Put a bow on it

I always wanted to dress my baby girl in big, obnoxious hair bows. I mean, I’m from Texas, so the bigger the bow, the closer to God, right? Or something like that. Anyway, now that Wrenn’s actually here, I’ve found it hard to find bows that I really love. All of them look the same, and it’s really important to me to only dress her in things that are comfortable for her.

So I decided to make my own.

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I love the little ruffle, and considering the size of my fabric stash, there are limitless possibilities. And, since we tend to dress her in basic mix and match pieces, those bows add just the pop of color to finish off her look. It’s never too early to raise a baby fashionista.

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I’ve added some bows to my shop so that others can enjoy beautiful, affordable hair accessories. They’re made of the highest quality fabrics, and the headbands themselves are either stretchy lace or half-inch elastic, both of which are more comfortable for little heads than that tiny elastic, which tends to leave dents on foreheads. No need to teach them the price of beauty until they’re old enough to wear heels and spanx, am I right?

All bows are sized to order, and I can make them fit anyone from a newborn to an adult. Shipping is free, and if you want to order four or more, contact me through my shop and I’ll be happy to provide a price break.

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I’ve already given them to several baby girls in my life as gifts. And, of course, Miss Wrenn has one of everything, because I would never sell something that I didn’t love enough to use myself. This leopard print bow is one of my absolute favorites – and let’s be honest, it matches some of my favorite shoes.

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Go visit my shop and stock up on baby shower gifts! I can’t wait to see pictures of adorable baby models enjoying their lovelies.

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Prov 31Looking for beautiful scripture prints to inspire you? Visit Texas Lovely on Etsy.

Other places you can find Texas Lovely:

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Christmas Bunting – In the shop!

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I’ve got brand-new Christmas bunting in the shop, and I’m offering free shipping for the next few days. It features some of my favorite Christmas fabrics without being TOO Christmas-y. I mean, nothing says Merry Christmas like a little gray zebra print, right?

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This makes me so excited to decorate for Christmas. When do you start your decorating? I like to have mine up by the weekend before Thanksgiving, because that way I can enjoy Thanksgiving and my time off work and not run around working on things. I realize there’s those “nothing ’til after Thanksgiving” purists, but I’m not one of them. My biggest goal is to be able to relax and enjoy being at home with my family.

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I keep thinking back to last year’s Thanksgiving. I found out I was pregnant the Tuesday before Thanksgiving – Nov. 20 – which was also just two days before my birthday. That week was so special (and stressful – I was high risk and in the ER the day we found out I was pregnant), and I keep reliving those moments over and over while staring at my beautiful baby girl. I knew all along she would be amazing, but really, I had no idea.

So this year as I decorate for Christmas, I’m going to be extra thankful, and joyful. My little family has been so blessed.

Look at us, we started the nursery!

Folks, we have a nursery! After a few months of putting it off, then brainstorming, then putting it off some more, we finally cleaned out Mr. Right’s office/guest room (what a great guy), taped everything off, and got the thing painted, all in 24 hours.

A special thanks to my awesome sister who came over and painted the nursery for us! Talk about a servant’s heart. She knew that my doctor said no painting for me, and Mr. Right is crazy swamped with finals (oh, how we’re all counting down the minutes until grad school is OVER), so she just decided to do it for us. It was such a blessing.

You should have seen Mr. Right and I prepping the night before she came to get the room ready. I was in my work dress (because dresses are so much more comfortable than anything else right now), on my hands and knees taping off the baseboards while Mr. Right was on a ladder caulking holes and removing blinds. I’m not very graceful under typical circumstances, but I’m like a clumsy beast at this point, so I’m sure the neighbors got an eye full through our blind-less windows at 9:30 at night. And I’m just pregnant enough to not really care.

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The next morning Mr. Right assembled our crib, and suddenly the room felt like a nursery. He has since moved in other furniture (an armoire for storage and a dresser that we’ll use as a changing table – pics to come), and slowly but surely we’re moving closer to being baby-ready.

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The nursery will be mostly neutrals – grays and whites – with pops of color in our accents. This fabric, which is part of the quilt I’m making for her, is the inspiration for those pops of color – lot’s of tangerine-oranges, turquoises, and a few other random colors here and there.

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And here’s the rest of the fabric for her quilt. We’ll be using the leftovers for pillows, possibly a bedskirt, etc. You know, whatever I get inspired to sew. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find some leftovers in my Etsy shop in the form of baby quilts or pillows.

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And, finally, we’re thinking about using this picture for above the crib. Mr. Right and I have a real love for internationals (especially our ESL students!), and we also love to travel, so we think this is the perfect picture to go above our tiny sleeping baby. Plus, it reminds me of a quilt.

Stay tuned for more pictures as we make progress on the nursery. I’m 29 weeks along, so not too much longer until she’s here with us napping in this very room!

Now to the important stuff: the nursery

This week I bought the very first item for Baby Right. I’ve been so good about not splurging on little girl items because (1) we’ve already been blessed with some great hand-me-downs, (2) I’m still not feeling well enough to want to go shopping most days, and (3) baby stores intimidate me.

Which is why God invented internet shopping. And blogs. Thanks to the combination of the two, I made my very first purchase for my little girl… crib sheets from Target (click on the picture to be taken to the original source).

Aren’t they cute? I’ve been looking for something really neutral, and these were just calling my name. And they were on sale. And I didn’t have to leave my house to buy them. It was love at first sight.

For those of you wondering about our nursery theme… we don’t really have one. We want it to be calm, relaxing, neutral. We want something that can easily grow with baby girl and give us a lot of freedom to change out accessories. Ironically enough, we don’t want it to scream “girly-girl” (even though I’m a pretty girly-girl myself). These are our inspiration photos (again, click on the picture for the link to the original post – the first photo is from a blog I love to follow).

We’re using grays and whites with pops of bright accent colors – probably orange and turquoise. We’ve been given an old dresser from my in-laws for a changing table that we’re going to paint and then use colorful knobs from Anthropologie (or a cheaper knock-off). And of course I plan to design a custom print for the nursery, along with baby girl’s very first quilt.

Time to get to work! Only 19 weeks to go before she arrives!

Guest post – help me plan my nursery

I know I promised more on the gender reveal. And I have really great intentions, but to be honest I’ve spent most of this week watching TV and going to bed early. The good news is that I feel SO MUCH BETTER. In fact, I haven’t had a Zofran in 20 hours, and I’m still functioning.

This is huge.

So while I celebrate being drug-free today (minus my one full-octane coke of the day, which is my new substitute for coffee), please go over to this blog and see my guest post about creating a nursery. My blog friends were so helpful in the glider vs. stuffed rocker question (someone is giving us a glider – hooray!), and the bed vs. no bed in the nursery debate (it was unanimous – we’re going with no bed). It would absolutely make my day if you would leave any other sage, mom advice over on that blog today so that other women (and I) can enter this nursery-creating phase armed with good information.

Because, let’s face it. I am as clueless as they come.

And don’t worry – more on the gender reveal coming soon. Probably. Unless I get sucked into another Law & Order marathon, and then all bets are off.

Baby birth announcements

Inspired by spending my Saturday cuddling with my nephew, I decided to add some baby birth announcements to the shop. I’m offering both an 8×10 print for your nursery (or other sizes upon request) and 5×7 announcements you can mail to your family and friends. And because I know that new mamas have their hands full, I’m happy to take ALL of the work off your hands (at least, when it comes to the announcements – when it comes to diapers, you’re on your own). I am offering to address, stamp, and mail your announcements for you so you can have more time to cuddle your sweet bundle of joy.

 And because I know you don’t mind a good baby picture, here’s my sweet nephew. I love this picture because it includes (1) my nephew, (2) my dog pouting in the background, (3) the quilt I made Mr. Right.

The Story of My Strip & Flip Baby Quilt

Some of my friends may remember that for several years I was a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Since at the time I was terrified of young children (silly me), I signed up for a teenager, and I ended up getting the coolest teenager in town – Stephanie. We spent four years together, going through some pretty major life experiences and changes, and I got to watch her grow up to be a beautiful woman.

That was several years ago. When I found out that Stephanie was expecting a baby boy, I just had to make little Grayson a baby quilt. I used this tutorial, and was able to whip it up in just a few sittings.

 Again, I used a Moda jelly roll for the front, and then snagged this back fabric on sale from JoAnn’s. Mr. Right thinks it makes him dizzy, but I thought the colors and crazy pattern tie in well with the LOUD front. Sometimes I love stepping out of my muted color comfort zone and just “going for it.”

I quilted in the “ditch” on all the colored fabric, then did several vertical lines up the white sashing to add a little extra texture. I try not to over-quilt baby quilts because I want them to stay soft and squishy for the little ones using them.

Last night I got to give the quilt to sweet Stephanie, mama-to-be, and my forever friend. I can’t wait to hold that sweet baby boy of hers!

Strip & flip ombre baby quilt

By now you’re probably thinking, “All that crazy girl sews is yellow and gray triangle quilts.” And you would be right… almost. I have been in a weird phase lately, but I’ve also got dozens of quilt ideas swimming around in my head, just waiting to make it out onto my sewing studio floor. The only thing that’s stopping me is time and money. Those silly quilts require a lot of both!

One of the quilts I’ve been aching to make is the strip and flip quilt I found on Cluck Cluck Sew’s blog. She posted a great tutorial, and I had been jonesing to do some sort of strip quilt, so it was a match made in heaven.

This is just the unfinished quilt top, which I made with a Moda jelly roll I picked up at my local quilting store. I’d never sewn from a jelly roll before – they’re expensive (this one cost $41), and I typically only buy fabric on sale, but it saved me from having to cut much of anything, and the entire quilt took me less than two hours to piece. Plus, I love ombre rainbow effect – such a nice change from the muted colors I’ve been addicted to lately.

I picked up a brightly colored backing and am in the process of quilting it right now – I hope to have pictures of the finished quilt up on the blog next week!

This quilt will be going to a special someone at a later date – I’ll tell you more later, but for now, it’s a secret.