Holiday Reading

Firstly this one. My blogfriend Lesley recommended it a few weeks ago [her excellent review here]
It was fun - but possibly aimed at the young adult market, not an old granny like me. But lightweight enough to be read when you are winding down and relaxing. Plot not too complex. A girl discovers that she isn't the gardener's daughter after all, and sets off to discover the hidden secrets of her early life. 
Like Lesley I did want to yell "don't do that!" when Ava, the impetuous teenager did daft things. 
Two things did feel a bit odd - nobody used swear words, and some characters' were rather weird. Boody [not a misprint, her name is a corruption of 'beauty'] is a worldly wise woman who is tasked with showing Ava the ropes when she gets a cash-in-hand cleaning job at the holiday camp. Her strongest expletive appears to be "dirty dusters!". A couple of times we're told "he swore at me" but other than that the language is very mild. Perhaps I've spent too long in the wrong company, but it did feel rather bowdlerised in places. I suspect that angry arch criminals don't converse a if they are having tea with the vicar! Perhaps this book is aimed at elderly sweet-natured  grannies [who read The People's Friend] after all... That said, it was a good holiday read, thank you Lesley for blogging about it ****

This one was reviewed by another Blogger last year. I am so sorry, I cannot remember who. It is part of Jemima Schlee's "Take A..." series, along with tin, seat, ball of string and bandana. 
I was rather disappointed with this for one simple reason - every single project in the book used a linen union glass cloth like this. 

Which is fine if you have a stash of these lurking in the airing cupboard. But I don't - and sadly all the 16 projects [which were useful and attractive] relied to some extent on clever positioning of the printed text for good effect.

That said, you could use the ideas with other more colourful teatowels, but the end results would be very different.
The instructions are well written with clear photos. The end of the book includes a whole section on techniques and templates. This features a very good piece on making Dorset buttons, which the author uses to trim some of her designs.

I'm reluctant to shell out £3 or more on a pukka Irish Linen towel. But I may look at my stash when I get home in case anything inspires me. The tea towel bunting I made 5 years ago has flapped and fluttered here every summer since [Here] ***