11/11/09 : My First Full Sized Quilt--In Progress

As soon as October came around and my family was working on the farm in the cold, wet weather for almost 30 days straight, the ineffable happened--my older sister needed an extra bed cover. I found her looking on the Internet for quilt prices and toying with the idea of buying one, but I said, "Why don't you let me make one?" As soon as I said it I felt like I was getting myself into a mess!

I only made one quilt before--a crib sized one--and that was, I thought at the time, very hard to do. I haven't quilted much since that baby quilt, so why on earth did I volunteer to make a HUGE one that will fit her twin sized bed? "Oh well," I thought, "I'll give it a go anyway."

So on October 10 I began to pick out designs, find fabric, and see how much yardage I needed. I am still working on the quilt but here is what happened so far: Read more »

11/04/09: Mary's Rose Garden

I make handmade rosaries to sell in the Craft Room--a small room adjacent to my family's fruit and vegetable market. I use 60 beads, 60 eye pins, 14 links of chain, a medal centerpiece, and a small crucifix to make one rosary. Here are a few photos of a rosary I made for an order:

What is a rosary?

The word "rosary" means "rose garden" in Latin and is used interchangeably for a prayer and a string of beads that is used when praying the rosary. So I won't confuse anyone I will capitalize the word when speaking of the prayer.
The rosary is comprised of five decades of beads, each separated by a bead referred to as the "Our Father." Each decade is set aside for one specific Mystery of Our Faith to allow the person to meditate. The Mysteries of the Rosary are the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Finding in the Temple, Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Christ's Death on the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of Mary, and the Coronation of Mary. And the Luminous Mysteries that were added by Pope John Paul II in 2002 are: the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the wedding at Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, the Transfiguration, and the institution of the Eucharist.




To learn how to pray the Rosary visit this page here. And to learn about the long and miraculous history of this beautiful prayer, see this site here.