Monday, October 18, 2010

I'm now a C&T Ambassador!

What does this mean?  It means I can teach you how to paint on fabric!  Like I did in this project:
this is made from painted (washed)  bleached muslin! 
what do you think? 
would you like to learn how to do this? 
it's fun, easy, and FAST
the only hard part is waiting for it to dry!
it's like kindergarten for grownups!
let me know, ok?
it also works on solid colors, white-on-white, and even dark prints!

I'll post some more samples soon - check back in a few days, ok?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Jonesborough and New Orleans

We are home from our trip and had a wonderful time - of course!
Here are some pics to prove I was there -



These adorable fabric birdhouses were on sale at the Storytelling Center in Jonesborough:

No Pictures of Shreveport - not today anyway - they are mostly of the air base and airplanes....
However, here is a pic of the hotel room we stayed in while we were in New Orleans.....

How did they expect me to use that hook?

The St. Charles Street trolley line was just a block away from our hotel!  Very convenient!

We took the "Garden District Walking Tour" - which included the cemetary....

LOTS of architectural details.....

lots and lots of ironwork fences and balconies....

and even a few gardens!

I think this was one of the Ann Rice houses - she owned FIVE at one time, but has sold most of them.

Gnarly shallow roots on a live oak

the Swedish Ambassador's residence.

Bob the Tour Guide shows us what the state currency looked like.....

some of the larger homes offer tours inside - we didn't take one....

In New Orleans, anything doing well is worth doing in excess!


Love this mailbox!

this is the family home of the Farves (quarterbacks, football, etc)

more pretty balcony ironwork

another of the Ann Rice houses....



New home of Sandra Bullock, according to our very knowledgeable tour guide, Bob, who knows every real estate agent in New Orleans!

I think this was one of houses that belonged to Ann Rice, then sold to Nicholas Cage, who lost it during backruptcy...


Prytania Street - did you read "Interview with a Vampire"? 
the Famous Vampire lived on Prytania Street - Ann Rice reputedly lived on Prytania Street,
and designed the location of the story around her own home!

Here is the courtyard beside our hotel...

and here is the side of the hotel taken from the courtyard -
this is the Prytania Oaks Hotel.
where I worked on my four-patch posey quilt when we were not out on the trolley or a walking tour!

And, btw, it is NOT called the 'Garden District' because there are lots of beautiful gardens, but because the 'gardens' are around the outside of the houses there - in the English style, they are called 'gardens' but in the USA vernacular they are mostly considered 'yards'.  In the older "French Quarter" the houses were rebuilt after the fires during the Spanish rule in the Spanish style where the front of the house in right on the sidewalk and the garden is built into the center courtyard for more privacy.  The houses were rebuilt in brick and mortar to discourage the spread of fires that had burned most of the city in 1788 and again in 1794.
Can you believe that only THREE original buildings survive today?
So, that's all for today - I'll try to post some pics of the 'haunted' side of New Orleans too, but those pics are in the other camera!