Welcome 2010!

Wanted to wish all my blogland friends a very Happy New Year!!

I sincerely hope you all have a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Reading creative blogs has been a fun and happy part of my life over the past year. I have also enjoyed using this blog as a way to keep track of all the creative things I have been busy with. I know my posting has slowed a bit, but I am grateful to all of those who have stuck with me. I appreciate so much all the kind comments, and your interest in my endeavours.

I was reminiscing today, looking at photos from 2009. To be honest I had completely forgotten about some of the things I have made! I picked some of my favorites and thought I'd share them again, I guess you could say "the year in review" ;)










If you celebrate tonight be safe! It will be a quiet one here, my boy has strep throat =( but we will watch fireworks off the back patio. Here in Florida, people shoot fireworks for every holiday! LOL

Take care and see ya next year! xoxo

Carrie's Christmas Workshop

I have been a busy elf for the past month! I am really trying to make all my gifts this year, well, except for the men in the family....they just don't seem to be interested in all my crafty things...

I have been sewing, sewing, sewing, with some more sewing still to do but I wanted to post some pics of some of what I've made so far.

My awesome Mommie gave me a Moda Jellyroll, and yardage of Mary Engelbreit Christmas fabric and I used it all up and made...

Purses big and small and quilted covered journals:



I had just enough of the strips left to cover these Christmas journals I found at Michael's.
There is a tutorial for covering journals at MODA BAKESHOP.


Those last little purses are so cute and easy to make!! Find the tutorial for personal use HERE.
The pattern does not call for quilted fabric, I just chose to use fabric I had quilted =)

Then I made some fabric covered monogrammed 2010 day planners.

These day planners came from Michael's, and they have a nice cardboard cover, and fit in your purse and were only $1! I used the NO-Sew HeatNBond to attach the letters, and they will be stuck for good...

Then for the dogs lovers I bought some new leashes that have reflective threads weaved into them, and added bows and attached via split ring, little fabric bags to hold the plastic bags we need to take with us.

This is one for my friend Frannie who loves Mickey so much her beloved pooch is named Mickey =)

I still have several bags to finish and some other goodies to bake...wish me luck because I NEED it!! My first holiday guests arrive Saturday!

Happy Kitty ;)

Okay, another swap done! Only 2 more to go woo hoo!
This was the Sock Doll Swap on Craftster....now I love making creatures from socks, so even though I NEED a sock creature like I NEED a migraine, I couldn't resist.
Here a couple sock cuties I created in the past:


You can't go wrong with socks, they have great patterns, colors and are soft. And, if you get them at your dollar store they are CHEAP!
My partner for this swap wanted something "cute A/O pretty" and she like cats, so this is what I came up with:


Hope she loves her! My partner should receive it today, so we shall see...
I heard from my partner in the Book Club Swap and she loved her goodies, and has already been using the patchwork bag and wore one of the headbands, yay!
On the Christmas front, last night I cut out and interfaced all the fabric for 10 bags! Now I can start the sewing. I am so proud of myself, but must confess I stayed up too late and today I am dragging. Oh, well, no pain no gain right?
Hope you are having a great weekend!

It's November?!?!?

I am starting to feel the panic already. =) Seems like I just put up all the Halloween decorations and today they are coming down! =(
I have a LONG list of projects and things needing to be done by Christmas...hope I can manage it. I am also in the middle of 4 swaps, why did I do that to myself?? But one more swap is done yay!!
Here are the pics of what I sent:
Patchwork Bag for her knitting projects

A knitting needle case, here it is rolled up:

And unrolled:

And some fabric headbands made with Heather Bailey's Tutorial

I also sent 3 skeins of Vanna's Choice yarn in her fave colors.
Now they are off to the opposite end of the country, San Jose CA. Safe travels!
I winged the needle case, so hopefully it will work...the headbands are quick and fun to make and will definitely be on my Christmas gift making list. The only issue is you kind of have to know how big the person's head is you are making it for. Hopefully these will fit her.
My goal this year is to make most/all of the gifts we give...do you think I can do it??

Halloween Gifting

One of my best friends here has 2 daughters, both of whom have October birthdays. I am in such a Halloweeen crafting mood right now, so I went that theme for their gifts! They received sock skeletons, cat zipper pouches with gift cards inside and other Halloween trinkets.

Robert Mahar of Mahar Dry Goods was recently on Martha and featured his sock skeleton. If you are a fan of making sock dolls I highly recommend giving this a try! I had a lot of fun making them.
Then I packed them up in some Halloween boxes I found at Target, just added a felt ruffle to the top.

If you are interested in the zipper pouches, they are from an Indygo Junction pattern, I make them smallest size, but I don't add any polyfill, makes it easier to put things in the pouch ;)