Nearly Ready

It is just 26 days until our 2019 adventure in Scotland starts. This year I am calling the trip "Arran and Kintyre" in the TripIt app on my phone. And like past years, these two destinations are the frame for much more.

Our days on the Kintyre Peninsula will feature a ferry ride to the island of Gigha, a walk across a shingle of land only available during low tide to Davaar Island in the Campbeltown Loch, and a car hire to take us around the peninsula visiting castles and duns and keeps and caves and more. We will be staying in Campbeltown near the southernmost end of the peninsula.

One day we will head north to Kilmarten Glen near Lochgilphead.  We traveled through this area last year on the bus and were intrigued by the vast area of stone circles, cupped rocks and burial cairns all along the road. Upon returning home we began to research the area and determined to return. We will climb Dunadd, and I plan on placing my foot firmly in the Footstep of  Fealty carved into the rock and proclaim myself King!

Well, someone needs to be the boss of everybody, eh?

After exploring the Kintyre and visiting a couple of whisky distilleries (Glen Scotia and Springbank) in Campbeltown, we will head to the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde. This island is not technically in the ocean, rather, it is situated between the mainland and the Kintyre Peninsula. See the full Google map HERE.

Arran will delight us with hikes up mountains, more neolithic and stone age sites, treks along the ocean, waterfalls, vistas and fine fresh seafood. And a whisky distillery (Arran Distillery), cheese factory, bakery, art museum and more. We hope to climb Goatfell at 874 meters (2,867 feet), weather and feet and old legs dependent. Also on the agenda is Brodick Castle and grounds. We will be staying in Lochranza in the north, and Lamlash in the southeast.

We built a couple of days into the itinerary for time to explore more in Glasgow. We will stop along the way in Largs to learn about the Vikings in Scotland, plus Dumbarton Castle, sporting the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland.

We opted for Aer Lingus and a layover in Dublin this year instead of flying Iceland Air into Reykjavik. A couple hours layover in an airport does not really count as a visit; however, I am adding Ireland to my meager "countries visited" resume.

Grandmothers Doilies Quilt

Over the years I have collected (by default, I think) doilies crocheted by both my grandmothers. My own mother gave me many of hers as she cleaned out her possessions; grandmothers gave me plenty as well.

What do do with them all? I use a fair number of them under lamps and plants and things to protect the furniture from scratching. I have too many of them; or perhaps I have too little furniture?

Whichever the case, I determined to preserve them in some fashion so I incorporated them into this disappearing nine-patch quilt.

I cut the doilies into sizes to fit a square and simply sewed them in with the next piece. The quilt is also full of old scraps from various eras and sewing projects of the past; a true memory quilt.

It is still only a quilt top; another in a growing pile of tops not yet quilted.

Denim Window Lap Quilt

This lively and lovely lap quilt was fun to make.

I cut circles from old denim jeans and sewed them right sides together to create a square in the center with "flaps". Into that square I put a variety of scraps, then sewed the curved flaps over the material in a serpentine pattern along the cut edges of the denim.

Once the quilt was washed the denim edges frayed, adding charm and definition to the overall pattern.

I would do this again; the quilt is heavy and the recipient of this quilt admits it is warm. This would make a great blanket to keep in the back of the car for any sort of emergency - a surprise picnic, padding for a delicate thrift store find, or a leg warmer on a cold road trip.

Op Art Rug

This rug took a looooong time to complete. Switching pitch in the middle of the loom was confusing - and I mean confusing on every row! Muscle memory is a challenge to change.

I envisioned this rug without the red middle stripe; however, as the rug progressed I realized that I should NOT have been twining from both ends. Had the two ends reached the middle the pattern would have been "off" by one warp twine. 

Next time, should there be one, I will only twine from one end.

You can tell I am still a novice at this color changing bit. I need to take more care with which weft is on top of the warp when I change the color. See the difference in the widths of the solid frame? They are exactly the same number of warps wide, but appear different widths due to the color of the weft going over the warp on top.

Folks have commented that this rug looks like a finger print; indeed it does. A fingerprint rug to collect footprints! I love the very thought and image.

I have a companion rug to this on the loom now; it will feature vertical "stripes" in red and white, plus some edge to edge same pitch twining.