Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #11 (Finally)

I've noticed over the last few days that my energy is returning.  Hip, hip hooray!  Life was getting to be a bit boring, I must say.  I think spending the weekend with family celebrating our daughter's 33rd birthday and playing with the three kidlets - who have an endless supply of energy - forced me into recovery mode.  Lunching with some dear friends helped lift my spirits, too.  Or maybe it was just the passage of time.  Today marks four weeks since the surgery.  I am now free to go swimming, have a tub bath, soak in the spa - and remove the last remnants of tape covering my boo-boos.  Normalcy!  Can't be beat.

I finished up another dress block this week.  At a recent quilt show, I purchased two small hand-crocheted red hearts.  I intended to use one of them on the bodice of a dress, but the scale didn't seem right to me.  So, they became pockets.  The mini-rickrack also seemed a better scale.

Four more to go.  I already have an idea for the next dress with a fabric that is not quite pink, but not quite salmon either.

I'm still crazy about the Nook e-reader that Doug bought for me.  I'm halfway through Emma by Jane Austen.  This was my favorite Jane Austen book as a teenager, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it the second time around.  Barnes and Noble sends me an e-mail once a week offering about a half dozen of their classic editions for free download.  So, I loaded Howie (that's the name I gave my Nook - guess why?) with a few of the titles on my "Books I Should Read Before I Die" list:  Women in Love, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Sons and Lovers, Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, Three Musketeers, Dracula.

Now the problem is to find time to read all these wonderful classics and still keep up with the bestsellers that I enjoy.  And sew.  And play.  And see the family.  And travel.  And visit with friends.  And sleep.  And blog!