Re-igniting an Old Passion (plus some Swap Update)

My daughter will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation very soon. On special occasions such as this, I usually give my kids a small token to forever remind them of the TRUE gift they received on the day.

Missy, whose baptismal name is Marie, has chosen Anne to be her confirmed name. What an appropriate name, I believe, St. Anne, being the mother of Mary. I initially thought of making her a rosary bracelet with a St. Anne medal and so I went on searching on eBay for one. What I found instead was this...a small vintage brooch with a lovely image of St. Anne and the child Mary. I bought it without second thoughts.

I still went ahead and made a matching rosary bracelet. I had all the materials on hand anyway.

I used turquoise semi-precious gemstones for the prayer beads and have included a Benedictine crucifix and a Miraculous medal. This is something I hope Missy will treasure as she matures in her Catholic faith. Please remember her in your prayers.

Speaking of rosary bracelets...many of you who are new readers of this blog probably don't know that long before I started sewing and selling on Etsy, I was actively making rosaries and selling them on eBay. I did that for a couple of years and was actually doing quite well. I found great fulfillment in being able to encourage people to pray the rosary, even in my own little way. Three reasons why I decided to stop making and selling rosaries: one, the increasing eBay fees was just too much for me; two, I could no longer keep up with the big sellers; and three, having Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on both hands made it quite difficult for me to continually handcraft each rosary.

Anyway, making that bracelet for my daughter reminded me of how much I used to find joy in rosary-making. When I found out that, on Etsy, there is such a team as a Rosary Guild, I quickly requested to join in and am now slowly getting back to my rosary-making! If you click on my shop link on the sidebar, you will see what I have listed so far. Maybe Etsy's reach will not be as wide compared to eBay but I'm giving it a try... I'll just see how that goes...

NOW...on to some Swap news. It's been a week since I posted about the first Swap and apparently, no one is interested or has any use for the Kiddie Fat Quarters on offer. And so...sensing that a lot of you are waiting for a different swap, I've decided to scrap that first one and head on to the next.

Update (24/9/09): FOUND MY SWAP PARTNER! NO LONGER ACCEPTING OFFERS. TILL NEXT SWAP!

Would you like to own this City Backpack instead?

This bag is exactly the one in the tutorial I posted here. Again, if you are new to this blog, I encourage you to also read this. I love this bag but have not used it ever. Just so you know what to expect, this was the first backpack I made and I had a crappy sewing matching then, so you might find some minor faults in my sewing. Sounds like I'm just making excuses for my unpolished sewing skills...seriously, though, I'm sure you will love it as well.

Let me just repeat the mechanics of the Heart of Mary Swap:

1. If you are interested, please leave a comment here plus your contact information. Tell me what you would trade for this backpack. Try me! If you can email me photos of your item, the better.

2. I am willing to ship to anywhere around the world so anyone can join.

3. I will choose the best offer and commence the swap. Next swap round will begin as soon as my swap partner and I receive our respective items.

Everything clear? The trading floor is now open!