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

Heirloom Love Letters

Brent (one of The Fabulous Beekman Boys) asked me to design and stitch a Valentine. I came up with this, which Brent calls an Heirloom Love Letter.
One the reverse is fabric upon which you can write your romantic sentiments and then send it through the mail to your loved one. It even includes a Beekman postage stamp! Go to the link above to order one for your sweetheart.

While on the Beekman 1802 site, check out the Seasonal Lady Pillows I stitch for them. My husband, Dan, and I also create the Four Seasons candles and Milk Baths. Soon, you will be able to purchase a few other products we make in the Four Seasons scents on the Beekman 1802 page.

To order our other herbal, handmade products, go to GreenSpiralHerbs.

Brent and Josh love supporting local artists (we live in the same county as the Boys). Our son, Ryan Pillsbury and his business partner, DareRick Krufchinski, own Legacy Woodcraft. www.legacywoodcraft.com They make the Garden Hods, candle boxes, soap boxes and various other wooden products for Beekman 1802.

2011 Class Schedule

I've just updated the website with classes for the next several months. Things crazy quilt and things herbal. We are in the process of remodeling the building next door. The space is light and bright and perfect for classes! A new series for this year will be "The Herbalist's Table". Throughout the seasons, I'll take you into yard and garden where we will harvest plants and then come back to the kitchen and transform them into delicious dishes!

I'll also be giving classes on crazy quilting - piecing, embroidery, beadwork, etc.

On June 15, there is a free herb walk around the property - which is a certified Botanical Sanctuary. We grow hundreds of herbs, as well as fruits, berries, veggies and mushrooms. Hope you can join us!

Happy New Year!!

2010 certainly was a busy one! From our collaboration with The Fabulous Beekman Boys (making Heirloom Love Letters, Milk Shakes, Candles and a few more goodies to be introduced in 2011) to Danny's accident with the table saw, the barn fire, kids moving, finishing David Winston's 2-year Herbal Study Program (and my herbal thesis quilt), a new grandson!!, and renovating a new space for retail to open in 2011.

I'm starting an herb/plant study group called BIG - Botanical Interest Group.

Botanical Interest Group – Do you love plants, herbs especially? Would you like to get
together with like-minded folks to discuss growing and using useful plants? Join Betty Pillsbury at Green Spiral Herbs in Huntersland on third Wednesdays at 10 a.m. and see what grows! January 19 is our first meeting.
I'm setting up the class schedule for 2011. Details posted soon. Coming up January 11 is a lecture and trunk show for the Piecemakers Quilt Guild in Middleburgh, NY.
May 2011 bring you blessings of good health, love and abundance.

Happy Solstice, Merry Yule!

From A Celtic Devotional by Caitlin Matthews:

Greeting to the Winter Solstice
Brightener of Darkness, hail!
Keeper of Clearness, Opener of the Depths.
Gifts of plenty are arising,
Winter wonders, white snows fall.
Joyful be the heart within us,
Open wide the guesting door,
Wisdom waken in abundance,
Warm our beings to the core.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady's Mantle Emerging

Lady's mantle. Alchemilla vulgaris. It's said the dew collected from lady's mantle leaves have magical properties and was used by medieval alchemists in their attempts to turn lead into gold. Not one to pass up an opportunity to anoint myself with magic, I always dab a bit of the dew on my face while in the garden.

Spring Flowers

While in the garden yesterday, I remarked to my 5-year-old grandson, "Look, the coltsfoot is in bloom." He stopped, looked down and said, "Granny, they look a lot like dandi-flowers." It's true. And many adults assume the yellow blossoms along the side of the road at this time of year are dandelions. Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, is one of the earliest blooming wildflowers/herbs in the Northeast. Also known as "Father-Before-the-Son" because the flowers appear before the leaves, coltsfoot brings welcome color in early spring. Coltsfoot is used as a cough remedy by herbalists.

Also blooming are sweet violets. "Regular" garden violets will bloom a little later, but the sweet violets always appear first. Pushing up through the earth, garnering our attention, were angelica, catnip, butterbur, squirrel corn, motherwort, nettles, pulsatilla, chickweed and chives. The first of the peepers were singing. The ground is still sodden and there is standing water in many places after the huge rains. Some snow remains in shadowy places. But, spring is springing!