Baby Jack's Quilt

My sweet nephew, Baby Jack, is in the NICU right now. He made his grand entrance EIGHT weeks early, and still came in at a whopping 4 pounds 4 ounces. He's absolutely beautiful and loved by so many people. And someday soon he will be snoozing away on this quilt, an expression of my love for my precious little cowboy.

As you look at this quilt, say a little prayer for sweet Baby Jack. I can't wait to snuggle him soon!

 

Yellow & Gray Chevron Baby Quilt

Goodness knows I love yellow and gray - they're the colors I used for my wedding, and the colors I've used for my never-ending yo yo quilt. And so of course when I stumbled across this fabric, I just HAD to make a quilt with it.

Oh yeah, and I'm obsessed with chevron. It was a match made in heaven.

I've never pieced a back before, but for some reason the mood struck me (and I was trying to save a little of that gorgeous gray and white fabric), and I love the way this turned out. I may have to do this with my other quilts since I (a) stink at math and always have pieces left over, and (b) it makes me happy, and quilting should ALWAYS make you happy.

I never sell my quilts - they take so much time and energy (and materials) that I only make them as gifts. Until now. If you'd like your very own Texas Lovely original quilt, then head on over to my little shop and make this girl's day.

Link to quilt

In case you were wondering...

It took me 11 episodes of 30 Rock to piece my nephew Jack's baby quilt on Saturday. That's a new record! I'm bursting with excitement to show you and may not be able to wait until I'm able to get it in the hands of his sweet mama (my sister-in-law Michelle) before posting a sneak preview. I chose a design that I've had swimming around in my head for months, and I must say it turned out so cute I squealed, and then danced around while Mr. Right oohed and aaahed over it like a good husband of a quilter.  I may just make another one with some of the leftover fabric and stick it in my shop for a baby gift. You know, since I promised I'd never sell a quilt in there, and every good woman changes her mind.

I still have to quilt and bind it, but luckily I'm only on Season 2 Episode 12 of 30 Rock, so there's plenty of time to finish it.

I got asked if I was pregnant on Friday. Again. Three times in one day. By one woman and two men. For the record, I'm not. And people should stop asking. And I am going to have to burn that shirt (along with this one and this one and this one), which I admit was a bit loose, but I bought it from the regular section of LOFT.

On Saturday I started tracking my calorie intake/outtake on the myfitnesspal app. I'm hoping the accountability of keeping a food journal will help me with item #2 on my list. I'm on Day 4, which practically makes me an expert. (Who's taking bets that I've forgotten about this by Thursday?) PS--I've lost two pounds. It may have been water weight, but I'm celebrating nonetheless.

We watched the greatest movie this weekend - Capote. It's rated R, but if you have a husband who will tell you when to close your eyes (an opening murder scene, and about two minutes toward the very end), it's really more of a light PG-13. It's now in my Top 10 list of favorite movies. (note to self - create list of my other top 9 favorite movies.)

Does anybody else LOVE LOVE Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition? Mr. Right and I want to adopt Chris Powell into our family.  We love positive people, and we hear he's a fan of CrossFit like us. 

My favorite restaurant in all of DFW is closing in a few weeks. To be replaced with a TACO SHOP. As if Texas doesn't have enough Mexican food restaurants already. I'm not sure who was more sad, Mr. Right and I when we found out on our date Friday night, or the manager who knows us because we go so much (and send all of our friends there). Rest in peace, Cowboy Chow in Roanoke. I will miss your watermelon tea and fry bread dipped in honey and black bean mash. 

My prayer right now is Psalm 107:7 - "He led them by a straight way..." Life seems to be swirling all around us lately, with our own plans turned upside down and many of our closest loved ones going through some pretty big trials. 

"When I said, 'My foot is slipping, your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.'" Psalm 94:18-19

I am so glad you follow my little blog. Bless you!

My Summer Bucket List Update

It's time for a little Summer Bucket List update (if you're new, here's 2011). We have been busy bees over in the Right house, crossing things off our list and dreaming up new and unexpected adventures. We've done pretty well, considering summer brought some unexpected new items to the bucket list (like starting a new business, building a patio, and a few other things that deserve their own blog posts). I'm choosing to think of this list as pure fun, and if I don't hit all the items, then I'm not going to stress one iota. In fact, it's my goal to add a little slacker-ness to my summer, which is a bit out of my nature. More than anything, this list helps us come up with ideas for fun date nights so we avoid the "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" rut of marriage. Mr. Right and I want to be FUN.

Here's a list of what we've done, with just a few weeks to go before the end of summer.

Eat dinner on a patio

Dinner at the ultimate patio... Joe T. Garcia's

The at-home version - a leisurely dinner on our back
patio one night while Mr. Right was working late -
just me, my ice tea, and The Bachelorette on my laptop. Bliss.

Have a picnic on Trinity Trail

Trinity Trail is like a little oasis in the middle of the city. If you want 
to get some fresh air, have a CHEAP date night, and enjoy a 
little romance, I highly recommend it.

We even brought Harley the Wonder Schnoodle along.

Learn to bake a pie

I learned to make peach cobbler (from fresh peaches no less!). My
definition of "pie" is something that you'd bring to Easter, Thanksgiving
or Christmas dinner. So cobbler definitely falls into the pie category.

I loved my peach cobbler so much I made it over. And over. And over.

Take a moonlit walk with Mr. Right on the beach

Marco Island, Florida

Wear shorts and heels

I actually did this quite often. Each time I felt kind of silly
but also kind of awesome. 

Ride my bike

I may be one of the few people who has a bike with cup holders.
Don't be jealous.

Mr. Right and Harley came along for the bike ride
(they go every single morning).

Plan a secret date for Mr. Right

I surprised him with tickets to Concert in the Gardens in Fort Worth. It was
one of the last cool weekends in June before the Heat Wave of 2012 hit.

Hold my new nephew

Luke James, born June 11, 2012

Man, he's a cute kid.

Go to a Rangers Game

We had a big debate before this game - is it trashy to wear workout clothes 
(running shorts and a t-shirt) to a Rangers game? Do you get a free pass 
if it's 104 degrees? We chose to go with the all-wick-away fabrics. 
And we chose right.

Rangers lost. But I got a lemon chill. So it was a good night.

Kiss Mr. Right while watching fireworks

Bucket list fail. I have no pics because I was too busy a-smoochin'. And excited because we hosted 35 friends for a fireworks watching party. But trust me - we crossed this one off the list, and have a few witnesses who will vouch for us.


Learn to sew something new

Want one of your own? 

Finish my husband's quilt

This was a quilt top we bought at an antique mall for $10 - the steal of the century.
The whole thing was hand-pieced, which took hundreds of hours. Mr. Right
picked out the quilt backing (his old sheet from college) and we bound it with
the shirt he bought for his first job at a Young Life camp in Colorado.
The whole thing has a ton of sentimental value.

This is Mr. Right modeling the finished product.

Host a dinner party

We hosted about 27 dinner parties, including one for our visiting preacher 
(that was pretty cool), dinner for about 35 people on July 4th, dinner 
for 15 girls at a bachelorette party, and a bunch with 6-8 guests. 
Each one was a blast - one of the highlights of our summer.

Dip my toes in the ocean

Marry off my dear friend Katie

Photo Source for both photos: www.mcgowanimages.com

Confession: I'm showing this one because it shows off my calf muscles, which I've never had before. Finally, those 800 million bazillion box jumps from crossfit have finally paid off. Oh, and it was a LOVELY wedding.

Do something spontaneous

We did a lot of spontaneous movie/sushi dates. Especially after we 
found out our local movie theater offers $5 Tuesdays. Score.

Get a mentor

Done - but this doesn't really lend itself to picture-taking.

Cook with vegetables from our garden

Man, those are some GIANT tomatoes, eh?

Get a pedicure

Eat a sno-cone

Make one of the recipes from my Pinterest board

This is not exactly "cooking" but I "arranged" based off my Pinterest board. 
Judge says - good enough.

Eat a candlelit dinner at home
If you don't take a picture, does it still count? We've had a few candlelight dinners including one where Mr. Right surprised me with one (along with a love note). That one was my favorite, and I was way too googly-eyed to remember to take a picture.

Finish writing Chapter 1 of my book

Done - but again, not really photo-worthy

Visit a state park

And here's what's left:

Take a photography class
Pre-plan all my meals for one week (confession: I have zero desire to do this, so it's probably not going to happen)

Go to a museum

Go to a festival

Dance with Mr. Right in the kitchen

Take a road trip

Finish making the Christmas wreaths for my mantle

Get a new dog (This will one is probably on hold for a little while)

Have a fish fry (with chicken strips for me, since I don't eat fish)


Two weeks to go - we'll see how many more I can cross off between now and then.

First Sale

I did it! I sold my first pillow. Two, actually, to one of my sweet relatives in Oklahoma. Today on my lunch break I dropped her package off at the post office and just like that, I'm in business.

I wish you could have seen how excited I was when I found out I'd made my first sale. I squealed, and smiled a big smile and basically skipped over to Mr. Right to tell him my good news. If you ever happen to purchase one of my pillows, just know that you'll be making this girl's day, and there will definitely be squeals in your honor.

Here's the pillow Aunt Ginger bought:

Ruffle Pillow

I love these because they're neutral enough to go with just about anything, and the ruffles create such a gorgeous, girlie texture without being too loud. I will quickly replace these now that they're sold out, along with a two-toned variation that I think is going to be really chic. 

I also made two pillows out of Ethan Allen fabric samples - I love these pillows because they're quilted (right now I'm not selling full quilts because the cost is so high that I'd have to charge a ridiculous price to cover my costs - which I'm just not ready to do). So if you're in the market for a Texas Lovely quilt, then these are a great start - not only are they one-of-a-kind, shabby chic, but the striped pillow has some really fabulous texture combinations - velvet and fuzzy and slick and ribbed fabrics. It's just... interesting. I like pops of the unexpected in my house.

This one reminds me of the beach...

14x14 Quilted Pillow

This one has some really gorgeous fabrics, with each triangle is individually quilted.

14x14 Quilted Pillow

Thanks to everyone who has helped spread the word about my little shop (and this little blog) - soon I'll be doing a give-away to say a proper thank you.

Until then, have a lovely day.