I received an email a while back from a priest in a community who needed a solution for replacing the ties on their albs. Alb ties often wear out, tear, and become too short to tie but replacing an alb can be costly, especially when you have a full community of priests. A much better, cost-effective solution is to replace the ties and restore the alb to use. There are a number of solutions that I have seen over the years to replace alb ties — twill tape, ribbon, cording, etc.

I am a purger by nature and prefer a clean workspace free of clutter. This could be a problem when a project is particularly messy and ongoing. But, for me, this is balanced out with a good sense of thriftiness and efficiency. All combined it makes for a reasonable discernment process when salvaging and saving materials then applying them to the right piece. Over the years I have seen what seems like useless scraps become the perfect fit for restoring a piece, particularly wh

We are deeply grateful to God and all of you for a wonderful year. We pray that your Christmas season will be filled with joy and peaceful holiness will reside in your heart and home throughout the new year. May God bless and keep you and your loved ones always!

Forgive me while I step away from stitching for a moment to reflect on the Immaculate Conception, one of my favorite solemnities. For me the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is always a good reminder that our ideas of God's omnipotence are extremely limited by our linear experience of time. In His wisdom He allowed Mary to be conceived without the stain of original sin by her Son's redeeming work on the Cross many years before it happened. Then He revealed this Truth t

Every once in a while (probably not nearly enough) I get to make a project just for fun. Not usually anything too big or fancy...until now. I am going to launch some new products and I wanted to make some embroidery samples to showcase some of the designs that will be available. But what designs to embroider? on which fabric? and with what thread? hmmmm....?? Well they say 'necessity is the mother of invention' so that is where I found the answers to my questions. Advent wa