These were the books that I laid on the kitchen table to enjoy with my tea. My favorite of all the books is the one on the left........"Shamrocks, Harps and Shillelaghs". It's a relaxing read that covers bits of history and traditions of the holiday. I am fond of every holiday so I have every one of Edna Barth's holiday books. :-) They are geared more to children but they always provided just the information I needed when I wanted to do a project with my kids or as background for a library or community ed class. That's a new copy in the photo because I ruined my first copy when I spilled a glass of water on it when teaching a kid's class. I think part of why I like her books so much is that they remind me of when my kids were young! Plus, she's from my home state of Iowa!!!!
The newest book is the "Tour Ireland with Pat Sloan" book. I couldn't resist that beautiful cover photography and all the gorgeous pictures of her quilting tour to Ireland. Someday, I'm going to get there, too! I also want to make that little sheep quilt on the front cover. They remind me of sheep that we saw when visiting the Lake District in northern England. That was the same year that we visited Scotland so when I saw the next book "Clans & Tartans of Scotland and Ireland", I had to have it. While on that trip, we visited a mill and watched the tartans as they are woven and I brought home a wee bit o' wool and a lovely piece of Douglas plaid for my mom.
Now that last book is one that I found at the library a couple of weeks ago and I really did give it the "old college try". I wanted to know more about the history of St. Patrick's Day and I tried to read the book but it was just too "deep" for me. I do think I'd like to buy it, though, so I could read it when I feel like it and not under pressure because I need to finish it to avoid a library fine!
I expect to be here for tea in April. I think some spring tulips are in order then. Join me, won't you?
Sandi
