Interview with Kathryn from Maidens of Virtue and The Hope Chest Record Book Giveaway - CLOSED

This giveaway has closed!
About a week or so ago, I discovered Maidens of Virtue on another site's giveaway page and am delighted for you to get to know a little more about it today with the following interview:
1. Tell us about yourself and your site, Maidens of Virtue.
My name is Kathryn and I am 17 years old. I've been homeschooled my whole life, and absolutely love it! I am currently living at home on 6 beautiful acres with my wonderful parents and younger sister, as well as two cats. :-)

I started Maidens of Virtue back in January of 2007. My inspiration came from the book by Stacy McDonald, “Raising Maidens of Virtue.” I was paging through the book one day and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a website with encouraging information like this for young ladies?” So much of our culture has an emphasis on independence and telling girls they can do it all on their own and be just like men, and I wanted to put a website out there that promoted the Biblical perspective of womanhood and daughterhood. Since then it has taken off much more than I ever thought it would; I did no advertising at all beyond emailing my friends and telling them about it, and yet I get a pretty steady flow of traffic to the site. I’m thankful the Lord has blessed it so much!

2.Do you have a blog?
Yes; it’s called The Girlhood Gazette and you can reach it from the main website or by typing in http://maidensofvirtue.com/blog. I started the blog as another avenue of encouragement, and as a place where I could post things I probably wouldn’t post on the website. While I do update the website once in a while, I post on the blog much more often.

3. You have a lot of interesting articles on your site, which one would you recommend most for mothers to read and which one for daughters?
Hmmm... I don’t know if I could say just one but probably for daughters, of the articles I myself have written, “Helping & Serving Your Knight in Shining Armor” (http://maidensofvirtue.com/helping_serving_your_knight.html), Maidenly Deportment (http://maidensofvirtue.com/maidenly_deportment.html), and Setting an Example (http://maidensofvirtue.com/setting_an_example.html) are the ones I would most recommend. I think Maidenly Deportment applies to mothers as well. I also have a page of articles written by other authors, and I think of those I would highly recommend “Romance?” for both moms and girls.

4. I also enjoyed reading your poetry section and wondered if there is one poem that is particularly meaningful to you?
Well, I have to say that so many of the submissions I receive for the poetry page shows the exceptional talent of the authors! Probably the most meaningful poem for me is “Corner Pillars” - a dear friend of mine wrote it for me for one of my birthdays, so it is special to me!

5. While looking through your shop items, Sew Smoothly caught my eye. Would you tell us a little about this?
The Sew Smoothy was “invented” by my grandmother. It is designed to help prevent tangles in thread when hand sewing. Before you knot your thread, pass it through the pad once or twice, and it conditions the thread which helps it to glide more smoothly through the fabric and reduces the chance of getting knots. We gave one to an elderly lady who did a lot of hand sewing and she kept telling us how wonderful it was!

6. What about this essay contest you have going on right now?
In 2007 to help boost traffic and just for fun, I had a poetry contest and decided to make it an annual event. This year for something different it’s an essay contest. It’s open to all young ladies 9 through 25, broken into two categories with prizes in each category. We have a lot of great prizes this year and the first three entrants in each category will also receive a little gift from us. The topic is True Beauty for both categories. The deadline is May 1st (snail mail entries have to be postmarked by that date), unless I have to extend it as I have both previous contests. :-)




7. Please tell us now about the book you are providing for this giveaway, The Hope Chest Record Book.
I put the book together as a way for young ladies to keep a record of the items they make or receive for their hope chests. It would be easy to fill the chest and then years later, not remember who gave you what and when or why, or when you made a specific item and other details. I think it is especially important to record the history of family heirlooms that have been passed down. Another point is that when you write down the details of what is now a new item, generations down the road will have that record when those things become heirlooms.


8. Last question: If you could only put 10 things in a hope chest, what would they be?
Oh, wow, that’s a tough question! Personally I think the most practical things for a hope chest are linens, etc. as dishes, pots and pans take up too much room (not that there is anything wrong with collecting those). Here is my list which was rather difficult to come up with. :-)

• Handmade quilt for master bed
• Set of sheets (embroidered!)
• A feminine apron
• Recipe box w/ favorite family recipes
• Napkin/Tablecloth set
• Set of towels
• Pot holders
• A nice big, comfy afghan!
• A tea set
• A Bible

Thanks, April, this was fun!

Blessings,
Kathryn

Kathryn, thank you for such enjoyable answers and for providing this great resource to give away!
O.K. Readers, here are the different ways you can earn entries (1 entry for each comment)
Mandatory first entry! Visit Maiden's of Virtue's shoppe and tell us your favorite item. Your other entries will not count if you do not do this!
2. Visit The Girlhood Gazette and leave an encouraging comment on one of Kathryn's posts.
Leave a comment with a link to that post.
3. Let me know you are a subscriber to Once Upon A Qpon..
4. Blog about this and leave a link in your comment.
5. Follow this blog.
6. Follow me on twitter @onceuponaqpon, leave a comment with your twitter name.
7. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a link in your comment.
8. Answer this question: What is a skill that you wish you would have learned growing up that would have helped you now?
Mine is sewing!
This giveaway will end May 9, 2009.

April