Do you love precuts?

I think Honey Buns are possibly my favourite precut. Of course, I like them all!

My last post, which showed some of my precuts in my fabric cupboard, started me thinking. Do you love precuts? I am crazy for them (obviously). Which got me wondering why. Of course I have always loved the feel of Moda fabric and when they introduced precuts I was easily sold, but I do have precuts from other fabric manufacturers in the cupboard too. For me I think it is something to do with the fact that there is a full range in the precut pack. A little piece of everything the designer was thinking! The only thing better than that would be a big piece of everything. (Oh how I love the sight of bolts of fabric lined up in a fabric shop.) And maybe that's all there is to my precut love.

When you first hear of and think about precuts they seem to be such a great idea because they are precut! Who doesn't love fabric already cut out and ready to go? When it comes down to reality though, how many of us sew precut squares or strips together and leave it at that? I know I cut and sew, or sew and cut, sometimes multiple times. There is a little less work in a precut than a piece of fabric, but usually you still have to do some cutting.

Maybe it's the fact that precuts are just so attractive. So pretty. So cute. So enticing. (As if quilting fabric needs extra lovability!) You don't have to pick up a huge bolt and take it to the counter. It's just a tiny little package that makes you feel like you are hardly buying anything at all. (I remember being very surprised the first time I worked out just how much fabric was in a jelly roll if every strip was laid side by side. So that's why they seem to last forever!) Perhaps precuts are just an excellent marketing gimmick.

No matter what it is about precuts, I love them for their ability to give me a whole range that fits within my budget and I will keep buying them. (And hopefully using them! I am more determined than ever to make the most of my stash and to use it. That is it's primary purpose, after all.) So, do you love precuts?

Still unpacking here...

Still boxy and messy, but worth every messy moment as I discover long forgotten treasures! (It has been 6 months people and I am getting old. - refer to previous proof of my elderly status in the grandmother post below if you are a doubter!)

Things I should be sewing being rapidly covered by newly discovered projects!

Ahh... a fabric cupboard. Oh how I have missed you fabric!

... and it's still a mess, but I am feeling happier about the mess as I discover all my best things and empty and flatten those ugly cardboard boxes. Why do they make them so brown and ugly? Oh. Yep. Cause it would really take me forever to unpack them if they looked good. Good thinking cardboard box company!

I'm a Grandmother again!

This afternoon Mrs 27 (picklesticks) gave birth to a darling little granddaughter in Adelaide. Both are doing well and were able to come home this evening to newly enraptured siblings. Her timing was perfect because they came home at bedtime, so after everyone had a little cuddle they were all off to bed. Sleep tight family!

Two granddaughters on their Mummy's lap
Captured by a doting Aunty

I came home...

 ... a week ago now. We came home a little early because our stuff (furniture and things) arrived in Melbourne. There was much excitement (I now have more than two pairs of shoes!) and we figured that my Bradley would need some help to unload the stuff. (And he did because he hurt his back three days before the stuff arrived.) Mr 17 stayed in Adelaide to hang out with his friends and Miss 25 travelled there the day after we arrived home to help that 9 months (and counting!) pregnant picklesticks. (Still waiting for that little girl to arrive!) So the stuff moving was down to me (on the left, and then clockwise), my Bradley, Mr 10, and Miss 14.

Our feet.
Sad to report that Mr 10 is now wearing a men's size 10 shoe. Shocking, isn't it? No longer can I say, "Act your age, not your shoe size!" because they are the same. Our two older boys have BIG feet so I guess Mr 10 will go that way too.

Last Thursday lunchtime the first POD arrived. (Portable On Demand storage) And then a second on Friday. And a third on Saturday. (Yes, a lot of stuff!)

This gantry contraption takes the POD off of the truck and delivers it wherever you want it.

Mr 10 at the unveiling

It was a pretty full on three days. And of course, it hasn't stopped since. Lots of unpacking, furniture building and rearranging to do! One thing that has kept up our spirits has been the messages Miss 19 wrote back in January when she helped us pack. The one below is quite tame. There was one that read "I'll give you $10 if you can guess what's in this box!" (Mr 10 is still trying to claim that one!)

A message from Miss 19, who helped us pack, but didn't move with us.

And this is what our family room looked like after the pods were emptied. Yep. Lots to do. I may never sew again!

Just a tiny walkway was left!

Where I am

I am still in Adelaide visiting with my family after enjoying my Inspired Stitches weekend. (This is granddaughter cuddling a lizard, as you do!) I had four catchups with friends last week (Thanks Sue, Shay, Leonie and Loz, it was so good to spend time with you all!) and this week Picklesticks and I are planning to finish her new studio, while waiting for her baby to be born. I think that her baby should come before next Saturday (when I am off home) but she's not convinced that will happen. We'll see!

Inspired Stitches 2011

 Yes, I have just had two days worth of fun and stitching. (In that order. This you will understand when you see how much stitching I actually did.) Sarah always runs such a fantastic retreat. Thank you Sarah. Our tutors were fantastic. Thank you Helen Stubbings, Gail Pan, Janelle Wind and Natalie Ross. They were busy all weekend sharing techniques with us and chatting and laughing with us too. I got to sit next to Pip (One of my favourite bloggers!) on Saturday and had a fun time chatting to her. I had met her briefly in real life before so knew it would be a good day when I saw her at my table. Then today I got to sit with Annette, Gerri and Kerry. I didn't know them before today, but enjoyed them very much because they are from Melbourne (ish!) and told me all about Melbourne patchwork shops! A most productive day. "Networking", as Julie would say. (I sat with Julie and Karan both days) So, without further ado, my two day's worth of stitching:

And more importantly, I did have a wonderful time!

My Doll Quilt from Christine

My quilt from Christine

This was waiting for me this afternoon when I got home from the school run. Pretty exciting, huh? Thank you Christine! It's so sweet! I'm so glad it came today, because the end of that school run marks the beginning of the school holidays for us. Miss 14 has school tomorrow, but won't be going because we will be on our way to Adelaide. She to visit and stay with one of her sisters and me to Inspired Stitches (A great weekend!) and then I'll be staying with another of the girls. Anyway, must go pack!

Sunday afternoon Drive

 Melbourne skyline in background

I felt a need to go look at the ocean on Sunday. Well, I felt over everything and wanted to go to Glenelg North to sit on a park bench in front of the sea. That always makes me feel better. Of course, seeing as Glenelg North is a suburb of Adelaide and I live in Melbourne now, I had to make do. There were no park benches and being out of the car was freezing. (I know that the weather forecast map often states similar temperatures for Adelaide and Melbourne, but I am here to tell you that, map schmap, Melbourne is waaay colder. Not sure how that works, but it is true.) I took my camera with me and this is what I saw. Still feel pretty much over everything as you may have noticed since it took me two days to blog this. Bad news yesterday and again today (small, insignificant things in the scheme of things I guess) have kept me over everything. I think I need to make something!

Doll Quilt Swap 2

I sent off my second doll quilt for Christine's doll quilt swap this week. My partner was Christine (a different one!) and you can check her out here. I decided to make it from half square triangles, (I'm sure I owe that to you Katherine!) and whilst it's not perfect, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The squares are 1" and the borders around the quilt are 1/2" wide.

As you can see, I remembered to photograph it this time! (I felt really smart.) I used a charm pack to make the quilt. I had never considered doing that before for a doll quilt, but was really pleased with the result. It looks very scrappy and has lots of different fabrics in it, a look I adore. It meant I had to piece the back, but that's a look I love too! So all round I pretty much loved, loved, loved this quilt right up until the moment I sent it to Christine. She has received it and likes it too. Mine will be here next week and I am intrigued as to what it will be like!

Favourite Things Friday

I am joining in with Shay's "Favourite Things Friday" today. I often think about joining in, but today I have to decided to be all about action, not thinking! So, what of my many favourite things am I going to share with you? (I really do have many favourite things. That's a little bit heartwarming to know I am so very privileged and live such a great life!) Well, it's a touch jumping the gun, but I am thrilled to be going to "Inspired Stitches" next weekend in Adelaide.

A Natalie Lymer designed stitchery I stitched last year

It is run by Sarah of Quilt Fabric Delights and I always have such a great time. You can see what I made last year. The year before I didn't finish anything, so I'm pretty proud of that tiny little iPhone cover! You can read about my Inspired Stitches exploits here, and here. So next week I will be off to Adelaide to stitch and catch up with all my Adelaide kids!

iPhone Update: It's working! (For no apparent reason, if you are techno-savvy. I am not, and have the perfect explaination.) Now before you techno-savvy readers get all knowing about what happened I must let you know that the very savvy Bradley and the phone shop dude both checked the phone out and it was definitely dead. D. E. A. D. Dead. So much so that we bought a very cheap phone to put my simcard in. As I was about to transfer the simcard when we got home I figured I would have one last go, and it turned on! This phenomena has been witnessed before at my house with various other pieces of electronic equipment. I call it the "tired" effect. Sometimes when a dvd player would stop working I would declare that it was tired and put it in a cupboard for a little rest. (See, it makes no sense if you are techno-savvy, but fortunately I don't understand how these things work!) Which is what I did with my phone. Why wouldn't my phone be tired? I use it a lot! So, into the cupboard it went and now it is working perfectly. Actually, feeling a little tired myself. Where is that cupboard?

Making at my house.

This little bird meets his maker. My son, Mr 17. He crafted this little guy for his nephew and the bird is winging his way to Adelaide as we speak to be cuddled by said nephew, hopefully sometime tomorrow. I have been sewing and sewing the past few days, but have no photos to show. I am covered in fluff and thread though and have been having a great time. Back tomorrow with photos! (Oh. And an iPhone update.)

Oops!

I know. Oops is not a good title for a post with an iPhone photo in it. Regular readers will remember that I killed an iPhone last year (read about it here if you want to be amused!) which I'm still trying to live down. Last night I was just checking Twitter before rolling over and going to sleep and was most excited to read that coco (the footy tipping guinea pig) had mentioned me in a tweet. (This will mean nothing if you are not from South Australia, and will possibly still be unintelligible even if you are!) After telling my Bradley the whole story I turned the screen off and that was it. One dead iPhone. Can't turn it on any more. Some of the more charitable children pointed out that this could hardly have been my fault (unlike the one I took swimming with me), whilst the diehard mother-mockers are bemoaning such a waste of technology on someone with such an obvious plan to rid the world of iPhones.

As for me, I am really sad. I really loved my iPhones (both of them) and I miss them terribly. Most of all though, I miss all you guys "out there" in my virtual world. It was so easy to be updated by my iPhone. Not so easy when I have to find a computer!

Secret Sewing = A Bag

This is the result of my secret sewing I mentioned a week or so ago. It is an across the body bag I made for my daughter's birthday. (Miss 20 is now Miss 21. Gosh time flies!!!) She doesn't have it yet, but it is on it's way so I thought I would show it to you.

I used about 5 or 6 pieces from a layer cake. (This is homecoming) I am really quite pleased with it.

I put the words on here because my daughter's hometown is printed on them. (See the "Adelaide" on the top row!)

This is the back and then the inside is below. A pocket for a mobile phone and a zipped pocket are essentials in every bag I make. I hope she likes it!

Affinity

It's interesting just how children have favourites, even amongst their families. Granddaughter is quite fond of her uncle, my Mr 10. This is them last weekend.

I had an early start to the day today which has put me in a contemplative mood I think. My world is very quiet at 5am on a Saturday morning. I managed to do some sewing which I really enjoyed. I didn't manage to finish anything today, but did manage to start something new. (How did that happen?) Maybe it's just because there are so many ideas in my head fighting to get out. Or maybe I'm really flighty and not that good at concentrating! Today I was working on putting my blue/green Tis the Season quilt top together, making a table runner with some of my red Tis the Season blocks, and I started some new half square triangles which I am not sure of right now, but which will end up going somewhere I am sure.

I also got some more fabric this morning. (Hooray! Just the one I was looking for!) And a charm pack. (Hence the new project!) After the lovely lot of sewing I did today I am looking forward to spending some time tomorrow sewing, but first I need to get some sleep!

Slow week

We have had a slow week here. My Bradley and I were discussing it last night. He believes it is the result of spending last weekend with so many of our awesome favourite people (our kids!) and then their departures back to their own lives and city. It could be that. It could also be the fact that every girl in this house had PMS this week. Or a bit of both. Maybe it was the migraines. Anyway, it was a slow week.

I managed to finish the stitching for my second TTS (Some are in the photo above with the fabric I am using.) and started to border the redwork squares. I promptly ran out of fabric (Not sure what I was thinking when I bought that fabric!) and so am hoping to find some more at Foothills Fabric and Threads this morning. (Cross your fingers for me!) Off to get ready and hit the fabric shop!

The middle of a long weekend...

... which makes this weekend sound boring and tedious, but it is anything but. We are celebrating the Queen's birthday this weekend with a public holiday Monday. Picklesticks decided to come to Melbourne for the long weekend with grandson and granddaughter. They arrived with Miss 24 on Thursday. Then the early hours of this morning saw Mr 22 and his bride arrive with Miss 19 along for the ride. So almost everyone is here visiting with us this weekend. I made pasties (Veggie pasties and lamb and carrot pasties) for dinner. Haven't made so many pasties for a long time!

A Great Day!

I have been playing with fabric today. Hometown by Sweet Water actually. I just love it. I have been making something hush, hush (can't show you cause she reads my blog!) which has to be finished tomorrow. We'll see!

I also found out today that several of our kids are road tripping it to our house this weekend. Two groups of them independent of each other! We will have a house full on the weekend, but will have a blast I'm sure! Off to bed now so that I can sew happily tomorrow!

Stitching!

I have been stitching! I packed my second Tis the Season up and took it to Adelaide in case I had some time in between playing with the grandchildren and the children. I traced it out months ago, but I think I was all TTSed out. I stitched a couple of these in Adelaide last week and I am in love with it all over again. Plus, it is cold and raining here so the attraction of the heater and my stitching is mighty strong. Not much else is happening here. I did stick some pins into my new pincushion. And wrote a list or two. And went out a lot to do the chores and errands that pile up when you go away for the week. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a day at home with my sewing machine!

Home again.

My boys and I drove home to Melbourne from Adelaide on Friday. I am getting to know that road really well. Most of the day was sunny, with a little rain around Bordertown SA. I spent yesterday recovering. I find there's nothing like sitting doing nothing in a car to make you tired!

I came home from Adelaide with a new pincushion. A Bliss pincushion in fact that picklesticks made for me. It is heavenly. Number one because I just love Bliss. Number two because she always makes such pretty things. And number three because I didn't have one! Miss 24 went to Adelaide to visit under her own steam and when picklesticks professed a desire to make a pincushion Miss 24 encouraged her to make one for me because I keep knocking my pin tin off the table! (I know! Who knew I was so clumsy, but I am!) I don't know whether I will continually knock the pincushion off the table, but I know if I do it will be a lot easier to pick up!

Yesterday at the Patchwork Apple (It's June!)

Yesterday was my first trip to the new (old) Patchwork Apple. Living in Melbourne now would have something to do with that. Jane shut her shop in Woodside in February and has moved it to her home on Tiers Road Lenswood where she is open two days a week, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9:30am to 6pm. The path above is the path to her shop. This is where the Patchwork Apple started out 17 years ago and where I used to visit Jane regularly all that time ago! Jane and I marvelled that it was so long ago! The first time I walked this path I was carrying my tiny little son (now 6'4") and yesterday I carried my tiny little granddaughter. Then, just as we were leaving, Jane's tiny little granddaughter arrived with her Mummy! Gosh time flies.

This is the door of the new shop. Jane (and her able-bodied helpers) has built a new shop on the side of her house. In true Jane style it is very pretty. (She has such a talent for making everything look beautiful!) Lots of windows too - light is so important!

A peek into the shop. Picklesticks and I managed to have a lovely time looking at all Jane's fabrics and even managed to buy some to take home with us!

Oh. And it's June. Ready or not, it's June. Goals for this month? To sew clothes and finish off a couple of quilts. And I want to stitch. Do-able? I think so!