Occasional Threads – Ellen Guerrant

Wow!  We’re having an awesome time at the Quilting and Needle Art Extravaganza, nearly selling out of patterns today.  It’s always wonderful to be amongst those who share your passion, but quilters seem to have a special enthusiasm for their art.

I would not be able to do this show without the great help of my friend Debby Harwell.  Not only is she smart and funny, she’s brimming with super ideas.  Thanks, Debby!

The best part of any event is seeing old friends.  I spent a good part of the day visiting with incredible women whose friendships go back to 1980.  Thanks for coming to see me, everyone!  Special thanks to Betty Metcalf who got me started in travel teaching and judging.  And of course many thanks  to sisters Cindy and Patti, who asked me to teach at their shop, The Quilters’ Gallery, when I was just starting out  over 30 years ago.  I never dreamed those opportunities would take me so far and literally change my life!

Don’t miss the last day of the show tomorrow.  We’ll be open 9-5.

Quilting and Needle Art Extravaganza

Statesville Civic Center

300 S. Center Street

Statesville NC

Booth 34 – Occasional Threads

Each Cutie Pie is unique!

A limited number of one-of-a-kind kits will be available.  Shown are two for the Cutie Pie. Kits  include the pattern, pre-sewn vintage fabric Cutie Pie with back, three vintage buttons and three yards of  DMC embroidery floss.  You furnish the stuffing.

Vintage buttons will also be for sale.

This Friday and Saturday, 9-5

Statesville ( NC)  Civic Center

300 S. Center St., Statesville

Check us out in Booth 34!

Occasional Threads

Hand-dyed ribbons, lace and trims

Find me in Booth 34,  Jan. 28 and 29, 9-5

Quilting and Needle Art Extravaganza

Civic Center, 300 S. Center St.,  Statesville NC

Hope you can join me and many other fabulous vendors at the show this weekend.   We’ll have two full days for shopping.  I’ll feature items from my booth all week, so check back to see what’s new!

The trims above were hand-dyed by my friend Michele Merges Martens, a New York based master dyer AND an awesome poet. www.michelemergesmartens.com

For more show information, please visit my News page.

The worst photograph ever of a very warm, but  improperly lit  black coat.

The background won’t win any prizes either!

Around Christmas it turned dastardly cold here.  Heavy snow was in the forecast and we were going out of town.  Driving on a two-lane road through the Uwharrie National Forest, in fact.  I haven’t owned a real winter coat since I moved to Charlotte in 1970.  After all – I grew up in northern IL and once lived in Chicago, where the wind off the lake is brutal and frigid temperatures  the winter norm.  A coat in the south?  Oh please.

DH insisted I get “a decent, warm coat!” so off to my favorite thrift store I went.  My first purchase was a black 100% wool number – rather vintage and a bit dressy  but with a good fit and a high collar.  “Is that waterproof?” asked mister mister when I brought it home.  “Uh…….wool has a lot of lanolin in it.”  “No – you need something for snow and ice – something sensible.”  So I was forced, forced I tell you,  to return to my favorite haunt in search of another coat.  I again chose black, but this one was a hoodie!  With big pockets!  I was set.

“Boots…..do you have boots or do you plan to wear Birkenstocks?” was the next question.  “Of course I have boots.  I found an old pair when we cleaned out the hall closet last fall.”    “Scarf?  Gloves?  Hat?”  Who am I, Ralphie from The Christmas Story?

Four days and 7″ of snow later, I found my old boots were now a couple of sizes too small.  Yes, I was in Birkenstocks, but little suede gnome ones with open backs.  And my leather gloves weren’t doing much to keep my fingers warm.

Driving from our DIL’s father’s home in Sanford to Greensboro became our plan Christmas night.  The kids didn’t think we should take off through the national forest, and we weren’t too keen on it either.  So we followed them on the interstate to their home where we could easily grab 85 to Charlotte the next day.  “Why is he swerving?” I asked my DH as our son suddenly pulled into the left lane.  “Look out – there’s a deer in the road,” I shouted quickly.  Drivers of two cars were just emerging from their vehicles, as we realized how close we had come to hitting the animal ourselves.

As we neared Greensboro, it began to snow hard and heavy.  Thirty minutes later we had difficulty driving, even with 4-wheel drive.   The kids’ street was a winter wonderland – just gorgeous.  We quickly unloaded the necessities – a huge chore in the dark in a blizzard.  PJs, medicines, food.

I was reminded of how wet and messy everything gets when it snows.   When I was little, there were no Thinsulate or Goretek gloves.  We’d play in the snow all day, building snow forts, making snow angels  and having snowball fights with the boys from the farm down the road.  Mother, who hand knit all our woolen mittens,  pinned them to  wire coat hangers before hanging them in front of a big furnace  vent to dry – the same furnace vent which would warm newborn lambs the following March.  Fingers, red and icy cold, were warmed in the cast iron sink of the one bathroom we had.  Oh, the wonderful memories of growing up on a midwestern farm.  There’s no harder life, but no better one either.

I’ve been making quilted notebooks as gifts for a very long time.  After numerous requests, I finally decided to write a pattern.   They’ll be available for purchase at the show in Booth 34.  Note:  My new patterns will available for purchase through this site soon.  That’s my big weekend project.  Thanks for the interest, everyone. xoxox

I used earth tones, cording and a vintage button when creating this notebook.  It was machine quilted.

This one in blues and oranges is perfect for a puppy dog lover.

Quilt Art and Needle Art Extravaganza, January 28 & 29, 9-5

Statesville (NC) Civic Center, 300 S. Center St.