Crafting Blog Relaunch June 2021

Thanks for checking out this Saylor's Log today!  I launched this blog a little over ten years ago in search of creative expression and shared adventures in the crafting blog community.  I was especially interested in exploring fiber crafts, faith, and watercolor painting and I still am.  This past year I have been given three painted rocks from local friends and during the month of June, the rock pictured above arrived in the mail!  Through Zoom I have been meeting monthly with a group of ladies for a little over a year, and texting daily with them in-between Zoom meetings.  I mentioned admiring a rock my mother painted over fifty years ago that my older sister now has.  Our mom painted a little sailboat sailing on the ocean so my Zoom friend surprised me by painting a little sailboat sailing on the ocean and then sent it from Florida to Oregon so that I could have it! It is on the table beside my favorite chair in the living room...such an incredibly thoughtful and generous gift I so appreciate.

During June I have made some progress on the simple double crochet stitched acrylic baby blanket I started months ago, and I have started knitting another Grandma's Dishcloth...simple stitches I so enjoy crafting!  Are you stitching anything?

During record-breaking !!! heat in June, in the Portland, OR area, I used frozen blue ice packs in a bowl in front of a fan directed toward me for AC. Cool crafting!!! 

During June, my rose bush produced lovely little fragrant roses for me to craft into bouquets and arrange on my kitchen windowsill before the days of scorching heat arrived.

In June, for the first time in a year and a half, my condo community was able to gather together outside...crafting our neighborly skills!

These neighbor's flowers were such a delight to enjoy... an old-fashioned rose scent!  This June I have been experimenting with crafting some essential oils in a dollar store diffuser.  Do you have a favorite combination of essential oil scents and a favorite type of diffuser?

This neighbor's beautiful rose reminded me of my dear blogging friend Teresa who I typed about in my last post. Through the years of our friendship, Teresa encouraged me to craft my blog and continue even while seeing stormy seas from my widow's walk...so here I am typing to you...feeling the need to relaunch One Saylor's Log.  I just reread what I typed in my About page years ago and it seems fitting to reprint it here...

Now more a spyglass than part of a set of binoculars, I am freshly exploring how I can best use the B.A. in Speech-Communications I earned from SJSU in 1975. Typing this log for you to read seems to me to be a part of the answer for this season of my sailing; and as you read, I hope you have a Bon Voyage!

                                                   Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

                                       For I know the plans I have for you,”                                          declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and                                     not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a                               future. 12Then you will call on me and come and                         pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me                                 and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Crafting December 2020 Vision

 

🎶 Do You See What I See?🎶  Thanks to my youngest daughter who contributed a basketful of greens and pinecones, I was able to make a wreath in December. The never-ending circle of green especially heartened me this year.  For me, it symbolizes the everlasting loving life in Christ I look to see now and forever.

A friend who was trained by a florist showed me how to make the wreath fuller by adding little bunches of greens.  She also crafted the pretty plaid bow. 

One misty December afternoon I drove out to the Women's Forum lookout to admire the view of the mighty Columbia River.  Looking East from the Portland, Oregon, area, I love seeing the Creator's amazing craftsmanship.

Over 40 years ago my pastor's wife gifted me with a dishcloth similar to this and helped me learn to knit. I am so grateful for her investment in me.

This December I finished knitting a purple cotton dishcloth and hope to knit many more.

Finishing crocheting another hot-mat in December 2020 seems to just fuel my desire to craft another!  Do you have patterns and projects you like to repeatedly make?

 

One December afternoon a masked friend stopped by to give me this dear rock she had painted for me, a priceless gift. On the back, she painted the passage reference she knows has been especially encouraging to me. 

Philippians 4:6-7

New King James Version                                                                                                                         6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

  Isn't this sunrise spectacular? I saw it one December 2020 morning from the parking area near my back patio. I hope that we can often see such amazing beauty in the days ahead, and I also hope we can creatively encourage one another, through any storms that may challenge our beautiful views.  

Love to you in the New Year 2021!

Gracie ((hugs))