk swirled with various kinds of frozen fruit. I am especially fond of melon and blueberries!


In this batch of blankets and hats that were dropped off are ones crafted on round plastic looms by a friend who has limited mobility in her hands. She enjoys making them and does so with love.


The little rose bush in the front of my unit is producing its second round of summer roses.  I crafted this display of some of them amidst blue glass on the kitchen windowsill.  You might really enjoy the rose's delicate lovely scent~ ~


One of my favorite spots on the patio is this corner where I crafted this pottery fountain made from a bowl that my mom bought from a potter in Nederland, Colorado where I lived for two and a half years in the early 1980s.


This morning I pulled the spent Sugar Snap Pea vines from the planter on the left leaving the Sweet Pea flower vines.   Do you think they will produce some colorful scented flowers? In the right planter, I have a Clematis vine mingled with Morning Glory vines. The Clematis has finished blooming for the season and the Morning Glory has not produced any flowers yet. I have had mixed results in crafting gardens throughout my years, but I am ever hopeful for good results!


The July online prompt I got from my Joy of Artful Worship facilitator focuses on crafting the following verses onto decorated index cards to share with others.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 
1Corinthians 15: 1-4 NIV

16 For the Lord, himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thess. 4:16-18 NIV

Another thing I have been crafting in July is this blog post.  I have been using the new Blogger format and have not figured out how to sequence photos in the order I want, but other than that  I have survived😊
and you have too if you are reading this.  Bravo! Please let me know how you are crafting your life these days.

Gracie xx

















Friday, June 30, 2017

In the Eye of the Storm

Welcome, Family, Friends, and Visitors!  While threatening hurricanes of news swirl around me in the world, and challenging squalls of circumstances rock the boat of this Saylor from day to day, one thing I try to meditate on is how to be in the eye of the storm.  I found this song on YouTube and while it does not reflect my specific experiences, it does speak to my aim to know peace in the midst of our world that is peace challenged. 
In my mind's eye, I see our home with gardens that offer the lovely controlled chaos in scent and sight of the quintessential English cottage garden abuzz with bees and highlighted with fluttering butterflies and hummingbirds. I do not have photos of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to show you, but I have seen them here.
 The Joseph Coat rose bushes climb to great heights, but we do not know how to train them to form a lush arbor over us.  They do however amazingly produce over a dozen roses at the tip of a few branches, and if your nose gets close enough you can enjoy their sweet gentle scent.
 The HollyHocks have come back again and are forming promising buds at the tip of each gangling stalk,
 and the Clematis is in lush purple bloom.
 We have several types of Hydrangeas and the white bush presently has the most profuse number of blooms.
 We have done some weeding of the berm out front and some of my adult children have spread Cedar chips to help keep moisture in the soil and hopefully discourage weeds from thriving.
 The wildflowers my youngest son planted down by the pond last year have dared to come back this year and he has been weeding around them since this photo was taken.
 Being born in New England, our family enjoyed having traditional Boston baked beans and brown bread that my mom made.  She had a brown pottery bean pot that my older sister now has.  I have been fascinated in reading in some English novels that the characters often ate beans and an egg on toast and so recently I prepared a version of that for myself and thought it was yummy.
 I just have four more rows to crochet on my Ruby shawl!!!!

At our worship art group last Saturday, I started on a mixed media project focused on the theme that God chooses to build believers together into a dwelling in which He lives by His Spirit. The example our facilitator made is very clever and different in color from what I have started. I enjoyed forming the base she designed and I hope to work more on decorating the houses.

How are you creatively coping with the storms of life in and around you?

May you know joy and peace.

Gracie xx