Patchwork finds a new home

The patchwork quilt has found a home at the National Museum of Scotland. It took some time to decide where it should go but NMS seemed the best home, and they were very happy to take it.  The patchwork has national interest within Scotland since it includes people who lived in Highland Perthshire and North Uist and its creator, Isabella Christie, was from Elgin in Moray.  And some of the girls emigrated themselves and many of then have descendants abroad, so it has international interest too. It is also quite a fragile object so a large museum with the skills to conserve it was important.  It should be available for loan and research soon, and if you are interested in seeing it then contact Dorothy Kidd at the museum.  I did spend quite a lot of time researching the girls on the quilt, including where they went to school, and gathered some great stories at the meetings we had at a Moulin Hall and Taigh Chearsabhagh and that information has been passed on to the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland for them to make available through their website of historical resources, www.scran.ac.uk as a project, the 'Isabella Forsyth Christie quilt'. I'm not sure if it's all live yet, but it should be soon. If anyone has any information about the quilt, and the girls named on it they can contribute to the website and add it to the stories already there. It should be great resource, especially for schools and anyone interested in life for women in the Highlands and Islands a hundred years ago or more. Let's hope it inspires more research, exhibitions, reminiscence and family