"Angel's landing", the story behind the Arch and the quilt

One of our neighbors' house in the mountains had a name "Angel's landing". Beautiful house,  perfect landscaping, vibrant foliage and flower colors for every season: dogwood, irises, hydrangea, roses, ground covers, maples, and much more.... 

But this arch... Such a nice addition to the house! It always attracted my attention when we went walking with our dog Murphy. That was really an eye catching spot! One day I met the guy, who lived in that house. He invited to me to sit down on the bench under the arch and we were talking and talking. He came to United States from Czechoslovakia long time ago, married, had some kids and now grandkids. They fell in love with Great Smokey Mountains, as many of us, and built this house, which turned to their vacation home.   Still can't find any picture in my my folders of the house, but the Arch is the thing I was going to talk about.

It turned me on and I started thinking about making a quilt with that arch on it. At that point of time I was really interested in watercolor quilts and this idea with the arch was just what I needed for my new project in my dream. But it seemed to me, that the picture with the driveway in font and garage on the right was not quite inspiring, so I started digging for the help. And I found this beautiful Thomas Kinkade picture, which I decided to use for the quilt.   

More pictures of the quilt and how I was making it, you can find in my earlier post. 

Monday, November 28, 2016. Wildfire in Gatlinburg destroyed 2400+ houses, including this beautiful place.  

Even though this is so hard to think about the lost house, about that guy and those memories, this two storied chimney with fireplaces looks still so victorious! She survived the fire! 

And! Believe it or not: the arch, that arch, made of wood, as well as the wooden sign "Angel's landing" are still standing in front of the pile of ashes! Isn't it something?

 I haven't heard from that guy for a while, don't know if he's still alive, have no idea if this house will be ever rebuilt. But I am glad I have some personal touch to this house, well - the Arch, which gave me the inspiration to make the quilt, which is still hanging in my sewing room. Will be reminding me forever about this beautiful place -"Angel's landing".

Burning leaves of Gatlinburg, charity project. Please, join and share!

Please, join our charity quilting project "Burning leaves of Gatlinburg" and share with your quilting friends! Make one leaf block, send it to me and I will be making quilts for my neighbors, who lost their permanent houses there.
You can now watch my instructional videos on my Youtube channel.

You can leave your email in comments or send it to my email address Quiltessa at gmail.com

Thank you so much for joining and sharing!

Happy sewing!

Natalie Patton Quiltessa

Shocking pictures, when seen first our cabin and neighborhood

Yesterday we first visited Chalet Village and our burned cabin after the wildfire. The pictures are shocking...

This was right at our drive way, so we had to wait a minute.

Something have left from our "Heavenside" sign.


...and this is what had left from the cabin...


The cute sign and towel hook, which was near the hot tub.





Under the stone on the side of the gas tank, we found our house keys with our picture on a keychain, not burned, only the plastic melted.




Watch this welcoming video!

The rock wall stones turned to red, very fragile now...


Amazing: the cabin in front of us is saved! Not even damaged! It's almost unbelievable, because we called 911 immediately that night, when noticed new ignition on the right side of this cabin from our porch!


But it didn't touch this cabin! The fire chose his own way! To those, who called firefighters! Revenge!!!!!


Our closest neighbors' house also burned to ashes... However, look at that bench! The color didn' t even change!





This is our neighbors house on the other side. The cross is still on the chimney!


When you zoom, you can see our house foundation through the "window".








"Dogwood house". Their sign is still there...


Not much could be done, at least we removed some debris and trash from the driveway to park our truck there.

To be continued...

Natalie Patton Quiltessa

Visiting our cabin in Chalet Village first time after the wildfire

Burning leaves of Gatlinburg, quilt project (Quiltessa Natalie)

Make more leaves! Please, join the project "Burning leaves of Gatlinburg".

Burning leaves of Gatlinburg... My new pattern for donations!

I can't stop thinking about those leaves... They were so beautiful this fall, the full range of colors from yellow to orange, burning red, burgundy, rust and more.... Just awesome colors! I have been always enjoying that color transition before they go for good. But this year they were some kind of special, not only the colors, but also how long this beauty have been lasted! Usually the season of leaves is end of October - early November, then it starts raining, leaves fall, trees look bared and almost nasty.... But still, the area in the mountain is always incredibly gorgeous! Any time of the year!
Just want to share some pictures of those striking colors.

 No need to say how much we loved to stay in our vacation home there just by ourselves or sharing our house with family and friends.

 We called it Heavenside, and it was truly the place near the Heaven!

Believe it or not, we just put up the Christmas tree and lights the day before the Great Fire!!

Everything's gone.... But it makes me feel someway better, thinking as our Heavenside went to the Heaven....

Somebody desperately needed the Christmas tree there... Maybe our beloved Murphy, who passed away this summer?

It's still so hard on my heart to realize, that we don't have that place anymore.....

But! the best way to heal your wounds and go further is trying to be optimistic, as much as it possible at this hard grieving times, be positive and do something to distract your mind, to do something opposite to "destructive",  and this would be my favorite word - CREATIVE!
So, this is what my brain, saved on evacuation road, told me to do today.

I created a new quilt block pattern of a beautiful maple leaf (I guess, it looks like Canadian maple), called it "Burning leaves of Gatlinburg" and published it on Craftsy.

This is my sorrow pattern, grief and mourning for the wildfire in Gatlinburg on November 29, 2016. Our cabin was swept away by the fire, along with another 1000+ houses and structures, which were disappeared or heavily destroyed.
I have been always enjoying watching the changing colors of the mountains, especially the maple leaves. This year they were incredibly beautiful, due to unusual warm and dry weather conditions.\
This year became just very special...

I am going to start making quilts for my multiple neighbors, who lost everything...
Please, share this pattern to your friends, who also wants to support this wildfire victims.
My new year resolution is to make leaves quilts and donate them to my neighbors and those, who lost their houses in this historic wildfire.
If you also want to support me in this project, please join and make this square leaf block. Contact me quiltessa@gmail.com  and I will send you this paper pieced pattern and instruction for FREE! I will take as many as you can donate to make quilts for those, who would really appreciate them!

Thank you so much in advance from the bottom of my heart!

Be safe!

Happy sewing!

Natalie Patton, Quiltessa