SWAN QUARTER — A Columbia resident and artist is spreading a little love across eastern North Carolina, and most recently, her efforts made their way to Swan Quarter.

Edith Deltgen recently enlisted the help of volunteers to bring her “peace and love” art project to fruition in Hyde County. After volunteers cut hundreds of pieces of donated fabric strips, Deltgen then delivered them to local schools, Hyde Correctional Institution and other locations for participants to write messages of hope, love and peace on the strips.

Deltgen then took the strips, hung them along railings and wrapped them around trees at the Swan Quarter Community Park for passersby to view.

“We hung so much fabric. It’s totally amazing,” she said. “Every inch of this fabric is done with a lot of thought.”

According to Deltgen, her idea for the art project grew out of heartache. She lost her son last August, and about four years ago, she lost her daughter to cancer. That’s when she decided to try to connect with other families affected by mental illness, drug addiction and/or cancer.

“I thought, ‘What can I do? I’m not the only one that’s been through this kind of trauma,’” Deltgen recalled.

Her first project debuted in December and involved about 800 strips of fabric hung around Columbia. She then lobbied for space to do the same in Manteo (to no avail), and eventually made her way to the Hyde County Board of Commissioners to gain permission.

“I got tons and tons of prayers and poetry and quotes and good wishes and ‘merry Christmases’ back,” Deltgen said of the Columbia project. “You would not believe the local fishermen and the little businesses and so on, they have a lot of problems with drug addiction, as we do everywhere.”

Deltgen said it’s a lot of work, but with the help of volunteers, she is looking to expand the project to other areas, as well, including Belhaven in November and perhaps even Washington. She hasn’t completely decided what to do with the strips after taking them down, but she said she’d like to return them to the message writers in some way.

For her, it’s about helping others know they are not alone in dark times.

Hyde County officials are allowing Deltgen to keep the fabric strips hung in Swan Quarter Community Park until June 15.