Home Staging by Vazzo Spaces. Art by Jo Hyman. More Details on The Pillow Goddess Blog! Happy Spring friends!  This is the 3rd, and final post, about the 2019 Austin Modern Home Tour produced every year by Modern Architecture + Design Society.  I always love the Modern Home Tour and come away incredibly inspired! Please be sure to check out the blog for Part I: "Mad About Mid-Century! 5 Reasons you'll Love..." HERE and Part 2: "10 Powerful Pillow Goddess Picks...to Modernize Your Home" HERE to get the full scope of the entire tour and my tips, as there were 12 beautiful and diverse homes AND an entire Mid-Century Modern Village, Starlight Village Homes filled with incredible modern furniture by a new local Austin store, Modern Redux. I'm excited today to share with you this week

Happy Texture Tuesday!  School's out, WEST is over, and summer's here!! Hallalujah!! While Austin is hitting triple digits far too soon, I finally went to Barton Springs Pool last week, and that, my friends, officially kicks off summer for me. I dont know if you followed our #BIGPurge on Facebook, but spring was jam packed. My husband, David, and I got rid of two storage units and held a huge Estate Sale (with the help of 6 amazing friends!  Have to say Austinites are so kind and helpful.) and then turned around and did the WEST Austin Studio Tour. And I even

[caption id="attachment_13649" align="alignnone" width="584"] Detail of Encaustic painting by guest artist Annie Darling.[/caption] I've been absent from blogging for a couple weeks recovering from the FANTASTIC experience of my first WEST Austin Studio Tour.  It was a whirlwind of a two weeks but couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Thank you to my guest artists Annie Darling, Judith Simonds, Denise Jaunsem, and Yuliya Lanina. What a wonderful, talented group of women!  Thank you to Big Medium for putting on such a stellar Studio Tour. But most

Sometimes it takes a relative or friend visiting to get you out to re-discover your own back yard. You know how the saying goes that you never really sightsee in the city you live, especially if you've lived in it 30 plus years! Since I'm taking most of April off to enjoy my 60th birthday, that's exactly what I did today, see all the beautiful sites like waterfalls, flora and cacti at the Zilker Botanical Garden. It's literally IN my backyard, as I only live up the hill from Zilker Park. Why I have not been there in years is beyond me??

Spring is my favorite month of the year and our Shumard Red Oak has almost all of its fresh green leaves on it!  (I'm sorry for those still suffering through winter, but maybe this post will put a spring into your step!) I also love the month of April because it's my wedding anniversary and birthday, back to back, and this year I've been working on my garden to get it all ready for the special occasions. I love nature and it feels great to get back to gardening.

20170308_224445 (2) SXSW and Spring Break are here, our Airbnb guest from Holland has arrived and I want to inspire you with art. I love going to art openings and art galleries. Art has a way of opening up your mind, sparking creativity, inspiring imagination, and seeing life from a different perspective.  I believe we all need more art in our lives and the Austin area has plenty of it, and at affordable prices too. The above image detail is full of color and texture in the form of tiny square photos taken by artist Thomas Athey.  Wait till you see below the larger image of his fine photography below!

[caption id="attachment_13080" align="alignnone" width="584"] A few of the hundreds of vintage French trims, ribbon and brooches I have in my collection to create textile art pieces for you.[/caption] Are you sitting down?  Okay, here's the news: This week's Texture Tuesday is going to be brief. I know that's hard to imagine, since my blog posts are basically short novellas, but I'm going to try for a few weeks to see if I can keep Texture Tuesday shorter.

Happy Texture Tuesday!  With all that's going on in our country and the world, I thought I'd give your mind (and mine) a break with this week's Texture Tuesday.  I feature three textile art pillows I've submitted to apply for art exhibitions. Some exhibitions your work gets accepted, and others it doesn't. I'm currently waiting to hear back from two. I thought you might enjoy seeing the creative process that goes on behind the scenes in the Deborah Main Designs studio for each art piece I handcraft.

Remember last week I said it was Tradeshow Season with Color and Texture On Trend?  Well, Las Vegas Market is wrapping up, and since I'm not there, and had no time to share all my wonderful photos from that AMAZING whirlwind trip last year, this week's Texture Tuesday is dedicated to:

Happy New Year! I hope you and your family and friends had a lovely holiday. I don't know about you, but I'm NOT one of these people who bolt out of the gate come Monday, January 2nd, with all my goals and plans set for 2017. No, no...I'm one who always wishes for TWO weeks between Christmas and New Years because I need more time.

[caption id="attachment_12621" align="alignnone" width="584"]"Fit for a Queen" by Simmang Design. "Fit for a Queen" by Simmang Design.[/caption]

No, it's not the third day of Christmas yet. And no, sadly my true love did not send me this beautiful necklace above. But I just couldn't wait to share with you this fabulous piece by Simmang Design that I just happened upon this weekend when I popped into a fun little holiday show in North Austin at Just Jill Beauty & Wellness.  I had no idea that, on what was supposed to be a lazy Sunday, I was going to have so much fun and a little impromptu pampering at a local event.

For this week's Texture Tuesday, instead of three French hens, I bring you three Italian blue Goldstones. Originally designed in 2013 for Austin Fashion Week by Jillian Simmang of Simmang Design, this regal necklace features three glass stones and a host of other textural details.

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Look at all those shopping bags my friend Leslie Hyland Rogers is dashing out the door with!  Leslie, founder of Symphony of Soul, and countless other new and old friends, made my first Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale such a success that I've extended it to four more times in December.  I haven't had an Open Studio since 2011, and I think it will now be an annual or semi-annual affair.

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[caption id="attachment_12451" align="alignnone" width="584"]This photo was taken by JD Walker, owner of Flowers & Found Objects, our newest store in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He has a beautiful display of our Ornamental Charm Series. This photo was taken by JD Walker, owner of Flowers & Found Objects, our newest store in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He has a beautiful display of our one-of-a-kind Ornamental Charm Series.[/caption]

This week's Texture Tuesday (no new post this Friday) is about my studio as I'm busy preparing for my Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale and YOU are invited!  I'd love to see you, celebrate the holidays together, and show you where I create my artwork.

Texture and color are everywhere in my tiny South Austin studio. So much that I need to do a bit of culling. It seems you CAN have too much of a good thing. Especially when you're a collector, or in more primal terms, as some south Austin stitchers like to say, a "fabric junkie".

I confess. I have A LOT of stuff!!! (But I am not a hoarder, so don't judge) :-)