A Blessed Easter to All

He is Risen

Celtic "D"

Stitched in March for my SIL, whose family also has Irish roots, to go with the Celtic "H" I previously stitched for my DD. On 14ct white aida to match hers and will be similarly framed (see earlier post). "The Book of Kells" will be backstitched in black under the letter. These designs have been adapted by Celtic Cross Stitch from the Irish manuscript containing the Four Gospels and other religious text which is displayed at Trinity College in Dublin. The designs were created by monks who in copying the Gospels illumintated the letters and pages with fanciful birds, serpents, other animals and bits of flora. This one looks like a bird grasping a shamrock in its beak with another curled inside the D. But that's just my guess. There are also imaginary likenesses of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Visit the Celtic Cross Stitch site even if you don't plan to purchase anything. It's a very interesting site and has an application that allows you to create a cross stitch graph of your name or phrase in Celtic lettering.

New Scanner - Pictures!!

< Left: My current project: 1989 Prairie Schooler Santa on 18ct Lt. Fiddlers. I've used DMC 915, variegated red. It's always a challenge to stitch different parts in a way that they seem to blend together or show a necessary contract. > Right: A PS project from last year on 14-ct bone or blush aida that'd been in my stash for years.

Not sure if I like the new Epson 4 in 1 or not. Print quality is not that great (I really prefer a laser for business documents but color lasers are $$$), the scans are not as sharp as they should be, and though assured they were, the ink cartridges are NOT refillable. But it was under $100 even with the extra year warranty.   Hmmmmm.

Amy's Tuck Pillow Tutorial

Even finish-challenged I could probably follow these well-illustrated instructions! Thanks, Amy! Tutorial

New Easter Bunny Freebie

Click to D/L Chart

I haven't created a chart in a long time, but in order to absolutely wait until the last minute to file my IRS stuff, I spent this morning creating this. All downloads are subject to the copyright information on the right. See the Cloud Tag on the right for other Freebies, including ones for Easter.

In exhange for the free chart, would you please read and comment about blog designs below. Thanks and Enjoy!

55 Helpful Hints from Cross-Stitchers

I got a MVP award!

A Municipal Volunteer Program award certificate signed by our Mayor, that is. I trust that EVERY city volunteer received one! Privately, I also received one of 3 or 4 Certificates of Appreciation signed by Fire Chief Don Crowson (far right) for our volunteer work with the Office of Emergency Management and Community Emergency Response Team. My second year in a row! OEM/CERT and other city department volunteers for Super Bowl XLV were called to the stage and thanked by the Fire Chief. News article on City's website! A beautiful, if windy and warm, morning was topped off when I accidentally won the final raffle item: a large Gift Basket from the Arlington Animal Services full of very nice doggie items such as Oster clippers, tennis balls, etc. This was announced while I was chatting with the woman who heads volunteers services. I never win anything, so I wasn't even paying attention. She was saying something jokingly about it being won by someone without a dog. The number was called a second time. Ooops!! I have cats. I quickly passed forward the doggie paw print blanket to a woman asking Animal Services Volunteers where they had found it. For today at least I'm keeping the stuffed doggie with white cowgirl booties which plays Patsy Cline's "I'm Crazy." She makes a lovely CPU attendant. What my daughter, who has 4 dogs, doesn't need or want [she said to give them to someone who needs them], and perhaps Patsy the Puppy, I will give back to the Animal Services Volunteers. Catch-up with my volunteer activities during the past 6 months and during the Super Bowl on my Adventures of an Emergency Management Volunteer blog!

Scotland's Tartan Day - April 6th

I'm familiar with some of the McMillen tartans (only one of many variations of the original name) and in googling to find a sample to post I discovered a link to the photo of one I had cross-stitched and posted on Webshots. I'd totally forgotten about it! Twenty something years ago I ran across a cross stitch leaflet at a garage sale that, to my amazement and delight, charted this McMillen Hunting Clan tartan. Overall, the MacMillan (many variations in spelling) tartans are distinctive in that they contain far more yellow than almost all of the other tartans I've seen. The 1894 dress version below is yellow and red only. After a couple of false starts, I chose 18ct yellow aida, in part so I wouldn't need to stitch it, but primarily so the yellow wouldn't get lost among the darker colors and made a good background for the name block.I've stitched, framed and gifted 3 of these over the years. They are quite the item in my family. When my aunt passed my daughter quickly laid claim toAunt Louise's. That one came about because when she moved back to Texas she had seen the one I'd stitched for Dad and wanted to know why I hadn't stitched one for her as well. When my brother later came for a visit, he asked what had happened to it. After some discussion daughter let him take it back to California with him -  but only after I pinkie-finger promised to stitch another one for her - see below. DMC colors are: 895, 321, 797 and black on 18ct yellow aida, The name is stitched in 797. Although the leaflet only had 4 or 5 tartans, after studying the design method and the manner in which tartans are woven, I'm absolutely sure any tartan can be recreated in cross stitch, though the manner in which the designer honed down the woven original to create the less complicated cross stitch version is impressive.

 

Photo needs correcting. Unfortunately, this is one of the photos that I lost when my computer crashed last year. I find that even *I* can't d/l it from Webshots in order to do just that. Here are a couple of the original woven versions of the above, plus the unmistakable1894 Dress tartan.

Since I totally missed St. Patrick's Day ... For an interesting article about how the Scots migrated to Ireland and then to American, where they became known as Scots-Irish see this link. For a quick answer to the difference between Mac and Mc click here.

And just for the heck of it, here's a nod to my Celtic forewomen - an "H" from the Book of Kells. I'm currently stitching a similar "D" for daughter's husband. Charts are available at Celtic Cross Stitch.

Linda McMillen - proud to be Scottish, Irish and a Scots-Irish American (among many other ancestries). I've never been but hope some day to visit.