Happy Mardi Gras!

Keep reading, there is a quilt in here somewhere.  

Still in full swing as I type this, Mardi Gras won't end until the Kings of Rex and Comus Krewes meet at the  foot of Canal Street.  Canal Street is the main street in New Orleans.  For those who have been here before, it is generally in the area of the Harrah's Casino.  Harrah's Casino is the only land based casino in the state!  All others float in some river or other body of water.

I am sure your local news has great shots of the partying in the French Quarter.  But the best parades are in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans where Frank and I grew up.  He was born in St Bernard and I was born in Arabi next door to St Bernard.  Kinda in the area of the 9th Ward that saw so much publicity from flooding after Katrina. 

Both St Bernard and Arabi saw plenty of flooding in Betsy and again in Katrina.  My friend said a 6 foot wall of water came rushing down her street while Betsy was in full force.  It is widely believed authorities blew the levee in St Bernard/Arabi to save the more exclusive subdivisions further down the river. 

We had just moved to Metairie about 4 months prior to Betsy.  Frank's family was one of the first in our subdivision and was already there by then, but his  extended family still lived in St. Bernard in the same house when Katrina hit.  His Aunt Emma didn't live to make it home.  Neither did my Aunt Evy see her home in Metairie again.  She died just weeks before house was to be completed.

We always went to the parades Downtown (as opposed to Uptown) when we were young.  We would park at my Grandma Graci's  house on Frenchman St. and take the bus to see MidCity.  My mother would make the most amazing costumes for my brother and I for Mardi Gras Day.  Then we would go to see Rex on Canal Street and catch glass beads.

They used to throw really beautiful glass beads; not the plastic junk they throw today! 

Last year after the flood, my friend Patty the Quilt Lady made me this Louisiana Quilt.  It is part of the rotating hangings I have in my bedroom and quilt  room.  Sometimes it is in one or the other. 

It is a t-shirt piece and done with Patty's impeccable handwork.  Every time I stop and look at it, I am wowed all over again by the work in this piece. 

And in the mail today came my Treasure Trove win!  Purple and green fabric with a package of Mardi Gras beads! 

Monday Quilting and Katrina (10 Years)

I entertained the Handiquilter Tech this morning.  He made short work of re-setting the timing clearances and reassembling the part Margaret couldn't get back in yesterday.

Moon quilted today

Part of the quilting path done today

I learned a lot just listening to him.  I found out I was tightening the quilt too tight on the frame when I quilted.  It still feels strange to leave it so loose!

As he works he explains what that piece does and how it fits into the rest of the system.  Very interesting.

So after he left I didn't get a chance to work on my quilt until after my Physical Therapy visit.

FEMA Trailer City

Feeling better now, I came home and quilted down to the last 9 inches of my Krista Withers quilting without a single broken thread!  Oh, that felt so good!

Have you seen the multitude of specials on Katrina now that it is 10 years out.  Seems like yesterday I was sitting with my mother and her husband waiting for the worst to come.   It was a rough time for everyone.

I remember the incessant drone of the helicopters as they flew directly over our house bringing refugees from New Orleans to a staging area in Baton Rouge.  Weeks, they flew back and forth.  Black Hawks carrying people who lost everything.  


Frank and I worked the  animal rescue staging areas here in Baton Rouge which sheltered dogs, cats and reptiles (yes, snakes) brought in from the flooded areas.  Most animals were never reunited with their families.  It was just so chaotic.

Aunt Emma's House

Our families still in New Orleans were scattered to 5 states.  It took us two weeks to find Frank's St Bernard Parish family.  They had three houses just 3 blocks off the Murphy Oil Refinery and lost everything to the sludge from the broken tanks.  His cousin's daughter still suffers from neurological damage from the 8 hours they were allowed to go in and see if they could salvage anything in their homes.  She slipped and fell in the sludge and has never been the same.



My family spent the time in one of the tall hotels in Downtown New Orleans.

Everyone from both sides eventually ended up on the North Shore, not one of the lived to return to New Orleans.  A good friend lived just blocks from the levee break on the 17th Street Canal.  His house was found 3 miles away from its location.

Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans had a major break down, eventually locking himself into the bathroom of Air Force One.  They had to break down the door to get him out.  Kathleen Blanco, the Governor, was not much better.  Both failed the people of their city and state.  Nagin is currently in prison for corruption.

George Bush tried to convince Blanco to allow Federal assistance in, but she refused to sign the documents that the Governors of Mississippi and Alabama did. History has shown that she made some bad decisions.

There were also some amazing people who pulled their recreational boats down to the flooded city and saved thousands of people apart from the organized rescue efforts.  They were called the Cajun Navy.

So many of our family and friends lost so much in that tragedy.  When you watch the specials this week, think of my birthplace and know it is a survivor!

Stash report and A New Week

It goes without saying I had no fabric go out but it might  be surprising to note I had no fabric IN either!  And I spent the week surrounded by fabulous fabric at QuiltCon.

It took a lot of gumption to not buy some of it.  There was a fabulous African Village group that sold the most amazing pieces for $22 and $28.  I wanted the whole booth!

And I almost broke down and bought the Saints' Fat Quarters since I have a Saints Quilt to make for friends who are getting married this week.  No, I am not going to get it finished by then, I have already spoken to them and we are all cool!

 I know what I want to do and it will be a wonderful tribute to their marriage and their love of Saints football.

I still have 3 quilts to make and 2 to do some finishing touches on for cousin Jason's wedding in April. 

I am heading out this morning to get our passports renewed.  I think I can just go to the Clerk of Court's building and get it started, but I might have to mail them off to New Orleans.  Quite different from the last time we renewed!  We thought they were floating out somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico never to be seen again!

The last time we renewed our passports was the week before Katrina hit New Orleans.  We mailed them off and then the massive hurricane hit.  In the next few days the levee system failed and much of New Orleans was under water.  Then the looting started.  The area where the Federal Buildings are located is along the Mississippi River.  These places were not flooded as many are led to believe.  Much of the city is on solid ground.  300 years ago the founders build upon the solid ground in the river crescent where the action of the river pulls the water from the soil as it rushes by. 



Didn't know that did you?  Neither did Brian Williams when he talked about seeing bodies floating by in the French Quarter.  We all know the French Quarter doesn't flood! 

The photos are Frank's Aunt's house in Chalmette.  They never recovered, never moved back, never beat the system.