When you realize that you will be making a piece of liturgical furniture that will outlive you in a very public way, it definitely changes the way you look at the way you design and build it.

It has been a wonderful experience. He is very much the perfectionist fabricator. Because we think the same about how we approach our work, I can turn things over to Ben without having to nail down every last scrap of detail.

The half-dozen new Catholic churches built in Iowa in recent years all have commissioned custom-built pieces.

Custom work in general is always more (costly) than something produced in a factory. The difference in price depends on how elaborate the design is and the types of materials used.

These are not pieces we're interested in stamping out in mass quantities.

There will be quilts for sale, antiques for sale and the merchant mall with tons of fabrics, notions and anything a quilter could ever want.