Book review: Farewell Fifteen by Mari Howard

July 9, 2026 | suesconsideredtrifles

Cover of Farewell Fifteen showing the back view of a teenage girl holding a violin and bow at arm's length

Farewell Fifteen: Growing up is weird is a stand-alone YA novel, which is also the third in the Mullins Family Saga. The intended readership of the first two books is adults, particularly women who will also enjoy Farewell Fifteen. The earlier books by the late Mari Howard were Baby, Baby and The Labyrinth Year. Links are to my reviews of them. They have been republished as A Problem in our Cultures: Science; Faith and Prejudice and A Maze or a Labyrinth? Art, Science and losing your way.

I had the opportunity to purchase Farewell Fifteen at a writers’ conference in the spring. It is a coming of age book full of wisdom about relationships within families. Alice, the protagonist turns sixteen in the course of the book. She has to negotiate family life, friendships, romance and circumstances outside her control. There are also family secrets, which she finds out more about.

The books are available from the publisher, and the usual suppliers. A Kindle edition is also available.

A sewing project: Making a recorder case

June 25, 2026 | suesconsideredtrifles

My tenor recorder has a case which allows it to be stored fully assembled. I have never found this convenient as it doesn’t fit conveniently into a small rucksack or shopping bag.

As I have recently begun playing it again after a break of several years, it occurred to me that I could make a case to store and carry it in pieces rather than assembled.

I found a remnant of material and made a case for it. During the process I made a few mistakes and had to unpick some seams before I had a fairly smart case for my recorder. (I realised in the process why I had failed a needlework exam at secondary school, which needed the instructions for seams to be written out!)

My case has three compartments, one for each part of the recorder. The joint grease also fits inside. Because I hadn’t planned it properly I ended up having to top-stitch the side seam, which I might have sewn first.

A drawstring bag with three compartments — Recorder case

The seams for the compartments had to be top-stitched in any case. I made a channel for a drawstring at the top and joined the seam at the bottom.

Recorder case with three parts of the recorder protruding from the compartments. — Recorder case with the disassembled recorder

The best order for making a similar case would be:-

Neaten edges. Turn down about ½ to 5/8 inches for the drawstring. Fold right sides together and join bottom and side seams. Turn to right side. Top stitch two dividing lines in the correct positions to accommodate the different sections of the recorder.

Churchyard flowers #WildflowerHour

June 13, 2026 | suesconsideredtrifles

For several years I have taken part in a social media challenge about wildflowers in bloom. The challenge is supported by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Initially I posted my finds on Twitter (later X), but since leaving X, I have moved to Bluesky and Threads. For this week’s challenge I have so many flower pictures that I decided the best place to post them would be this blog.

On a dull morning I explored the local churchyard and found a large number of different wildflowers and grasses. There was even one, which was new to me – common figwort. I have used the flowers’ common names from Britain.