Lecture and Trunk Show in Bloomfield, NJ

Please join me for a lecture and trunk show of crazy quilts (antiques and my own award-winning work) at the fabulous Edwardian Needle in Bloomfield, NJ. March 27, 1-3. If you haven't been to this shop, you are missing a treat! More threads and beautiful, needful things than you can imagine!

Contact The Edwardian Needle at

The Edwardian Needle
225 Belleville Avenue
Bloomfield, NJ 07003

Phone: 973-743-9833

Email: info@theedwardianneedle.com

Road 2 CA ribbon

Hooray! Just found out that my completely hand-pieced and hand-embroidered crazy quilt, "Crazy Diamonds" got a ribbon at the Road to California quilt show. It got a third in Wall Hangings, Other category. This makes 9 ribbons in 4 shows. It also won First at AQS, at Empire Quilt Fest and Bennington Quilt Show. What a great way to start off the new year.

Heirloom Love Letters

Brent Ridge from Beekman 1802 asked me to come up with a Valentine he could sell on his site. So, I created this fabric art postcard. (It took an hour for each card, not 5 hours) You can go to Beekman 1802 (link above) and order this special Valentine for your beloved.

Bead Journal Project - Sigil

I've joined a group called the Bead Journal Project (BJP). BJP was started by the talented Robin Atkins a few years ago. The challenge is to create a beaded project each month for a year. The creation can be any size or shape, as long as it is consistent throughout the year. Any bead technique, any design - the choice is yours. There has been some phenomenal art created through this invitation. I decided to participate this year. Here is my January BJP.

It is called "Sigil". I actually started it in December so I could finish it on January 1, taking advantage of the magic of the Blue Moon on New Year's Eve. A sigil is a sign, a symbol of an intent. To form this type of sigil, a rose window with a superimposed alphabet is used and a tracing of the spelling of your intention is made. The rose window is not to be traced, just the lines to spell your word. However, I did keep the rose window (without the superimposed alphabet) to show how this sigil was formed.


I embossed a deep green velvet with an old printer's block I have. I cut out and fused the velvet to a batik fabric. I outlined the velvet with size 15 seed beads, bugle beads and added briolettes for the dangles. The moon face cabochon (representing the feminine) is secured with delicas. A Pure Allure jewelry component makes the crown.

Here is the embroidered rose window and the beaded sigil for "Create". To the left is a wired ribbon and beaded "river of inspiration". A free-form peyote stitched rivulet is intertwined with the ribbon. Then, pearl sticks, crystals and beads were added. The beaded circles continue across the page, as inspiration often seems to fall from heaven. The beaded bit to the right reminds me of a DNA strand. Some talent and creativity is born within us and some is cultivated. May 2010 find you cultivating your creativity and expressing it in many ways.

Absinthe - The Green Fairy

Our friend, Cheryl Lins, is an artisan absinthe distiller. She is located in the Catskills, as are we. She LOVES local. We grow many of the herbs she uses. Says she likes the quality of our herbs better than the Italian imported herbs she used to buy. Click on the link to see an article that the NY Times just wrote about her and Phoenix Distillery.

Happy May Day - and Quilt Show

Happy May Day. May Day always reminds me of my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Malloy. She was a DEAR soul and taught me about May Day baskets. You make a basket (we did construction papers ones) and filled it with flowers (real or made of tissue paper) and left them anonymously on neighbor's doors. I hope the fairies have left you some flowers upon your doorstep.

Today and this weekend is "Quilters of the Valley" at the Middleburgh Library. It is a fundraiser for the library as well as being a showcase for the many talented quilters in the Schoharie Valley. My award-winning crazy quilt, "Homage to Ardelia" will be shown. At the Best House (a restored Victorian house), a collection of antique quilts will be displayed. I lent three of my antique crazy quilts for the display. Come on down to Middleburgh and see the gorgeous quilts. Hours are:

Friday, May 1, 10 am - 7 pm
Saturday and Sunday, May 2 & 3, 10 am - 4 pm

Herbs Popping Up In The Yard

It's April 9 and spring sure is slow in making its presence known. In fact yesterday and the day before, we had snow flurries. Today the temperature is reading warmer, but the howling winds still feel brisk! As I was walking around the garden, I noted several herbs that are emerging from their slumber. Here are a few of the many herbs:

Sweet Violet, not the common blue. Smells and tastes oh, so sweet!

Rhodiola. Looks pretty ugly now, but soon it will be filled with rosettes!
Ramps. Delicious wild food!


Angelica just coming up.


Celandine, with its bright orange sap. The appearance of celandine in the spring also harkens the arrival of tree swallows. Sure enough, I saw a pair today.

Coltsfoot, or Son-Before-the-Father, as the flowers show up before the leaves.
Maral Root unfurling.
Stinging Nettles - a power house of nutrients.
Sweet Cicely.
The joy of spring is that every day new life is shown.

Betty Pillsbury on Big Blend Magazine Radio!

Exciting news! I will be featured on Garden Gossip, a home and garden radio show, on Saturday, February 21. I'll be talking about attracting pollinators to your garden, especially through the use of herbs. Click on the link above.

You can also read the article I wrote for Garden Gossip by clicking here

Garden Gossip is part of Big Blend Magazine, a wonderfully comprehensive on-line presence where you can find information of all sorts! The number of topics covered is vast. You have to check it out.

Crazy Snow and How to Pass the Time

Saturday we got 2 1/2 inches of rain. Sunday was incredibly gorgeous - sunny and 60. Monday was 40s and drizzle. Today? Snowing heavily with a predicted 12-16 inches and winds to increase to 50 mph. If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change. So, seeing as I was snowed in today, I had a studio day. Don't get enough of those.

I'm calling this "In An Autumn Wood". It's was fun doing a fast project. It's 9 inches square. Every now and again I need instant gratification, as so many of my projects take the better part of a year.

On Crazy Quilts and Roses

I'm stitching a piece for this year's Hoffman Challenge. The featured fabric is the peacock fabric. The deadline is one month away! But, this wall hanging is EXTENSIVELY hand stitched and embellished. It's slow work, but good work! The central peacock I stitched with silk embroidery floss (Pearsall's silk).


When the garden is this beautiful, it's difficult being inside working on a project. Right now, the roses are really starting to bloom and the air is perfumed richly. This is Apothecary Rose (Rosa gallica) and is an ancient rose that was used in official pharmaceutical preparations. I make Rose Petal Jelly and Jam, vinegar, tincture, glycerite, crystallized rose petals, rose butter, rose couscous, and anything else I can think of that incorporates roses!



This rose is Constance Spry. She's a beauty and highly prolific.
This is William Baffin, one of the Canadian Explorer Roses, which means it is exceptionally hardy and does extremely well for us in Zone 5.
We have many, many other roses and Paul's Himalayan musk is enchanting us with its scent. How can such a diminutive rose have such a huge olfactory impact?
Today's chores included making cider/sage jelly, Healing Comfort salves, planting more carrots, beets and various herbs as well as stitching. It's a good life.