Have I Got A Treat For You! Post #1

New Orleans photos!

Michael walks Mary Kate

Caroline's Son William

Caroline Sister of Bride

Wedding Photos at St Patrick’s Cathedral.  Such a beautiful church, it was established in 1833; stunning architecture inside and out.  Church was completed in 1840 and the fir mass was recited.

It is in the Faubourg St. Mary section of the city .  The  priest celebrating the wedding was from Italy and had the moat amazing accent, bringing me back to the Italian relatives of my childhood.  The architect was James Gallier, who also built Gallier Hall which serves as the seat of the New Orleans government only a few steps down from the church.    The murals behind the altar were painted in 1841.  They are masterpiece works of art.

Brides Parents Renee and Michael

Paintings above the altar

The area surrounding the church was one where the Irish Immigrants lived. Today it is in the heart of the Arts District and where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought several warehouses to be
turned into high rent apartments for their Hollywood set.

14 Bridesmaids!

 Old St Patrick's Cathedral

Michael saying he has THREE girls

The service was personalized so beautifully by the pastor, and he noted that it was the perfect place for a girl named Mary Kate Donahue to be married!

Mary Kate and Brock

The reception was in one of the old warehouses near the hotel called The Chicory.  We actually walked to the church, then the reception and back to the hotel.    I dined on Artichoke Casserole and Shrimp in Brie Sauce, meat pies and leg of roast beef and about 4 Old Fashions and a couple glasses of champagne.  Frank had fruit and tonic water.

Our 20th floor room in the Loews Hotel had a spectacular view,of the Mississippi River.

This is afternoon overcast



                                         Dusk




Morning clearing up



And
Night









Here is the cathedral from 20 floors up!

I will create a second post to show you the quilt shop, my purchases and my brother.

Interesting Friday

Had some friends over at lunch today.  One noticed my dish washer liquid.  She asked what it was.

I told her it was a new mix I had concocted called the Dawn of Joy.

Actually it was the leftover blue Dawn mixed with the new bottle of yellow Joy.  It does look weird I guess.

We had a great lunch, traveling down to Middendorf's in Akers, LA  for thin friend catfish!  And you know how I feel about that!


Last night we spent in Addis, LA at Jason's momma's house with Jason and "his" Carrie and ALL 5 boys!  They drove from Denver to Panama City Florida, spent the week and then drove over to Baton Rouge.  In a Dodge Durango no less!  I can say they are better parents than me, I would have stopped the vehicle and put somebody out before I got to the Colorado State Line!  And by the time I got to Florida I would have been kidless!

But It was great to see them.  And even better that we had some of the best crawfish ever.  They were HUGE!

The guy in the white hat is Rodney.  He is retired, has a Cajun Music Band that tours the US and Canada, rebuilds old cars and travels the US doing those old car shows.  He wins all kinds of awards.

George was cooking the mudbugs.  He is the one sitting by the big fans.  And of course Carrie and Jason.

Bridge on the way to Addis

I know I miss Jason, but when I see them, I REALLY know how much I miss them!  they are getting together with "my" Carrie and Andrew tomorrow for some cousin bonding.

Bridge looking from Addis on the way home!

I am almost finished with the Cotton Robin piece.  I put off doing the quilting until the last minute because I was afraid to make bad quilting.   But now, fear of failure is FUTILE.

They need to be all mailed by June 30th, so the BIG REVEAL should be soon!  I can't wait!

I still don't quite know what to do with the Triangles.  I didn't intend it to be a baby quilt, so I guess I need to make it larger.  More modern would be with no borders, but I have no desire to do 30 more blocks.  Actually, I guess it would be more like 18 blocks

Designing Modern Quilts - I Am Going to Be Rich and Famous

I m going to link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall post.  go see what a lot of other people are doing creatively this week! I love her birdhouses and lilies piece.  It is amazing.

I have been very interested in watching a friend of mine design modern quilt.  He doesn't make them all, but some he does.  And I have been talking to several of my blogging friends and my art quilting friends, Carrie and my quilting friends about design and design elements.

I have decided to take an online class from Jane Dunnewold about Elements of Composition.  She teaches art at a University in San Antonio (I think it is SA) and is a painter and a quilter and an artist.

That hasn't started yet, but i am getting stoked!

On my own, with encouragement from my Modern Friend of Paragraph 1, I have been playing with several programs today and made this design from one of my photos.

I hope you are mightily impressed........I am!














I was able to create a simple block, and when it went together I could play with it to change the colors and orientation of the blocks.  Bingo.

Loving it!

Out, Out Damn Lizards! Finally Finished

Vidalia LA (Not famous for the onions)

You will be pleased to know I am finished quilting the lizards on Dan's Quilt.  I made a concerted effort for the last three days to work on picking out the three rows of bad lizards.  I spent all day today re-quilting the three rows.

Emerald Mound - Natchez Indians

Then all of a sudden I noticed half of another row midway in the quilt that I had started to unpick and only got part of the way.  The reason I didn't notice it right off is because I started undoing it from the underneath.  Now why did I do that?

So I finished undoing about 1/2 of the row on one side and part of a lizard on the other side.  And I made quick work of re-quilting the row for the finish!

Mount Locust Hiking

Unfinishes Longwood Plantation
Looking up to the dome

I inspected the remaining rows.  When I was satisfied that it would be workable, I actually took the damn quilt off the frame!  Yes!

And it felt good!

Cemetary at Mt. Locust Inn dates from 1812

I was going to replace it with my mystery quilt but the back needs to be squared up and I don't have enough space.  I have to wait until I go to The Red Stick to lay it out on the tables unfettered.

Meanwhile I will choose something quick to put on there.  Like maybe the second dino quilt.  Or a cow.  Or maybe the chicken quilt.  Whatever it is, you can bet your sweet bippy that it will be a simple pattern that will be quick to work!  LOL.

glen:  and easier to take out if I have to!  For sure!

Going to See Santa

Bassets in the car

We got up early this morning and drove to New Roads to visit with Santa.  The WE meaning of course Frank, me and the bassets.  Dutch was not up to making the trip once again.  And the Bassets were in serious need of seeing Santa since their last pictures really didn't come out that well.  How can two such cute doggies take such horrible pictures?  It was Chloe's ears.  I asked her, how did you even to that to your ears?  You look so silly.



And pictures we did get.  Some fabulous ones.  I need to ask Carol to send me a couple of the shots she had because they were really good.  The one I chose for the card was DiNozzo kissing Santa.  Oh, it was so cute.  This event benefited the Shelter at Point Coupee.  And we wanted Santa Gene, so we both won.

And I couldn't resist the one with Chloe kissing Santa and DiNozzo looking on.  Adorable.  Another win for both of us.



Disembodied Head



But on the way back, the excitement was too much for him and he tossed his cookies in the car.  He never really looked like he enjoyed riding.  But he has never thrown up before.  And he hid it perfectly.  Not one sound, it must have just happened.  And he missed the seat and the door and threw up his entire breakfast on the floor under the back seat.  I am still not sure how he did that. 

Doesn't he look quite ill here?



It poured down rain all the way to New Roads.  We crossed the Huey P Long Bridge over the Mississippi River.  Then we followed the edge of False River for about 14 miles until we came to the quaint little town of New Roads.  False River is a loop of the Mississippi River that got cut off from the river when it went straight. 



There is a lake out there

 Whereupon I could not find the Santa Location anywhere in the pouring rain.

Finally we found a nice man in a jewelry shop who closed the shop to help us find where they were shooting.  That is a small town for you.

We did find Santa Gene and Mrs. Claus Carol and got our great shots.

I can't wait to see them, those Bassets are so cute.  I did miss bringing Dutch with me.  He never really liked all that, but he put up with it because he is such a good dog.  Can't say that about the Bassets!

glen