2018 0206 - Laurel Burch - Holiday Celebration Cats minus the cats for Mike

Deb Hardin introduced me to the Laurel Burch collection of Holiday Celebration Cats. She had made an amazing tree skirt with these fabrics. Laurel Burch passed away somewhere in those years.

When Jean was selling out her fabric I bought some fat quarters and material to make this quilt from a pattern that Deb gave me as a quilt challenge. The pattern is called Fresh Vanilla from a Better Homes and Garden magazine called Make it Modern in 2013. The pattern uses yardage but all I had was fat quarters. I started it at Natalie's house with the adjustments that I would need to make it work. Years passed and I finally finished it for Mike. He needed a longer quilt than the little one I had made for the little kids.

Visiting the Scottish Highlands on the East - 19 Jul 2018

Our second major adventure was to the North Eastern side of Scotland. This is the land where Mike's grandmother came from, mainly in Banffshire. We wanted to visit castles and gardens along the way. 

The first one was Dunnottar Castle, a medieval Fort on the point of a cliff overlooking the North Sea. It was founded by St Ninian but unsure of the actual date, possibly in the 5th century and later became a fort. The surviving buildings are from the 15 or 16th century. It was a prominent place in much of Scotland's history such as, a hiding place for the crown jewels of Scotland when Oliver Cromwell invaded in the 17th century and a place important in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. It had many other important events occur there including an invation by the Vikings.