We're Here!

We have safely arrived in Lancaster, CA, for the Launch Out Conference!!! We're staying at Sam & Juliana's apartment, and they left their wifi on for us, so I can blog from their house. We also found out there is wifi on campus in certain buildings, so I'll do some blogging when I can.

We had a rare nonstop flight from Kelowna to Los Angeles, which made our time in airports & on planes relatively short. We arrived in Lancaster around 2:00 and have been seeing Andrew, registering for the conference, and buying books since then. The first service is at 7:00 tonight. Don't forget, you can watch the services live on lbclive.tv.

Several friends and acquaintances are here this week as well. I'll get to meet a couple of online friends too. I love meeting friends I've never met before! ;)

That's all for now! I hope you're having a great week so far!

Sent from my iPhone

What's a Jelly Roll?

Back in April, I posted an entry about my birthday, and in it I mentioned getting some fat quarters and a jelly roll from my friend, Bev. Barbara asked what a jelly roll was, and although I answered her in the comments, I thought others of you might wonder too, so I'm writing this post as a little guide (and not at all exhaustive!) to pre-cut fabrics.

Pre-cut fabrics are just that: fabrics that have already been cut into the most common sizes used in quilting patterns and packaged together, usually by fabric line. My introduction to them was through Moda Bakeshop, a website for Moda Fabrics that has labelled each type of pre-cut as a common bakery item and publishes tutorials for quilts and accessories made using said pre-cuts. This is one of my favorite sites to browse for ideas for quilts!

These are the various types of pre-cuts and their sizes, courtesy of Moda Bakeshop:

Jelly Rolls: contain 40 strips of fabric, 2 1/2 inches wide x length-of-fabric (45 inches). These strips are rolled into the shape of a jelly roll - round and flat.

Honey Buns: contain 40 strips, each 1 1/2" wide x length-of-fabric (45 inches). Packaged together rolled into the shape of a honey bun.

Dessert Rolls: contain 20 strips, each 5" wide x length-of-fabric (45 inches). Packaged together in an oblong roll.

Charm Packs: contain 42 squares, each 5"x5"

Charm squares I bought several years ago

 Layer Cakes: contain 42 squares, each 10"x10"

A layer cake I bought

 Moda Candy (aka Mini Charms and Petit Fours): contains 42 squares, each 2 1/2"x2 1/2"

Honeycombs: contain 40 laser-cut 6-inch hexagons

Turnovers: contain 80 6-inch triangles, two each of each print in a collection

Other pre-cuts:

Fat quarter bundles: one of each print in a collection. Each fat quarter measures 18"x22". The reason it's called a fat quarter is because it's a quarter of a yard. If you just cut a quarter of a yard off a bolt of fabric, it will be 9"x45" - a long, skinny piece of fabric. For a fat quarter, you double the width (18") and half the length (22"), making it "fat," - but you still have a quarter of a yard of fabric. Make sense? You can also find fat quarters as individual pieces of fabric; they're lots of fun to collect and play with!

Fat quarter bundles (two of them) on the right and a jelly roll on the left

 Fat eighth bundles: one of each print in a collection, each measuring 9"x22". Same concept as the fat quarter, except it's just an eighth of a yard.

What I love about pre-cuts is that I don't have to spend time cutting out small pieces of fabric. If a pattern calls for 5" squares, a charm pack will work perfectly.

I also love that I can have samples of every piece of a fabric line. My Wal-Mart here sells jelly rolls, fat quarters, charm squares, but they are the fabrics that they have in their regular fabric departments, not designer lines. That's not a problem when I want to play around with them for myself, although I use designer fabrics for items I make and sell in HandmadeByGrace*, my online shop.The point is, I like having lots of different fabrics to choose from without having to buy large amounts of any particular piece.

When you use a pre-cut package, all your fabrics will go together, because they're all from the same line of fabric: no anxiety over whether the fabrics will play nice together!

Another perk of using pre-cuts is the amount of tutorials, patterns*, and books* available for using them. There's quite a selection of them online and in bookstores. 

One downside of using pre-cuts is that, compared to yardage (fabric right off the bolt), pre-cuts are more expensive when priced per yard or meter. But that's the case when you buy anything pre-packaged, right? Sometimes I'd rather have the convenience of pre-cuts, and you always pay for convenience. It's just a matter of what matters most to you at the time.

So that's my not-completely-comprehensive explanation of pre-cuts and why I like them. Do any of you use them for your sewing or quilting?

*Disclosure: I am not being compensated at all by Moda Fabrics or Moda Bakeshop; they are just my go-to source for using pre-cuts. However, there are a couple of affiliate links contained in this entry, and if you click on a link and order a product, I may earn a small affiliate commission. I've also linked to my online shop!

Live Blogging

photo credit: Manuela Hoffmann via photopin cc

Well, blogging via my iPhone obviously works, but I won't be able to do it from Lancaster next week during the Spiritual Leadership Conference. The problem is that I'll be on international roaming and I'll have no wifi service on campus. If I try to send data through my phone, we'll be charged high international fees. So I'll take really good notes and blog when we get back. I'm not really sure I'd have enough presence of mind to listen to the sessions and blog about them on the spot anyway!

If you're interested in the morning or evening sessions, you can watch live at lbclive.tv at 9:00 am and 7:00 pm Pacific time.

That's all for now!

Testing

Testing my ability to blog from my iPhone. Considering doing some live blogging from Spiritual Leadership Conference next week! If I can do two things at once! LOL

Sent from my iPhone

All Is Well!

Wes and I went to his oncologist appointment yesterday, and praise the Lord, all is well with my Honey! The doctor reassured us that this particular cancer - a carcinoid tumor - is very, very, VERY slow-growing (his words). There is no sign of cancer anywhere else in Wes' body, and if there is a recurrence, it will be many years from now, considering the slow growth of this type of cancer. He will be getting a baseline CAT scan for comparison purposes later on, and he will get a colonoscopy every three years. And that's all that needs to be done for now.

Thank you all for praying for us this past couple of weeks!

Graduation Pictures

I'll share with you some pictures from Andrew's graduation. He finished his classes during the fall semester last year, so the actual graduation was just a formality for him; in his mind, he'd been done for several months! He was recognized for his work in soulwinning and inducted into Who's Who In American Colleges and Universities in Tuesday morning chapel. The Baccalaureate service was Tuesday night, and graduation was at 9:00 Wednesday morning.

Andrew and Grandpa Hutchens after the Baccalaureate service on Tuesday night. Wes' mom and my parents were unable to attend this year.

Andrew, Grandpa, and Wes

Andrew marching in. This is a horrible picture because we didn't realize he would be the second or third student down our aisle. Wes didn't get any pictures of him coming in, and this is the only one I got, taken on my iPhone as I realized this would be the only one we'd get!

My parents snapped this picture of Andrew receiving his diploma as they were watching via livestream. I'm so thrilled they got this one!

Bachelor of Religious Education in Bible and Church Ministries

Proud Dad and son

Both our boys with their dad. Sam is dressed in his regalia as a faculty member. His is different on the shoulders and sleeves because he has a master's degree.

Andrew had on his R2D2 and Yoda socks during grad! This was taken later in the day, as we were going to dinner.

Those are the highlights from the day! Hope you enjoyed them!