And she makes fun ties, too....

 I spent a couple hours making Luke a Start Wars tie.  He's very happy with it, and so am It.  

 He a pro at tying a tie.

 nice looking

Star Wars.... If you are interested in this particular tie, I have the fabric to make one more.  Comment here or shoot me a email.

Fingers are a-flying...

In the past few years Laura and I have gotten busy getting a little hand craft business going. 

Knitting, crocheting and sewing...

Generally we do business through the J.C.Marie HandCrafts site on Facebook.

This link will take you over to the site.  

If we aren't working on orders, we love to craft for charity.. There are many sites to be found that are in need of hand crafted items. 

The Micky and Minnie Mouse hats are two of our most popular items. 

Snowmen are fun this time of year.  With earflaps and braids it keeps you warm on our snowy winter days.

Infant and toddler flannel bibs with waterproof backing.  

Super soft and squishy blankets for boys and girls

keeping cozy

double thickness potholders... all colors are available...These were for Christmas

super soft blankets for baby girls.... or big girls

Luke modeling the very popular beard hat

Kimberly modeling the twirly top earflap hat

This is where our business started...This can be sized newborn on up

I love the black and white colors or this kitchen set.  It includes 2 potholders, 2 dishcloths and on hanging dish towel.

Another popular item... the wolf hat

Gracie modeling the ear warmer

Assorted hats and mittens.

Toddler sized flannel bibs, now with waterproof backing

Another very popular design... the fox hat

These are the roses that I sell to help little ones say the Rosary. You can see a link to how we used these roses at this link. 

A reusable swiffter pad... just throw it in the washer and dryer...It saves a ton of money

These little booties were made for favors at a baby shower.  Put a tag on them and chocolate coins and you are all set.  

Thank you for taking a look at our recent creations.  

There's a lot of choices here...A homemade man's tie

 I did some fun sewing toady...It was the first tie I sewed for Mark. (He has to wear a tie to school every day.)

 It turned out great.  The proportions and length turned out perfectly. 

I can see the future, and in the future I see a tie for every season and occasion!

I used Simplicity pattern #4726

 Luke showing off the tie I made today. (for Mark)

 Making these ties is addictive

The underside of the tie...it shows the handsewing.

Beautiful Craftmanship!!

 I ordered this gorgeous bag from a dear friend who has moved far away but remains in our hearts.

She is a trememdous--crafting--sewing--embroidering....artist.

Ann blogs over at Learning Late In Life. She sews many beautiful items and does amazing machine embroidery 

 I ordered my bag and then left it up to Ann.  I did request the dark color fabric...this is just beautiful!

 Kimmy discovered a very cute embroidered bird on the inside of the bag.

Kim then realized you could turn the whole bag inside out...it's a two for one bag!

Inside out.

Thank you Ann for your beautiful and quick work...I love my new bag.

If you would like to place an order Ann's email is: ann.kraeger@facebook.com



Sunday afternoon lessons

 Gracie was overjoyed to have her first sewing lesson this afternoon.

We bought flannel on the way home from church to make pillow cases.

She quickly became an expert on very straight seams.

 Complete!  I love her choice of fabric.

 The test....does the pillowcase work?  Yes, it does!

 She continued her sewing and made both Kim and Luke pillowcases of their own.

 Cozy

 Kim discovered it works. (

 After Grace finished sewing, I used the left over fabric to make oatmeal "logs" for these chilly days and nights.



A Lot of Cozy Warm Kids

 I completed Gracie's nightgown today...

We now have a whole lot of coziness at bedtime.



The Sewing Machine has been Humming

Poor Luke always seems to get short end of my sewing time, so before I sewed other item for the girls I decided to make him some Spriderman pajamas.

He loves them..and they are a perfect fit (which always makes me happy).

It seems all my patterns are getting to small for my growing children, and luckily, Joann's Fabrics had their Simplicity patterns on sale for .99 this past week.

This is Simplicity 4388...it will also be used to make a nightgown for Gracie later this week.

Three Down....

at least two more to go.

My beautiful Gracie is now also a beautiful princess, Snow White to be exact.I used McCall's pattern #M5494 for this costume.

New Skirts for my Girls

There was a good sale on this soft denim at Joann's fabrics so I made Laura and Amy new skirts.

Amy's skirt was the first garment I made with a real zipper and fly. I also was surprised I figured out how to put the "flare" in the bottom.