Almost a week into October, so a little late this time with the monthly roundup
Stitching, knitting & embroidery in September ~
A stitching finish, but not FFO ~ The Stockings Were Hung by CCN
The Baa-ble hat is almost complete - the sheep are now in a lovely winter snow scene
The embroidery - which I have just noticed says Buddleia on the kit? I think it's definitely not and more like a hydrangea
A lonely odd sock - this ones Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Leuder, a free pattern at Ravelry. I'm trying out a ball of King Cole sock wool, these are for my daughter, she wanted some longer ones for her winter boots.
Talking of the odd sock, do you remember Isabelle's odd ones for the Yarndale sock line I talked about in
this post? Maggie sent me an email with a picture of them on the sockline. She spotted them when she was there at the weekend amongst the other socks.
Thank you Maggie for taking time to look for them and send the picture.
There were two complete finishes :-
Books read in September-
The Forgetting Time - Sharon Guskin
What would you do if your four-year-old son claimed he had lived another life and that he wants to go back to it? That he wants his other mother?
Single mom Janie is trying to figure out what is going on with her beloved son Noah. Noah has never been ordinary. He loves to make up stories, and he is constantly surprising her with random trivia someone his age has no right knowing. She always chalked it up to the fact that Noah was precocious―mature beyond his years. But Noah’s eccentricities are starting to become worrisome. One afternoon, Noah’s preschool teacher calls Janie: Noah has been talking about shooting guns and being held under water until he can’t breathe. Suddenly, Janie can’t pretend anymore. The school orders him to get a psychiatric evaluation. And life as she knows it stops for herself and her darling boy.
Taken from Goodreads
The Wildflowers - Harriet Evans
Tony and Althea Wilde. Glamorous, argumentative ... adulterous to the core.
They were my parents, actors known by everyone. They gave our lives love and colour in a house by the sea - the house that sheltered my orphaned father when he was a boy.
But the summer Mads arrived changed everything. She too had been abandoned and my father understood why. We Wildflowers took her in.
My father was my hero, he gave us a golden childhood, but the past was always going to catch up with him ... it comes for us all, sooner or later.
This is my story. I am Cordelia Wilde. A singer without a voice. A daughter without a father. Let me take you inside.
Taken from Goodreads
The Love Letter ~ Lucinda Riley
Information and recommendation passed to me about this book which sparked my interest. I am told it was originally called Seeing Double written in 2000 under her maiden name of Lucinda Edmonds. After some problems about the subject of it being about a fictional royal family and other publisher issues due to its subject she didn't write again for a long time. When she decided to approach publishers again with written work she changed her name to her married name of Riley and her books were again published. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Seven Sisters and the subsequent 3 other books in the series so far (Book 5 The Moon Sister due out soon) and enjoyed this one too.
When Sir James Harrison, one the the greatest actors of his generation, passes away at the age of ninety-five he leaves behind not just heartbroken family but also a secret so shocking, so devastating, that it could rock the English Establishment to its core...
Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journailst, assigned to cover the legendary actor's funeral. The great and the good of the celebrity world are in attendance. But Joanna stumbles on something dark beneath the glamour: the mention of a letter James Harrison has left behind, the contents of which others have been desperate to conceal for over seventy years. As she peels back the veil of lies that has shrouded the secret, she realises that there are other forces attempting to prevent her from discovering the truth. And they'll stop at nothing to reach the letter before she does..
Taken from Goodreads
The French Promise ~ Fiona McIntosh
Having read The Lavender Keeper earlier this year, which I thoroughly enjoyed, this is the sequel published a while ago in 2014
Luc and Lisette Ravens – a former French resistance fighter and a one-time British spy – have somehow survived the war, but recovering from the horrors of those years is a challenge they're yet to overcome. Casting their fate to the winds, they sail to Tasmania, hoping to rebuild their lives and plant new lavender fields in a land that's full of promise.
In his darkest hour, Swiss law student Max Vogel learns a confronting truth. A long-held family secret links him to the Ravens on the other side of the world, and he finds himself holding the key to his own future and to Luc's troubled past.
Together they return to Provence, so Luc can fulfil the promises by which he has been bound – to his beloved Lisette, to his Jewish family, and to the one man responsible for ripping so much from his life. With the future generation of lavender keepers in his care, Luc must lay to rest the ghosts of years gone by so that they all might live and love again.
From the south coast of England to the rugged farmland of northern Tasmania and the lively streets of postwar Paris, this is an extraordinary story of courage, determination and everlasting love.
Taken from Goodreads
We had a short drive out in the sunshine last weekend with tea/cake at a local reservoir. The water level is still very low after the hot summer.
I hope you too have been enjoying some of the autumn sunshine although the nights are drawing in now very quickly. It does mean that it will give us some extra craft time in the evenings and we can snuggle up on the sofa under the fluffy blanket to keep warm and cosy on these chilly autumn nights. Lots of gardeners come back to their stitching and knitting again so we should see lots more blog posts.
Love and blessings
Julie
