Occasional Threads – Ellen Guerrant

Hurricane Warning

This quilt was inspired by the graphic beauty of the black and red hurricane warning signs seen along our NC coast.

Hurricane Irene is bringing back memories of Hurricane Hugo which came ashore in Charleston and struck Charlotte with devastating force in 1989 , leaving us without power for 10 days. Because our city is 200 miles from the coast, I was skeptical about the warnings and little prepared.   Then it struck!  We had 88 mph winds, and the city lost 100,000 street trees!

At dawn, we could survey the damage.  Our street and many others were closed due to downed trees and power lines.  It looked like a war zone; there was a cacophony of chain saws for weeks. But the sense of togetherness was awesome, with neighbor helping neighbor.  The experience stays with me still.

Hurricane Warning was created for the Professional Art Quilt Association’s juried show “Vantage Point: South” and was selected as the show’s poster and postcard image.  It was also shown at The Concourse Gallery in OH at the Art Quilt Network’s exhibit  ”Explorations in Fiber.”  A full size graphic of Hurricane Warning was featured in “Blinded by Disaster”  at The Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte.

The quilt was purchased by the Concourse Gallery, Upper Arlington OH, for its permanent collection.

Leven’s Quilt

A lot has happened (more about that later) since I last posted  The most anticipated event occurred seven weeks ahead of schedule - the birth of our first grandchild on June 8!  Leven Kai Guerrant weighed 4# .09 oz., tiny but strong.  She spent the next three weeks in the NICU before finally going home July 1.

I’d scheduled cataract(s) and carpal tunnel surgeries so I’d be healed before the due date, July 26.  So with one good eye and one functioning hand, I hustled to create a bright, happy quilt for Leven.  It’s my very loose interpretation of a 1/4 log cabin (with the center square in a corner and strips on just two sides) using lots of fun images and the nursery colors of blue and orange.  My DIL thought it would be very cool to use fabrics left over from her and our son’s wedding quilt in the piece for their first child.  I used many of them, but could not find the blue for the inner border until after the quilt was finished. 

Longarm quilter Rebecca Verrier-Watt  used a dragonfly motif, quilting it beautifully with a variegated thread of oranges, blues and greens. www.thequiltersstation.com

Leven’s quilt now hangs over her crib, giving her lots of things to look at.  We’ll see it installed next week.

Altered Mail Art by Frances Holliday Alford

 Facebook friend Frances Holliday Alford creates wonderful, vibrant art.  She’s especialy fond of collecting postmarks from different locations.  I was the lucky recipient of one of Frances’s signed, dated and framed altered mail art collages this spring (see last image on post).  I agreed at that time to send a piece of my art to another sometime during this calendar year. 

Along with the framed piece, Frances sent  two of her already begun altered mail art pieces to complete and then send back to her, making sure the art was hand canceled.  What fun!

I added postmarked scraps, colored with Caran d’Ache Neocolor crayons, a bit of a tea bag wrapper, mica flakes and a gummed star to the first piece, shown above.   The collage had arrived pre-addressed and bearing the print border and the graphic horizontal strip.  

Altered Mail Art by Frances Holliday Alford

The colors and tone of Frances’s second piece were very soft and lovely. I hesitated to add much to her text and lavendar imagery so settled on yellow as a colorant, a strip of woven fiber, a torn strip from inside an envelope and a bit of watercol pencil.

Below is the original altered mail art Frances sent me earlier this year.  Isn’t it fabulous?  That my favorite color is purple is only part of the reason I love it.

Frances is an amazingly talented artist.  To learn more about Frances (did you know she once served in the United States Peace Corps?) and to see lots of her work, click here:  www.franceshollidayalford.com

Eyes Wide Open  (working title)

Embroidery on hand-dyed fabric

 Detail

Susan Sorrell  www.creativechick.com  conducted a workshop through the Charlotte Quilters’ Guild early this month.  The class title “Doodle Designs”  intrigued me.  The premise was to use a doodle and replicate it on fabric.  The doodling was a great challenge for me, as I’ve stuck with one “design” since I was a kid . Three dimensional  boxes.  Always.  But only when I’m on the telephone. 

With the encouragement of my friend and table mate Debby, I began scribbling.  “Add more,” she said.  “Now add some more.”  I kept at it until I had a passable doodle. 

What I’ve completed is just the design outline stitching.  My piece probably will not be finished in the same way as Susan’s amazing work.  I have another idea about the direction I will take.  In the meantime, its completion will wait  until I’ve had cataract and hand surgeries.   I’ll then be able to see color much more accurately.   Right now, I think the piece  is primarily yellow with a bit of green, but can’t be sure.

Scarf was painted with Setacolor Transparent paint.

Detail

One of the hand-painted scarves I sold at the Quilt and Needle Art Extravaganza recently.  This one was done in turquoise and royal blue.   I love Devore ‘ (cut velvet).