March is in Like a Lion

I love snow days! They give me an excuse to put off errands and get things done around the house.  I am very blessed that my “job” is right here at home, so I can just hunker down and enjoy. I’ve cleaned, done the laundry, finished up some inventory sheets and now I’m working on my newest elephant pillow.

Adding baby pink beads to Elephant.

Soon the mailboxes will be covered!



The trees in the backyard are so pretty.

What's New

New things are happening at The Beaded Pillow! I've created several new patterns and have been busy turning them into pillows, decorations and ornaments for the holiday season. I've also gone on a few fabulous fabric junkets around the Midwest (a couple of these in conjunction with working on wedding plans with my daughter). I've found some wonderful new fabrics, which you'll see below...and all plans for the wedding are right on track. My daughter has an app for her smart phone that lets her know when to do what. Quite convenient most of the time, a bit annoying at others. Who can relate?

A sample of "grunge" fabric. Wonderful colors and a little texture. A joy to work with.

This year I found a variety of red cardinal fabric.



These cute pillows came about after deleting one segment from the pumpkin pattern.

It Was Christmas on Thursday!

In my last post I mentioned buying wonderful fabric at the Quilter’s Convention held this week in Rochester, MN. I’m like a kid at Christmas with new fabric and have already started (and almost completed) a pillow from the peacock fabric. It has a pattern of 6 so you’ll be seeing more of the brilliant blue bird in the future, never fear. I have inklings of how I want to use each piece of fabric, but I’m always happy for you to share your opinions as well.

This is the fat quarter I purchased from the Africa booth; I thought coasters from this would be fun.What do you think?

Birds are always popular, especially cardinals..you'll see them in time for Christmas in one form or another!

Too pretty to pass up...pillow for sure then what?

I plan to bead the edges only, not the "paintings. Won't these make cool pillows?

The Ballerina has already been reserved!

Here you can see how I've already made one peacock into a pillow. I found some incredible beads for the tail feathers...stay tuned.

Queen for a Day

I sure feel like a Queen today. I'm a Guest Blogger and that's very cool. My sincere thanks to Kim for allowing me such a wonderful opportunity!



Opportunity

Now where's that crown......

Row Row Row Your Boat WIP

My latest work-in-progress is another design by illustrator Julie Paschkis. julie's site  I love her work! This little pillow features a man in a boat calmly drifting along. The green swirls of the river have been quilted. I’ve trimmed the pillow and started on the center lantern. Many more beads will have to be hand sewn onto this treasure before it’s completed; the journey continues.

Lots of little yellow and crystal seed beads with a few small faux pearls will make this lantern shine.



Grass green seed beads trim this lovely pillow.

Friends

Thanks to Etsy and Blogger I've met some pretty cool people over the past 3 years, but Della (Del's Shells) is the first I've met in person. She has been such a wonderful support to me, my Etsy shop and my blog that it truly was a privilege to actually sit down and share brunch with her this past Sunday in Ocala, FL. Although we spent only about an hour together I think we could've used up the entire day chatting away and not run out of topics! She is a beautiful person and talented crafter. She is my friend.

Please take a moment and check out Della's wonderful shop and blog I promise you'll find some lovely things!

Della and me.

My beautiful shell/bead necklace hand-crafted by Della.