Projects for kids...

I want to share a project that I did for all of the small children on my Christmas list, but first I need to share a quick story about Christmas Morning at the Perger House...

Our normal tradition of cooking breakfast for our kids while they anticipated coming down from their rooms to open gifts was set aside this year as my Father in Law asked us to come to his house earlier than normal because he wanted to cook breakfast for all of us.  So, instead everyone got up, got showered and dressed and we were going to open gifts before we headed to PawPaw's house.

Unfortunately, just as we were about to open gifts we realized we had not seen Mocha all morning.  We searched the house, and after a very thorough search figured she had escaped in the middle of the night, so our search went outdoors.  After two hours of searching and a lot of tears we decided to make some flyers to put on the doors of our neighbors hoping someone had taken her in.  Five doors down my son found her cowering under a bush, "trapped" by branches above her.

Needless to say there was great rejoicing in our home after finding our lost cat... But we had to leave without opening gifts and none of the kids even batted an eye.  It made me very proud.  We opened gifts when we got home and we had a grand time doing so.  I did a more detailed post on that subject on my other blog, and if you'd like to read it, you can do so HERE.

But this post was intended to be a post to share some Crayola Caddies, so here they are...

I cut all of them at once and went into full production mode.  I made 16 and have 7 left.  I am going to put them up on my Etsy Shop.  I fill them with Crayola Brand Crayons.  They are very simple to make and they are a lot of fun to make as well.

The Materials... All cut, pressed and ready to sew...

 In Process... One step at a time, over and over and over again...

All Sewn and ready to turned right side out.

All done and ready for Crayons... The large ones on the right are for Toddler Crayons.

I use the triangle crayons, as they won't roll off the table at a restaurant.

 

And here are half of them, the photo of the other half was blurry and horrible,

but it looked just like this with different colors!

Time to catch some Monday Night Football!!

As always, Thanks for Reading!!

Until Next Time,

Paul

Quilting... Sewing... Thursday

For those of you who have been around a while, forgive me while I share a little history with those who are new to my blog.  For a long time, I quilted EVERY Thursday night because on Thursday nights I had the house to myself for 3 hours while my wife and kids were at Choir.  Over the summer, however, I agreed to be the Treasurer for the Children's Choir that my children sing in and my wife works for and that required me to be at choir every Thursday too... and sewing Thursdays became a thing of the past... But last night I sewed on Thursday night and ooooooooh it was nice!

The kids are on Christmas Break (ok, they are officially on "Winter Break" since that is what the school calls it now, but to me, it will always be Christmas Break) so there is no choir, which means I don't have to be there either.  So as soon as my wife went to bed, I broke out the sewing machine and started sewing... Unfortunately, I can not show what I was sewing because on rare occasion my wife actually does read my blog, and I can't let the cat out of the bag until after Christmas...

SO, I give you the next best thing to quilting on a quilting blog... My Kids!  We all love kids, of course we usually see cute little toddlers being cute little toddlers, and mine are all well beyond that stage.  But we finally had all four of them together in one spot, all dressed nicely after a choir concert, and I grabbed a snapshot.  Not the greatest photo, especially considering I am a photographer, but they were not up for an impromptu photo session, so I took what I could get.  All four of them within a few feet of eachother all looking at me at the same time...

Clockwise from left, MaryAnna (17 a week from Sunday), Josh (19), Jonathon (15 in two weeks), and Chyenne (11).

So now you have faces to put with the names you read here over and over again...

WARNING . . . . . . WARNING . . . . . . WARNING

What I am about to show you is HIGHLY addictive, click at your own risk...

ONLY click if you have a fresh beverage of choice at hand

You LOVE crafty thing and have HOURS of time

This little red button may change your life

After clicking this button I will not be offended if you don't make your

way back here today, but please don't get so lost in Cyber Space

that you never come back!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Until Next Time,
Paul

I'm Going Back to School

Please forgive my slight digression from my normal "Quilty Post", but I am going back to school to earn two degrees, a Master of Ministry and a Master of Divinity.  The Ministry degree is actually a byproduct of the Divinity Degree.  In the pursuit of my Master of Divinity, I will take all of the classes needed to earn a Master of Ministry Degree, so I will earn both.

I am not going to go into great detail here, but I am going to link over to a second blog where my posts will all relate to my pursuit of these two degrees.  My first post is up, and while it is long, it includes my story and explains why I am doing this and also contains information on how you can help, if you so choose.

I will be adding a button to the right where I will link over to my other blog very soon, but for now you can get there by clicking on the blog name "Paul's Ramblings"

I would love to have you follow over there as well.

Until Next Time,
Paul

WINNERS!!

With TWO Give Aways last week, I have TWO winners to announce today!

First was the Blog Hop Party Give Away....  

Six FQs of Green Batiks from my stash...

And the WINNER Is....

Commenter #74 was Desi!

Desi @ Wee Share said...

Unique... maybe not... but when we lived in GA we always loved to go see the lights at Callaway Gardens. Now, we live in SC and this is something I miss.  Desi

Desi is a blogger whose blog is focused and centered around wee little ones.

Her blog header says, "Seeking Out Great Products for little ones and their families"

If you have little ones, check it out HERE (link will open in a new window).

Second was the big Give Away Day Celebration....  

For this give away I offered up a pair of my favorite scissors

Gingher 4" Curved Embroidery Scissors

 

 And the WINNER IS...

  

Commenter 225 was Sarah!

RyanSarahN said...

seam ripper - for sure. Thanks for the giveaway!

Seam Ripper was BY FAR the most common tool found next to sewing machines!  I didn't keep track, but I would guess it was mentioned in at least 70% of the comments!

Congratulations Desi & Sarah...  I have sent emails to you requesting your address.

Until Next Time,
Paul

FINAL Day for the Give Aways!!

Today is the FINAL Day to sign up for each of my two give aways!!  I will be closing comments and drawing winners at 9 PM EST TONIGHT!!

Click on the photo to go to each giveaway post...

GREEN BATIKS - SIX FQs

Gingher Embroidery Scissors

Until Next Time,
Paul

I'm over at Sunni's Place Today...

Today, I am Guest Blogging over at Love Affair With My Brother...

Please visit Sunni's blog... I'll see you there!

I have to say, I love her blog name...

Don't forget to comment on my TWO current Giveaways

HERE and HERE

if you haven't already!

Until Next Time,

Paul

It's Giveaway Day!!

Well, It's Giveaway WEEK!!  And WOW are there lots of giveaways!

This week Sew, Mama, Sew is hosting Giveaway Day.  When it started it was A day, but there are so many giveaways now that "Giveaway Day" has expanded to "Giveaway Week".

Enter my giveaway and then head over to Sew, Mama, Sew and surf the net to enter more giveaways!  And YES, this is my SECOND giveaway post in three days and my third in less than 3 weeks!  If you haven't already entered, and you like Green or Batiks (hint, hint) head over to my previous post (clicking here will open the post in a new window) and enter that Giveaway as well.

If you are coming from the Giveaway Day Linky Party at Sew, Mama, Sew, WELCOME to my little corner of Blogville.

THIS giveaway is for one of my favorite tools in my toolkit.  A pair of Gingham 4" Curved Embroidery Scissors... Plus a little surprise.

 

In my humble opinion, this is a little pair of scissors that no quilter should be without.  They are perfect for snipping threads close to the fabric without cutting the fabric.  Mine are ALWAYS on my Sewing Rug right next to my machine.  I use them EVERY time I sew.  If you do any type of needlework (needlepoint, cross stich, hand embroidery, etc.) these are also a must.  I cross stitch as well, and when I do, I use these almost exclusively.  (I even bought a pair of cheapo, knockoff curved scissors to carry with me when  I travel.  I wouldn't want TSA taking my Ginghers, but if they take my $3.00 pair, well, I can afford to lose those...)

While I, like every blogger likes to have followers, I will not require my winner to be a follower, but please, if you feel inclined to, peruse a few posts, and if you like what you see, follow my blog.  The more the merrier, especially when creative criticism or input is needed!!

So, here's what you have you have to do to enter this giveaway... Leave a comment and tell me what tool is next to your machine EVERY time YOU sew.  Mr. Random Generator will choose a winner on Saturday morning...

Good Luck!

Until Next Time,

Paul

PS - to my International Friends... I am in the USA, and I will gladly ship anywhere in world where I can legally ship a pair of scissors.  I didn't try to verify that it was legal to ship to every country in the world.  For those that I did check, it would be legal to ship these... IF I find that I can not legally ship these directly to a winner in a foreign country I will contact said winner and offer a different prize.

Blog Hop Party Give Away!!

Hey Folks!!  I am doing TWO giveaways this week... Come Back Monday for another fun Give Away!

If you are visiting my blog for the first time, coming from Quilter's Blog Hop Party, Welcome to my humble little blog.  And, If you haven't visited the party, and you're here because you follow me, Go over to to Quilting Gallery by clicking on the Blog Hop Party photo below and enter a bunch of other give aways!!  242 blogs from all over the world are hosting giveaways this week, and they are all linked up there!

My giveaway is 8 Green Batik FQs from my stash plus a SURPRISE!!

To enter, tell me your family's most unique Christmas Tradition...
Our unique tradition is that our kids stay in their rooms when they wake up.  My wife and I come down and prepare breakfast, enjoying some time together, just the two of us before we invite them to join us.  We then eat breakfast together, we often eat supper together, but rarely do we eat breakfast together.  Presents wait until after breakfast.

Until Next Time,
Paul

I have decided to participate in Sew, Mama Sew's Giveaway Day... Next week, on Monday, December 12, I will post a giveaway, as will many other bloggers out there. 

You can visit my blog and enter my giveaway, and then go over to Sew, Mama Sew's page and follow the Linky Party and enter as many giveaways as you'd like!!

Stay Tuned, and come back on Monday for Giveaway Day...

I am considering what to give away between now and then... Help me out.  Leave me an idea or two... Would you prefer fabric, a notion, or something I've actually made.  A table runner, or a coffee cozie for example...

Until Next Time,
Paul

Traveling Stash...

I  just learned of the Traveling Stash...  A stash of Quilting Goodness that is traveling all over the USA... I am entering to see if the Traveling Stash can make a stop in Central Ohio!

IF you are a blogger, you can participate too!

Sara at Growing Stitches is the current host of the Traveling Stash.  Hop over to her blog and enter for your chance to host!

(I am borrowing this photo from Jess at Quilty Habit, the previous host of the traveling stash!)

Until Next Time,
Paul