When I was getting ready to make Mark's quilt in 2006 he had a few requests. First he wanted a Scottish plaid and second he wanted the stag head motif, otherwise I was free to do what I wanted. I found a flannel plaid with the colors I wanted to use for the backing and set about finding coordinating fabric for the top. Sarah and I designed the quilt top to mimic a giant plaid and set the block with the embroidered stag head in the center. This was a long term project since we were quilting by hand on a frame and had to move it out of the dinning room for special occasions. Some times it stayed down for months at a time. Eventually we finished the quilt and we are all satisfied with the result. It is definitely an original.
The flannel plaid was the first fabric I purchased for this quilt. I found it at my locally owned fabric store and was so pleased that it had the colors I was looking for. The sad part of this story is that our favorite fabric store went out of business shortly after I purchased the flannel. That was years ago and I still miss walking into that store and seeing all the quilting cotton and sewing machines for sale.
It was difficult to transfer the design of the stag head to the fabric, but after a little trial and error we found that a chalk pencil worked perfectly. Some embroidery floss and a few evenings in front of the TV and the center square was ready to set. The block with the stag head is approximately 18 inches square.
This quilt was completely quilted by hand. You can almost see the cable motif that was used for the yellow pieces. The blue was quilted with slanted lines about an inch apart and the green had a cable border motif shortened to fit each space.
Cable template used in the green squares.
small cable template used in the yellow strips.
I am very happy with the finished quilt. It has the elements requested by my son and a 'Celtic' feel to the design. Using flannel for the backing made sure this quilt was soft and cuddly, just right for wrapping up in on a cold evening.