Hello!  My name is Carrie. I have been sewing by  hand and sewing machine since I was a little girl. My Mother was an excellent sewer, as was her Mother.

I have an amazing man in my life, who inspires me often and loves me unconditionally. I have 4 grown children, 1 step daughter & her husband, 2 son-in-laws, 1 daughter-in-law and 6 grandchildren.  I grew up in Minnesota. Yes, it gets  cold in Minnesota and it gets very hot in the summer.  I love Minnesota!  I also love the snow. It is beautiful with the first snowfall. Yes, winters are long. It doesn't stop anyone from going shopping during a blizzard or being outside when it is 20 below zero.  It makes life interesting and you learn to adapt your plans to the weather.  I love having four seasons. Each season has its own beauty and wonder. You never know how long each season will be, it changes as fast as the weather. Life goes on no matter what kind of weather we are having, which is in any location you are living in.

Me with my Yamaha 12 String Guitar in 1974

(I still have this guitar)

I have worked as a sales clerk, been a secretary/office manager, retail manager, assistant director for a preschool-daycare, worked in a recycling center, a short jog in a Christmas decorations factory, caretaker for elderly, a home Mom and a seamstress/embroiderer in the home.(not in that order)

My eldest daughter when she was 6 years old, wearing a calico dress I sewed. My Mother crocheted the beautiful pinafore.

I have traveled through 32 different States (including Hawaii). I have been on one missions trip with a church group to Nicaragua (was amazing!). I have traveled many times to Ontario, Canada. Beautiful country.

I have volunteered at local schools where my children attended and volunteered my time sewing costumes. I had one hair pulling story about sewing costumes:  When my 2nd born son was in High School the drama teacher needed 5 dresses sewn at the last minute. I worked as an Office Manager in a small office at that time and had permission to bring my sewing machine into work.

My type writer was moved over for my sewing machine. For 5 hours I assembled these cut out pieces with no directions attached! It was an intense time sewing because the first performance of the play was that night! I managed to sew these 5 dresses (with zippers, gathered skirts and fancy shoulder ruffles attached to a bib) and rushed them to the school 10 minutes before these 5 girls were supposed to be on stage.  They were right on time! The girls were so excited and I was glad I just made it before they went out on stage. The things you can do when you are under pressure is truly amazing. (thank you heavenly Father!)

Picture above was my artistic painting touch in the master bathroom in a house I lived in. I used a Victorian Rose color and plain White. I had a special brush that had a soft fuzzy pad that let me paint the two colors at the same time with one stroke. I gently patted the walls in different spots, swirled the colors and then went back over some of the spots to make them blend to what you see here. It took me 4 hours to do 4 walls.  This picture doesn't do it any justice. It really came out pretty.

A hand smocked Christening Gown I made for my oldest daughter but she ended up wearing one my Mom bought so I saved it and my 3rd born daughter wore it for her baptism.

I am usually involved in whatever church that I have attended. Having to relocate so often gave me the opportunities in singing on worship teams, or some involvement with the music ministry. Once I was co-director for the Women's Ministry, I have taught Sunday School for children, was a teacher/helper in Children's Ministries in a large church where we had 5 other teachers. We had 40 ot 60 children in our room. We had a puppet theatre and stage. I helped write Bible story skits and puppet shows.  I led worship in that room for one year. I sewed costumes for the church. I have also sewn banners, flags and streamers for different churches .I have been on prayer teams.  When my children were young we visited weekly a local Retirement Community that was near our home.

I designed the dress above adapting a commercial pattern. I designed the bottom ruffle. The fabric used is a periwinkle cotton ruffle, then a 2nd layer below it, a white cotton. I ran gathering stitches vertically to pull the ruffle up to give this fun scalloped effect. This was a graduation dress for my local Pastor's daughter in 1991. The instructions I was given from the daughter was, could I sew her a dress that had a ruffle on the bottom like the ruffle that I did for their bathroom curtain. It was fun sewing this up. The smile on her face was priceless!

Below is the bathroom curtains I designed for the Pastor's wife. Fabric: cotton calico (geese all over) with white cotton broadcloth ruffles.

I enjoy taking digital pictures and movies. It is an adventure trying to capture others off guard and get their picture or take a quick video!  I especially love taking pictures and videos of my grandchildren!

I enjoy cooking and don't mind cleaning up. I love making homemade pizza using my Italian Grandma's original recipe.

I enjoy doing research the net. There is such a unlimited amount of information on the internet when you type in one topic into a Google search. When I do my searching, I have to make sure that I open up several windows because I tend to get off track looking at things and I get lost in other topics, I forget what my main reason was for doing research.  

I enjoy playing a few Hidden Object Games on my PC. I love web design, working with photos and photo enhancing software. I have software for creating my own embroidery designs. I have embroidered local businesses logos onto shirts. I enjoy coloring with crayons, colored pencils, drawing, painting on paper and fabric. I like to use my hands in being creative.

I had fun tie dying shirts with my eldest daughter and my granddaughter

My other daughter is wearing the beautiful kimono I sewed for her. The fabric was a black cotton background with metallic gold highlights around the lavender and purple flowers.  I said I would NEVER sew another one of these again. The pattern was very complex in sewing the sleeves. I ended up tossing the pattern instructions to the side and I figured out how to finish it by myself. Sometimes I don't  think these pattern companies go back and read their instructions before printing them up. They should test their patterns out. It doesn't have to be so complex with instructions. There is always an easier way to sew!

The same daughter above went to her High School Prom (2nd from left). I sewed her dress and her girlfriend's dress. (in the red) Both girls picked out matching prints in a polyester fabric but different colors. Heidi wanted a sheer gold overlay over her dress.  Her girlfriend wanted a full slip under her dress so that her dress poofed out.

Blue cotton broadcloth dress with a white cotton pinafore and matching ruffled diaper cover for a Granddaughter.

This photo is me with one of my granddaughters, learning to sew! I love getting others excited about sewing!