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Thursday, December 15, 2016

"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".