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."

Remembering Teresa Kasner

 

It is so difficult to accept that dear Teresa passed away in a hospital Thursday afternoon, May 6, 2021, after a short unexpected illness.

Her beautiful photographs brought her blog to my attention about ten years ago.  As I got to know her through her blog I was amazed to learn that she lived very close to me and I am very grateful we met and grew a precious friendship, swimming many laps in various pools side by side through the years.  

Teresa's artistry in various mediums attracted the admiration of many. Her great administrative ability benefited many organizations she served. Her deep affection for family, friends, and country nurtured many as well. Her sense of adventure led her to sail on the sea and on wonderful Waldo Lake and encouraged many to appreciate how precious and beautiful life is.

Teresa's wordsmithing ability entertained and informed and challenged those who read what she wrote...and what fun I had regularly playing Scrabble or Words with Friends with her...even though more frequently than not Teresa was the winner!

As we miss Teresa so very much, may the Lord help us honor her life as we love one another, and fill the world with love and beauty as she did so generously.

Edited May 27, 2021

Teresa's Family posted a Memorial video on YouTube 

Showers of April Crafting

This peachy-colored Sweet Pea bloom appeared in the first week of April out on my back patio. The vine it grew on had been buried under a huge snowdrift in February! Such beautiful determination deserved my admiration and care.  In earnest, I looked for a sturdier trellis than the wooden one I had used last year.  My youngest daughter spotted one she thought would work in a store near her. I drove to the store and agreed.  I bought a trellis for each of the two planters I have on the back patio.

On the way home from the store I saw one of my favorite views of Mt. Hood.  There is a plant nursery shown below Mt. Hood in this photo.  I have shopped there but resisted stopping there that day.  I was eager to get home and construct the trellises around the planters.

By God's grace, I was able to follow the wordless sketched assembly instructions.  In this case, a picture really was worth a thousand words!  The metal trellises surround the planters and should be a stable support for the Sweet Pea vines on the left and the Clematis vines on the right.

A few weeks ago Teresa inspired me to start knitting some more Grandma's Dishcloths.  In her post she showed the dishcloth she was knitting for her friend, Shirley.  I knit this little one for a dear friend who just had her 85th birthday.

I knit this one for a friend who has red as an accent color in her kitchen.  She is also fond of pink, so I hope she will enjoy using this...a simple gift stitched with loving thoughts of her.

This dishcloth flew off my knitting needles on the West Coast USA and landed safely on the East Coast USA to help my since kindergarten friend celebrate her 70th birthday.

Showers of blooms have been bursting out around me!  Currently, these Bleeding Heart blossoms by my front step are my favorite.  In our neighborhood, we have Azalea bushes blooming in red, pink, lavender, purple, white, yellow, and orange.  There are also Dogwood trees blooming in pink and white, Magnolias in pink and white, and Cherries in pink and white.  What varieties of blooms do you have around you in your season of Spring?

 In this last week of April, some of the ladies at church brought the beautiful crafting from their hands to gift folks who are patients at a nearby hospital.  While our focus has been producing blankets and hats for babies who spend time in the NICU, some of the ladies have been knitting and crocheting larger blankets that have been given to older children who have had to be in the ER.  The church also received a thank you note from a Hospice patient who found comfort in the blanket given to her from the ones the ladies made in the last collection of blankets we donated.  The hospital volunteer coordinator said that especially in this last year since hospital visitors have been so limited, they have been glad to have the homemade gifts to give to patients to encourage their healing...which encourages us to know as well!

Have you been enjoying showers of crafting in your life?

Gracie ((hugs)) 😃

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.                               I Thessalonians 5:18

Marching into Spring Crafts 2021

 

While the southern hemisphere is simmering in warm summer temps, the weather around me near Portland, Oregon, USA, is working its way from Winter to Spring. If you saw my February post you saw unusual drifts of snow on my patio!  It was challenging, and I think I admire the snow I see on Mt. Hood in this picture more!  This view is from Jonsrud viewpoint in Sandy, OR, which is about ten miles from my condominium community. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for folks to navigate this terrain in covered wagons?  To recharge the battery on my modern covered wagon [mini-van] since the car sits still for so many days I drove to the viewpoint after picking up groceries on March 3rd.

 During the first part of March, I finished crocheting this little baby blanket.  Unfolded it is about 24" x 27."

Then I started crocheting this little blanket. The yarn for the last blanket and this one is from the stash of my dear friend, Ellen, who did not survive heart surgery several months ago.  Somehow working with her yarn that her family gave me, now helps me celebrate our friendship and prompts good memories for me of our time together while I miss her.

Midway through the month of March, my Shamrock (Oxalis) Plant helped me celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  I saw an interesting program on TV that mentioned that Patrick used the Shamrock to help explain how God is One in three persons: Father, Son Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit.

One of the first signs of Spring for me was the appearance of these pretty purple Hyacinths by my front doorstep...such a strong sweet scent~~~

Last Saturday was so mild and lovely I spent much of the afternoon out on the sunny patio repotting, Pansies, Dianthus, and Primroses.  Have you spent time gardening lately?

Palm Sunday afternoon a young friend kindly shepherded me to and from the Convention Center to get the first dose of Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine. When we got back to her car in the parking garage, she offered me a reward of a doughnut for our efforts. Then even though I did not eat one she asked me to let her get a photo of the event.  When I looked at the photo later it looked to me like I had a white turtleneck on under my sweater, until I realized I was looking at my face mask I had pulled down for the photo (although she kept her face mask on!)

There was wind-driven rain on the way back to my house, and I felt bad my young friend had such poor driving conditions when heading home to her house although she was very gracious and brave about the challenge.

 At around 7pm the electricity went off in our neighborhood and I decided to crawl into bed early.  When the lights came back on at around 10:30pm I woke up long enough to turn them off before going back to a grateful sound sleep.

Have you Marched into any Spring crafting?

Gracie ((hugs))

February 2021 Crafting!

Last month in my post I confessed I hoped we would get a little snow and I posted a photo of the pretty little snow we got.  I had resigned myself to being satisfied with that...until THIS HAPPENED!  SURPRISE!

In the upper right corner of this photo you can see a little hummingbird perched on a metalic star mobile.  During the snowstorm days I had to defrost the hummingbird feeder several times.  Poor hummers.  It was so cold.  Two of them dive bombed my head when I put the feeder back up one time...not sure whether they were mad at me for taking the feeder away or glad they finally had food again!

When it was snowing the wind  formed big drifts of snow in our neighborhood.  In my first two years here I was able to brush the snow away with a broom after snowstorms. This year I wished I had a snow shovel! A young friend came over and cleared my front step and a path to the mailbox out in the street.  A plucky 80+ year old neighbor across the parking lot from me used her shovel to make a path to my gate, and I used my dust pan as a little shovel on the inside of the of my patio to clear a path to the gate.

While I did not make a snowman, my neighbor's teenage granddaughter and her dad did while they were visiting!  I also saw some snowballs flying back and forth.  There were some fun moments during the stormy days, although there were many life changing problems as well. Some folks lost power for days, some lost property and some lost their lives here and across the country as the storms raged. The difficulties of such times highlight for me how precious life is and how I want to grow in having an attitude of gratitude.

One neighbor has a property away from our community here.  She had a Pussy Willow tree that was broken by the storms.  While cleaning it up her daughter gathered a bouquet of Pussy Willows for me to enjoy...so kind and generous of her.

For the last month I have been ordering groceries online and then driving to the store to pick them up.  I ordered Cheerios and was surprised to receive a limited edition box of heart shaped Cheerios!  Fun...and cheery!

 

This month of February I also learned about Comfort Birds, carved wooden shaped birds meant to fit in the palm of one's hand and be stroked. A friend in New York got together with another friend back East and carved a little flock of Comfort Birds this past summer. My friend very kindly flew one out to me this month and my hand instinctively held the little bird and stroked it before I knew that was meant to happen. I read online several interesting articles about Comfort Birds should you want to search to know more about them.  In the  month of February I had my 70th birthday and I am so grateful for the comfort I received through the lovely gifts and cards and texts, emails and calls I received to help me celebrate...

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.  He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.  When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT

Have you known storms and celebrations in February?

Gracie ((hugs))❤️