Spring has finally arrived here in Missouri and I am so glad! We've experienced lots of showers and the temperatures have been downright chilly. Here we are at the end of April and we are just starting to have consistently warmer days. The gardens are just starting to awaken, too, and that really has lifted my spirits!
She's Lady of the Manor
Sewing, gardening, traveling and family
Monday, April 25, 2022
Finally Spring!
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
A Fun February Finish
Our February flew by this year. I was able to celebrate another birthday in the middle of the month. A was able to join us. M and her family hosted the party.
What fun!
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Winter Doldrums
Hello, blog friends! I hope you are enjoying January. It has been cold in my neighborhood and I'm happy to stay inside and sew in my craft room. I had a goal of finishing up 24 of the tri-fold notepad covers and 20 bowl cozies for our craft group to sell this next year. I slightly surpassed those goals ending up with 25 tri-folds and 22 cozies! Two things ticked off of my yearly goal list!
Do you set goals for the year? I started doing this a couple of years ago to hold myself accountable for accomplishing things I really wanted to do once I retired. I found myself putting things off, then never getting around to doing them. As a former teacher, goal-setting was something I was accustomed to so I decided to incorporate it into my retired life. It has made a big difference in how I use my time now and I really feel I am more productive! Of course, since I'm retired, I only add things I WANT to do to my yearly goals but they really help me stay focused and happily busy! It's also helped me create new positive habits, such as keeping in touch with family and friends, traveling and learning new skills .
Another goal I have for this year is to complete an online genealogy course. I've completed 2 of the 8 lessons so far and I'm enjoying learning to stay more focused on my research. I'm also planning to purchase a new genealogy software program for my Mac laptop so I'll be doing some reading about all the different options available. I use Ancestry and FamilySearch online programs but need something for this new computer.Finally, I hope to make 2 quilts this year. One will be for our son and future daughter-in-law. It will be a picnic size so I can add it to a picnic basket for their wedding. Jamie wants something in blue so I'll be working on that soon. I'm thinking of a simple half-square triangle herringbone pattern. What do you think? Any other ideas?
Let me share just a few beautiful sunsets we've been blessed with this past week! It seems wintertime brings the most vivid sunrises and sunsets.
Zenda
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Cozy January Projects
Hello, I hope you are enjoying the new year! We finally had a bit of snow this weekend and it's been pretty to look at. I don't think it will last long with temperatures that are supposed to be around 50 degrees F by midweek but I've enjoyed the change of scenery!
It's just a few inches of fluffy snow but it makes the world outside look so different!January is the time for me to stay in my craft room and sew and that's what I've been doing! Our retired teacher group as a craft club. We sell the items we make at a fall craft fair to fund our group's classroom grants program. There is a wide variety of things we make but I enjoy sewing the tri-fold mini legal pad holders and bowl cosies.
I'm using leftover fabric from other projects and it's challenging to figure out the best use of it.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Christmas and New Year's Eve 2021
I'm hoping everyone had a wonderful and blessed holiday season! We had wonderful weather and were able to spend time with most of the family this year.
My mother-in-law hosted J's side again with all of us bringing in our favorite dishes to share. Unfortunately, one of her great granddaughters tested positive for Covid and, as she had spent the weekend before with her cousins, those two families were not able to join us. They were pretty disappointed but did join in with Facetime when Santa showed up. Here is our photo with old St. Nick!
I hosted Christmas Day again for my side of the family but this year we met at the local senior center so we could social distance better. I believe we had 32, as everyone was able to come!
One of my projects during the pandemic shutdown was to digitize old family photos. Years ago, for our parents' 50th anniversary, I had made a photo album. I decided to make copies of it to give to my brother and sister this Christmas. They REALLY enjoyed them and I was so happy to be able to give them! For table decorations, I made copies of some of our old photos (some were in the albums but most weren't) and scattered them around on the tables. It was so fun to talk about these memories and share them with our younger family members.