91热爆

this is the exhibition of quilts from the islands, there were quilts from five islands as unfortunately Shetland pulled out and didn鈥檛 send any quilts, the contributing islands were, Arran, Islay, Lewis, Orkney and Skye, I took a photo of one quilt from each island, apologies for the quality of the photos but it is not me, it is how the quilts were displayed, they are in a church so some are too high, some are tucked in corners, some have the light behind them, etc.


Charm Quilt by Liz McCormack, Isle of Arran,
I really love this little quilt and was irritated by the fact that the lower border was hid behind a pew and no it didn鈥檛 work to bring it over the pew as there was too big a gap, so imagine the lower border when you view this quilt,


October by Kitty Watt, Isle of Islay,
I think Kitty has captured the falling autumn leaves well in this simple square patch quilt,


Hilary鈥檚 Quilt by Ross Barton, Isle of Lewis,
Ross is the quilter who made the ferry in the Harris Tweed quilt and the church,


Traditional Sampler by Sue Maclay, Isle of Orkney,
Blues and mauves are favs of mine,


Blue on Blue by Val Hunkin, Isle of Skye,
Part of the statement on this said
鈥淢ade for someone who loves blue by someone who loves blue鈥�
well I can add ~ photographed by someone who loves blue ~
I really love this it is my fav from 30 of the best, Skye had some very beautiful quilts and I noticed quiet a few quilters were studying their City and Guilds in Patchwork and Quilting, I am wondering if it is by correspondence or is someone teaching C & G, P & Q, on Skye,

If anyone reading this notices a mistake please tell me so I can correct it, thanks,

first apologies as I had 鈥榯hought鈥� I had taken more photos of quilts on the film camera and now the film is developed I find I have not so many, very irritating and will teach me not to try taking photos when I am blethering with other quilters, so I do not have any photos of other group entries, I only have 2 photos of the individual entries and only 2 photos of the log cabin entries,

the competition Far and Away was in three categories, group, individual and schools, all categories were only open to people residing in Scotland,

Far and Away, individual, I do not have a photo of the winning quilt,


So Far and Yet So Near by Fiona Hamilton, Highly Commended, I liked this quilt more than the winner except for the Manhattan skyline, I understand this was to depict the Far and Away but for me it spoilt it, just my honest opinion,


Island Heritage by Alison Murray, Highly Commended, I love the Celtic cross on this quilt but I am unsure about the background, on the islands due to a lack of trees anything with height mostly has a backdrop of sky (that thing above us not the island), Alison did another quilt which was a peat stack and each peat had the name of an island on it, unfortunately it was hard to see properly due to the poor lighting and darkness of the quilt,

Far and Away, schools, there was only one entry,


Applegrove Primary School, Forres, Moray, the children have drawn an island postcard on fabric, then they have been displayed on a blue water and sky background, some of the drawing is delicate and does not show up in the photo very well, I did not write down the title so apologise to Applegrove,

Cabin Fever, variations on the traditional log cabin block, this was an open competition to anyone worldwide,


Going 91热爆 by Pat Graham, I like this quilt (just that),


Login Shakespeare by , the moment I saw this quilt I thought it was Alicia or someone influenced by her work, Alicia鈥檚 quilts have become brighter and brighter without being garish, Alicia has made a series of quilts on Shakespeare鈥檚 sonnets so she continued the theme into log cabin and I love the play on words in the title,

I knew Frieda through the internet we are both on an internet quilt list but we had never met so it is really nice now to have met, we had a long talk about quilting and it was wonderful to see Frieda鈥檚 quilts in the real,


The Elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water by Frieda Oxenham


close up of Fire and Water so you can better see the technique, Frieda has cut tiny squares of fabric (about an inch) and assembled them into blocks (about six inch blocks), she made so many blocks that when the elements was finished there were enough blocks left over to make another quilt!

Sheena鈥檚 work is beautiful, the colours of the island landscape capture you from a distance and as you move closer you start to see the small details she has included,


Out Going Tide and Out Going Tide 2


Detail of Out Going Tide


Island Squared
There are 36 squares and each has detail on it, there were 2 quilts like this the other being Sea Squared, I thought I had photos of both on hardcopy camera but only had this one, soooo鈥︹��

This is a detail of the one I didn鈥檛 have the photo of the whole quilt!!!! sorry,


Detail of Sea Squared


Back of Sea Squared, so you can better see the detail in the squares,

I realize it would have been helpful if I had the size of the quilts but sorry I have not, Sheena鈥檚 and Frieda鈥檚 work was in the same church so it might help if I say that Frieda鈥檚 The Elements in the previous post must be at least 6 foot tall while Sheena鈥檚 Out Going Tide are between 2 and 3 feet and the Island Squared about 2 foot square, hope that helps,

I have loved Sandra鈥檚 work since I first saw photos of it in a quilt magazine several years ago so it was fabulous to see her quilts in the real and have a very interesting conversation with Sandra about her work, I guess I was so over whelmed I forgot to write down the titles of the work I have taken photos of but that shouldn鈥檛 stop you enjoying seeing the quilts and if you want to know more take the link to ,


Sandra Meech


Sandra Meech 2 quilts


Sandra Meech


Sandra Meech detail of previous quilt

I think I have posted enough quilt for just now and so have decided to post some of the photos from my visit to the Ross of Mull, I still have some photos from the Loch Lomond Quilt Show (LLQS) to post and will later in the week, also some ladies have concented to allow me to show a close up of their block on the Harris Tweed quilt and if you are on or visiting Lewis this summer you should be able to see the quilt as it will be on show at a variety of venues I will list them when I have all the details,

The old church and burial ground at Kilvickeon is thought to be the medieval parish church of the Ross of Mull, I know I have ancestors in the cemetery because my family lived on the Ross but I can find no marked grave stones probably because they were too poor to purchase even a simple stone, but it鈥檚 good to have found where some of my Scots rellies come from and know their home, the first photo was taken on this years visit but the others were taken on earlier visits, all information is 鈥榳hat I have been told鈥� I am not a scholar of medieval churches,


north side and entrance,


Close up of entrance, apparently it would originally have had sandstone facings which have been robbed, the projecting piece of stone high on the left of the opening is one of the line of thatch pegs for the ropes that hold the thatch down to be tied to,


the entrance from inside the church looking towards Loch Harrison,

These two photos were taken when I visited the church in 2004 and when I looked for the caved stones this time I could not find them, the grass was fairly long so I hope it was just that or if they have been removed it is for safe keeping,

carved stone

carved stone

stone layers

stone layers with moss

Leaving the church I walked towards the beach but turned off the track just before the beach to explore the rocks,


but before I reached the rocky shore line this fellow greeted me,


and some more mull goats


three textures


wavy rock


white water rock

two more photos

marram grass on rock, I thought this looked like one of those arty garden design rocks, mother nature always does it best,

Kilvickeon small beach looking westerly along the coast, the beach at Kilvickeon is split and this is the smaller side I had walked up the hill then walked across the cliffs back to Scoor where I was staying

I haven鈥檛 got knowledge of rocks to me they are patterns and textures but I have enjoyed reading his posts and learning and trying to understand, I looked for the rocks he posted about on Kilvickeon beach but I didn鈥檛 find them, ah well such is life, I enjoyed and that鈥檚 the main thing,

Here they are close up photos of six of the blocks and info about where the quilt will be this summer, it is currently hanging at Great Bernera museum and will be until the end of next week, then it will be hanging at KJ Macdonalds chemist but I do not know for how long or the dates, it will be at the Point show and other shows around the island as yet I do not have full details as I believe arrangements are still being made,

each member of the group chose the subject for her blocks then designed and created them, we met each week to share and see how each others were coming along,


Oyster Catcher and The Butt of Lewis Lighthouse by Pam Lye,


Sailboat and Bridge to Nowhere by Lilian Maclennan, I have been told the sailboat is a "sgoth" (pronounced skaw).


Isles of Lewis and Harris and Golden Eagle by Anne Williamson, Anne placed a bead for the villages each of us live in,

The last group of quilts from LLQS are from the , there were some beautiful and interesting quilts in many different styles,


Japanese Plum Blossom by Ann O鈥橰afferty


Look Beneath the Surface by Joke Buursma


Discourse by Ann Fleeton


Remember by Caroline Schofield, the techniques in this quilt interested me so I took some close up photos,


Remember by Caroline Schofield detail


Remember by Caroline Schofield detail


On the left 鈥�3 way fish book鈥� each of the flaps could be lifted up to revel more embroidery and quilts inside, on the right 鈥楻ock Pool鈥� both by ,

Back to photos of the Ross of Mull, again some of the photos were taken on this visit, some on previous visits, which will explain the change in the weather in the photos,

was where my family were living in the 1840鈥檚 when the then Duke of Argyll (sorry can鈥檛 remember the number) decided he could make more money from sheep than people (don鈥檛 tell me the sheep were here first), fortunately for my family London did offer my family work, a home and (for the time) a fairly decent life,

The first ruin is the school,

here are a lot of photos of ruins,

Blackhouses on Mull were built with rounded corners and two walls of stone with an infill of small stones, on Lewis and Harris I have seen the infill with earth,


I have been told these large walled areas are where the families stored food to last the winter and that they would have been covered to keep the stores dry,

a dyke, you can make out most of the dykes and walls as well as houses,

the views from Shiaba,




new violets growing on Shiaba鈥檚 soil, this made me think of the 鈥楻ite of Spring鈥�, Shiaba had once been a thriving community that was cleared in just a few years, the people wrote to beg leave to stay but it fell on deaf ears,

Shiaba is now a protected world heritage site, there is a horizontal water mill, it would be good if the mill and at least one of the houses could be restored like the Norse mill on Great Bernera and Arnol blackhouse, there is a which has done a lot to preserve the history of the Ross,

when I was staying at scoor I was told there was a cave with ancient markings in鈥︹�︹��.soooo鈥︹��.this had to be seen, I鈥檓 one of those weird people who stands amazed when looking at something created by a human hand thousands and thousands of years ago, I wonder at the scenery they saw the flora and fauna, the imagination races, how many people through the years have also looked and imagined,

the cave entrance, this photo makes the entrance look deceptably small but it is a deception as the cave is tall the ceiling is high too high to touch,

the marks were all gouged out, I took rubbings and photos, the photos are poor as expected but I thought some of you maybe interested, I have played with the contrast to get the marks to show better, so the colours of the rock are not true and although the rock shines in the photo it was not wet so it is the flash that created the shine but there must be something in the rock that reflects, I also played with the contrast of the rubbings, first the photo then the rubbing of the same mark,
there were mainly crosses and three pronged forks, some other shapes and gouged holes, I was told the holes are the oldest and believed to be much older than the other marks,
the gouged holes,

I checked my notes and I was told they are 2-3,000 BC,
afraid it is difficult to make them out but thought I would post anyway,

one of the three pronged forks,

one of the crosses,

the rubbings of a fork and cross, the sizes were not uniform but varied,

I am curious about the three pronged forks (a devil symbol) were on one side and the crosses on the other, ofcourse they might have nothing to do with each other, curiouser and curiouser,

the photo of this rubbing did not come out,

there are two marks in this photo

rubbings of the marks


I was told there was a telly prog about them if anyone remembers seeing the programme or has any knowledge about the markings I would really really love love love to know about them pleeeeease,