Quilts and Books

About 5-6 years ago I was reading some fiction reviews in Library Journal when I ran across a brief review of Mary Balogh’s A Summer to Remember . I decided to check it out of the library and a day later my love of the romance genre was reborn. I loved this book and I loved the way Ms. Balogh created a book with such emotional depth. I proceeded to buy (and read) every other MB book I could get my hands on, although for some reason I never really wanted to read the precursor to ASTR, One Night for Love . I think because I “knew” what happened in that book, it was not a priority to read it. So it’s been in my TBR pile for all these years. With Mary Balogh’s newest release ( Simply Perfect ) due next week, I decided it was finally time to read ONFL. This is the book where SP’s hero, Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, makes his first appearance. It seemed appropriate that I finally read it before reading SP. ONFL is the first book in what has become a rather massively connected series k...

This is the kit that I finished quilting while on my retreat 2 weeks ago. Here it is all bound with a hanging sleeve. Another UFO out the door. Yippee!

The YOU docs have the following to say about reading: On cognitive tests, book lovers outperform people with lower reading levels. No surprise there. But the big news is that people who read regularly may develop a "cognitive reserve." What’s that mean? That they’ve got extra brainpower to keep the mind rolling when brain cells are under attack. In a study of factory workers, the brains of the big readers functioned just fine on cognitive tasks, despite on-the-job exposure to toxic substances, like lead. So next time I feel guilty for reading instead of cleaning the bathroom, I'll just remind myself that my cognitive reserve might be running low and I should stock up. Besides, do you have any idea how toxic those bathroom cleansers really are?