I love to watch what beaders are doing, especially online. A few weeks ago, the Etsy Beadweavers Street Team got 25 volunteers together to create beaded squares for 2009 bead quilts. Every year, the bead quilts are auctioned at our Bead&Button Show in Milwaukee in June, and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. The donations multiply when show attendees buy jewelry at our show's silent auction and other items at the same live auction where the bead quilts are sold. (We wrote a story about it in Bead&Button's December 2007 magazine issue.)

It's very gratifying for beaders everywhere to see the response to this wonderful bead quilt project. On behalf of Bead&Button, thank you Etsy Beadweavers!

You can find out more about the bead quilt project at Jeanette Shanigan's Web site, shanigansbeadshenanigans.com or Tonette Pillitteri's Web site, beadbabe.com. Tonette and Jeanette, along with hundreds of others, put immeasurable time into this effort. We thank you all.