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.