Book reviews...

Winter is definitely the season for reading.

While Griffin was convalescing, long, cold, rainy days by the fire made
for prime reading time.
Lets see if I can summerize the last few books I've read...



'The Little Giant of Aberdeen County' by Tiffany Baker
was a sad tale of two orphaned sisters growing up in
two different worlds in a small town.
The story spans over their lifetimes and how very different they are.
One sister, the perfect girl and the other, Truley, an enormous misfit.
Uncovering the secrets in a family hierloom, long a mystery in the town,
Truley finds her calling which becomes a blessing and a curse.
A tale of family history, love, murder, and betrayal.
Definitely worth a read.

'The Lost Garden' by Helen Humphreys

Gwen Davis flees the bombing of London in 1941 to the Devon countryside

and volunteers to supervise a group of young women known as The Land Girls.

Living together in the abandoned servants buildings on a large estate, 

they are there to grow potatoes for the war effort.

Living in the main estate house is regiment of Canadian soldiers waiting for orders

and these two groups become entangled in the confusion of wartime.

At the same time, Gwen discovers a garden that was seemingly left abandoned at 

the start of the previous war in 1917.

She begins to unravel the quiet history left behind in the head gardeners potting shed

but is haunted by the ghosts within the walled gardens.

I loved this short novel.

Both of them were picked up in the thrift shop for about $3 each.

I love when I can find good books for such a small investment!

My other two books I bought online with some birthday money.

They are both to do with felting....surprise surprise!

The first is simply called 'Felt' by Willow Mullins.

As the back cover states...

"From nomads to poodle skirts, from car parts to Christmas tree ornaments,

felt is one of the oldest and most understated textiles"

This book covers the wide-ranging history and development

of felt from the earliest of archaeological evidence in Siberia to

modern fiber arts and sculpture.

Largely a text book and chock full of yards of information but not without 

some witty writing, I love the lines from the opening pages...

"Unique among textile structures, felt does not rely on first turning raw fibers

into yarn as weaving and knitting do; 

rather felt harnesses the chaos of tangles. While those of us who weave

and knit may look upon the confused snarl of our yarn with frustration,

for those who felt, this confusion of fibers is a thing of beauty."

 The second book is a small 50 page gem called 'The Felt Industry' by Peter Walter.

Here we have a superb little book full of text as well as photos

of the story of the felt industry in Britain from 1840 to the modern age.

I had no idea what a huge industry this was and how innovative the 

pioneers of this massive movement were.

The impact of the felt industry both in its glory days and now as an art form

are documented very well in this small but mighty book.

Speaking of felt..just finished another 'experiment' in the 'lab'.

Just trying to get the felted bag to a desired state.

Miles to go, but getting there is almost all of the fun!