I've been a little discouraged with my hand lately because it's felt like I'd reached a plateau.  However this morning's session at the gym proved otherwise.  Today I was able to hold and lift the 5# weights without a bit of difficulty, and also use other machines (painlessly!) that I couldn't manage just a few weeks ago.

I was so jazzed about it all that the half hour flew by.

Because I "missed out" on post-op pain (obviously NO complaints there!), and also because at each post-op visit I was told that my progress was "ahead of the curve", I think I expected to be (more or less) fully healed by the 3-month mark.  (Which, BTW, is next Friday.)  And in truth I do have considerable use of that hand.  Still, I would not consider it fully functional.

This morning I played some more with my scraps, and am seeing everything come together.  Fun!  Hard to see in the pic, but some of the blocks have a white border on the two long sides.  This afternoon, once I finish putting those borders on the rest of the blocks, I can sew all 9 together. Then it will be time to look for the perfect border fabric in my stash.  I have some ideas in mind, but who knows what I'll find?  <g>