Author: Sarah Garrett

October 2019

You are either growing or you are dying. Growth has pain, and beauty. Death, you just sit back and watch the world go by. Growth takes sun and water and nutrition, communion and fellowship with others.

Solitary life is a slow and meaningless passing. Even if you are with others if you have your head in your own world and your little devices, it is a lonely existence.

Wake up! Pay attention! Have some conversation with others who are alive and growing! Those who grow produce fruit! Make sure you are producing the healthy fruits! and be with others who produce healthy fruits for you and with you!

When you grow together it is a wonderful experience. It can be life giving and beautiful. Life can take on a whole new meaning.!

This being said… Embrace the moments with your loved ones. With your children! Don’t have you head in a hole that keeps your attention taken away from the beautiful life that is surrounding you!! Take some of the fruit and start to grow and give off fruit of your own~!

Wake up! This technology generation is a scary thing. When people have their head stuck in their phone! Their focus is on nothing. and their life and family is passing right by without their noticing! Wake up!! Take notice! BE with those you love. Don’t just be a worm stuck in your hole in the ground.

Cause I guarantee you are tilling the ground for growth for those around you and they are outgrowing your world. And day, you will pull your head out and everything will be gone.

Chances, opportunities, time. Gone. Don’t miss out on the beautiful life that you have in your grasp right now!

Wake up! Before it is too late!

Cultivate Faithfulness.

This is actually Psalm 37:4-7 I’ve been going over and over for the past few weeks. It was a time of prayer in church and I felt the need to read a Psalm and this is the portion I came to. “Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness”. (ESV) Those words have stuck with me. Looking at different versions I find beauty in this verse.

One version says “dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness”. Another says “cultivate faithfulness”. King James says “verily thou shalt be fed”. This verse gives us so much comfort.

The first thing I see is Trust. this is not a silly, blind trust. It is a “I know WHO God is, and that He cares for me deeply” trust. It is a sincere, abiding reliance on God who holds His children in His hands. It isn’t a maybe God will protect and comfort me. It is I know who God is and I have a relationship with my Lord and He is mine, and I am His and I trust THAT. I trust HIM fully.

Secondly, in that trust is our action to DO. Do good. Continue in our ministry. Wherever God has seen fit to place us. Do good. Continue in that hard place in life where you are and where you may or may not want to stay right now, because you can trust God and continue to do good.

The next portion of the verse is dwell in the land and embrace faithfulness. Cultivate faithfulness. Live in HIS faithfulness. If you study all the different versions and look at the heart behind them collectively you see His faithfulness can be our fruit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is faithfulness. Our faithfulness in all that we do comes from God. It isn’t our own doing. It is from Gods righteousness. We have to cultivate, feed, water, weed and tend to our fruits, or we will end up with fruitless vines and plants.

Think of a situation in your life, where you need to cultivate this faithfulness. That is something God can help you with. I read this verse in prayer each day now since I’ve been led to it in prayer, asking God to cultivate that faithfulness in my life. You can do the same and when you pray scriptures with truth and spirit, God in turn will act. There is much more to this section. Delight yourself in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Take Joy in Him. Be still before Him and wait patiently before Him.

Read these words each day and contemplate what you can do in your life to cultivate faithfulness in this way. To listen to the Spirit and delight yourself in the Lord. Take Joy today in that you can truly trust God and delight in Him.

God Bless you, stay in scriptures and encourage a friend to do the same. ❤

Life is full of ups and downs. Most people learn this from a young age. I look at it as chapters in our life. Everything comes and goes like the seasons of the year. I love each season for what it is; for what we can learn from it. If you compare it to the gardening you have a planting season, a watering and fertilizing season, and a harvesting season. You also have weed pulling and burning. Enjoying the fruits and waiting for things to grow!

Perspective is sometimes more important. You can see the weeds or you can see the potential in the plants that are growing! When we look at our children this way as well, it is wonderful when we see the growth. When we see the things we have tried so hard to teach them finally come to fruition. It is wonderful to see this. Some are late bloomers. Sometimes, it doesn’t come in our lifetime, but sometimes it does.

I love watching children learn. It is always exciting to see them grasp something for the first time, and this for me never gets old.

Learning happens in chapters and seasons as well. We have spells where we are learning so much we barely have time to think, and other times we have so much time to think because life is slow. Learning happens continuously but learning happens with different things and in different ways. Sometimes it takes more than one lesson for us to truly learn that lesson.

Friends are the same. We have seasons of friendship. We grow and changhe and our needs change. True friends stick it out but sometimes the friendshiup changes so much you don’t have much in common anymore and life takes you on different paths. You still love one another but life changes direction for one or both of ou and you end up far apart. That is okay. It is the same with family sometimes. You are close at heart, but at a distance in time and space.

I truly believe life is beautiful with all the diversity. Sometimes it is difficult to just get by and other times it is slow and easy. But the diversity gives us excitement. Curiosity.

Live a little! Take risks! Don’t be afraid to live this beautiful life! With its joys and hardships it makes it quite like a buffet. Some things are sour, some sweet, some necessary to survive and some just there to distract us. Seriously though, go out and live your beautiful life!

Januarys Big Project!

So, this month January 2023 has been exciting already!  I was watching youtube and saw a few videos on crochet scrappy yarn sweaters!  Well, you know me, I fell in love with the idea of using all the yarn that is left with no place to go!  All the yarn left over from making hats or anything else. This is such an easy project even a beginner could make this, so I decided to also make  a video series on how to make this sweater.

There is no actual pattern for it. You just figure out how many inches around you want it. I took my hip measurement and basically cut that in half. So the measurement on the width of the front was half and the width for the back panel was half. I made 2 rectangular panels. Then you attach them at the shoulders and then at the armpit down to the waist.

 

I love how the colors are just random and in no specific order! You can use ANY color scheme you like. It can be all one color if you want a specific color or use a varigated yarn.  The options are limitless. All you need to know is single crochet and double crochet.

The second thing you need is determination to keep going! Pick your favorite shirt length or if you already have a favorite sweater. OR if you have nothing to work with, just hold it up to your shoulders and see.

If you aren’t sure you can baste it together before making it permanent. To do that you would use very large stitches or just crochet without tying it in and use a contrasting color that you can easily see to make it easy to remove when you are done.

You baste it how you would choose, try it on, and if you want it longer you would keep going, and if it is too long you can determine how many rows you’d like to take out.

It is actually a perfect project for the winter months! And once you get it done you have a wonderfully colorful warm and toasty sweater!

Details: I used ALL 4 ply Red Heart Yarn.  And a G hook.  You can use any yarn and use the hook size to go along with that yarn. The number of rows will be determined as to what thickness of yarn you have.

 

To see the videos: Follow this link and check out the Sweater Vlog videos. As of right now there are three. But I have plans to add sleeves to this! So there will be a fourth one on the way soon.

https://youtu.be/uqBnZqwP95Y

Please be sure if you have any questions for this project, just ask. I’ll be happy to answer. So, thanks for following along. And I truly hope you make a beautiful scrappy sweater of your own!

 

May you have a blessed day.

SVG.

Working today on the yard. Just a lot of little jobs since the summer is nearly past. It is almost officially fall. The leaves are falling and the temperature has dropped enough to really enjoy the yard work again!~

This truly is my favorite place. Today, I was working on some odds and ends and ended up in my favorite sitting place as of late. I haven’t had the chance to take a book and go read there, just because it has been so hot this summer. My husband made these very unique and interesting viking chairs, and I love them! I still need to seal them so they don’t weather so bad. but they are my favorite.

Our yard, our little “creek”, our garden, our little piece of earth. This is my favorite spot in the world. There are a million more beautiful places I know, but this is where I have invested in growing things, clearing things, playing with children, having friends come and sit or walk or play or watch. Where family comes to hang out. Where I have had my hands in the dirt as much in the dishwater.

We have finished raising all our girls here. We had grands come and play. We have taken pictures from a very young age with all of our girls here. On this beautiful little piece of land. We have had chickens, a horse, dogs, now pigs. 3 great danes to be exact when I say dogs. And a couple cats.

Today, my artistic side is working in the yard, clearing the creek. Getting ready for the rains. Moving plants and enjoying this lovely weather. I love my small rock collection, and some of my favorite stumps. Life is straight up hard sometimes, but we are more than blessed. And sometimes I think our perception of what is hard isn’t really as hard as we think it is.

I hope you can get artistic in your space today. Be that a plant on your porch or in your office. A drawing of your favorite place. A small outside job that helps you remember the sun shines and the wind blows. God has surely blessed us beyond measure. And days like this help me to remember that. So no matter what is going on in your life today, look for something beautiful.

Have a blessed day! ❤

I love hat season! It’s not quite time to wear them but every extra ball of yarn has a chance to be a head warmer! I love making hats! I love having a personal variety in styles and colors! I love wearing hats!

Also, hats are a great beginner project! It can be as simple as a few stitches learned and you can make hats! This particular hat is a simple pattern.

You start with a chain 5, slip stitch together. Then work 11 half double stitches in that circle. Slip together and that is your first row. Second row is work 2 half doubles in each stich around for a total of 25. For the third row you repeat that of 2 half doubles in each stitch. Ending with 48 and a small circle.

Which could be a coaster if you made a set of these! But we are making a hat! So row 4 and the rest of the rows are one half double stich in each. Don’t add to or take away any, just one stitch in each place.

When you get most of the length you want, you them switch to back loop only single stitch. One in each stitch. Do about 5 rows of this. This section makes thw band.

This size hat is for a child or small teen. I will do another for adult size with the same band soon.

I love these paintings! The ones I call zero waste. The reason I call these zero waste is I use the paint when I am done with another painting. Instead of wasting the paint I like to use it.

Used to, I would just let it dry in the pallet. Peel it out and throw it away the next day.

When I started doing this I ended up with a few new beautiful pieces. A few of these have even sold. This is the first one I’ve used a stencil on, and I love the way it turned out!

If you have started painting and want to have zero waste, you can do this too. If you are not trying to sell these you can use them in a sketch book for you own enjoyment.

A lot of my extra paint has ended up in my sketch book. These are some of my favorite pieces in my sketch book. Art is for enjoying the process. Remember your art book is your unique expression. This one could have gone without the stencil. I could have put a verse or some inspiring words in the black area at the top or through the arc.

The possibilities are endless for these zerro waste paintings. And You only use what you have. If you don’t have enough to finish a painting with your waste paint, then you just do part of it. Then when you paint again another day, you use that waste paint and paint a little more.

Painting this is just as relaxing and enjoyable as painting something intended. Never forget to enjoy something crafty every day that you are able. Take these projects one at a time, and make the most of it. Use it for a gift, or just decorate your home.

Happy Crafting!

Well, todays post is about patching your jeans. Or you kids or spouses jeans. I know this works with other material as well, but I have only had experience with denim with this style of patch.

In this day and age it is important to save money where you can and mending clothes is one way to do that. We live in a disposable society, but if we would learn to take care of what we have, our things would last longer, we would save money and have money to spend on things that are more of a priority than new clothing.

Starting out, find an item to mend. Second cut out your patch with a similar OR a very contrasted fabric!

We’ve all had experience with holes in the knees of our kids jeans or in the infamous thigh rubbed bare jeans. Cut the patch to go beyond the edge of the worn out part. Then pin it on inside, with the front facing away from you.

Next, you need needle and thread of similar color OR contrasting color if you want it to stand out and be unique and a pair of scissors. A darning egg is vey helpful here, and if you do not have one, you can hold it carefully to sew.

First you will make an edge stitch all the way around the patch working on the inside of the pants.

Next, you will turn the jeans to right side out and work on the outside. Do not use knots in your thread. If you have to use a knot, just sew over several times before you get started so you will be able to cut the knot off when you are done with the project.

I like to put an elastic on the egg darner around the fabric to keep it tight on the darner. This makes it easier to work with. This is actually an egg darner my husband woodturned for me. It works beautifully.

This cute paper weight is another option to use for a darner. I have used this one several times.

Lastly, you will go around the patch with as small of stitches as you are able. Circling around and around or back and forth. This is purely personal preference. You can make a design with many colors to be creative. You can blend it in as plainly as you like.

When you are done, remove the elastic, and the darner. You will then have a piece of clothing with a patch. This is not the only way to patch your clothing, but just one I use on denim. It is fairly simple for anyone who knows how to use a needle and thread. It may take some getting used to, but with practice it can have the look you are going for.

It does not make your item look like it did when you purchased it, but it does reduce the chance of your skin making an appearance where you don’t want it to!

I hope this has been a helpful little bit of information. Thank you, and happy sewing!

I started this painting about 2 years ago. I had it mostly done. I think I even posted it. I liked it, but it was just missing something. So this week I worked on it and finally made the progress it needed!

It is a reminder that sometimes things don’t come in the time we desire. It takes time for things to process and move forward.

A friend loved this as soon as she saw it and wanted to purchase it, so basically it was sold before it was even complete.

If you are a painter, just paint. Paint what you love. Paint what you feel. And if it doesn’t look right to you put it aside and come back to it another time. It isn’t hopeless. It is just needing to “brew”.