Play ball!

I'm not much of a baseball fan. I have respect for the game and it's fans, but I can't watch baseball. It moves too slowly for me. However, you can't live in Fort Worth right now and be unaware of the fact that our Texas Rangers are going to the World Series. (I'm told this is a pretty big deal?!)

So, now seems like a good time to share a quilt I made last month for my cousin and his wife's new baby.

My cousin is a graphic designer for the Texas Rangers. He's a third-generation die-hard baseball fan and they decorated the baby's nursery with a baseball theme. The Rangers provided all of their front office staff with tickets to all the World Series games. He and guest (who might not be his wife, she's like 36 weeks pregnant) even get to attend the away games on the Ranger's dime (airfare and hotel included.) The home games are like going to work for him since he works at the stadium. Exciting stuff for a baseball fan though.

This quilt isn't made with fabric I would normally choose, but I like that it's sports and novelty without looking too, you know... like the licensing aisle at Joann. The print is Alexander Henry and the solid is Kona Stone. I pitched these wonky squares together quickly and they really seem to like it.

The label is my favorite part. I think it turned out cute.

So, that's probably all the baseball you'll ever get out of me. But, I do hope the Rangers do well and score lots of touchdowns in their first World Series game tonight.

Just kidding. I know they score goals, not touchdowns.  ;-)

three words.

I have three words about the new house. Worth. The. Wait.

I've been unpacking since we spent our first night here this past Sunday night.  This is our third massively renovated/rebuilt home and it's a culmination of all the things we learned and loved about the last two houses. I love the location - Our new home is about as urban as we could get unless we moved into a high-rise a mile away in dowtown. Just what I wanted!

I've been working primarily on the kitchen and the sewing room. We've been slowing retrieving our things from storage and still have a few things to do on the house before I can get completely comfortable. I worked on the sewing room until about 3:00 a.m. night before last and made some pretty good progress. The photo above is Wednesday night.

Here it was last night. I still have a long way to go, but I love unpacking and organizing! I can't wait to give you a little tour once things are more presentable. I hate that I've been away so long (there are 4,800+ unread posts in my blog reader and I'm dreadfully behind on emails), but I'm so happy right now I could just scream. Maybe I will. While I unpack.

I can't believe it's October! (And the giveaway winner!)

Thank you for all the well wishes regarding our move! Unfortunately, our house still isn't ready. I would complain about the builder, but he's my husband and I love him madly regardless of how long it's taking. Doing so much of the work ourselves takes longer, but stretches our dollars much further and in the end, that's a very good thing.

I won't bore you with details of our delays, such as of deluges of rain dumped on north Texas by a tropical storm (thanks, Hermine), broken sewer taps and dealing with the water department, or our current foe, the electric company. I won't bore you with the story of my 20 plus consecutive days with a headache, which is now gone thanks to some strong antibiotics for a sinus/ear infection and a round of steroids. (I hope I never have to take steroids again! They made my feel terrible.) Sorry, I guess I just bored you anyway.

We've probably got another week until we can move and I'm anxiously tapping my foot. Living with my mom has really been fun, but I want my stuff out of storage! I packed for about three weeks and we've been here almost six. I can hear my fabric crying out to me from the bottom of a massive stack of boxes.

I'll share a couple of construction shots of my favorite room in the new house, the kitchen!

My kitchen island without it's butcher block top and the floors pre-scraping and staining.

A corner of the kitchen with counters (absolute black granite) and backsplash (Cararra white marble). That hood is over the cooktop that still hasn't arrived. I'm so excited about cooking in that kitchen! I officially pledge to eat out less often after the move.

In crafty news, I've almost finished this quick baseball baby quilt for a shower on Sunday. It's not my really my style (sports), but I think it will be a home run with it's recipient. wha wha.

Alright, I know what you are thinking... get to the big news, Mel!

Oh, you mean who I'll be sending this bundle of happiness to?

That would be number 82...

Ashley who blogs at Our so called life!
And, wow, does she have some adorable kiddos!

I'll send you an email shortly, Ashley. I hope you enjoy the fabric!

Well I'm off to run some errands and seal the backsplash tile in the kitchen to prepare it for grouting. If anyone wants to help, come on over!

A little rambling, a blog break, and a giveaway.

I have a problem. I'm terrible at saying "no".

While I was on the phone this afternoon, having to renege on a commitment, the sweet person on the other end of the line reminded me of the toll never saying "no" can take on you physically and mentally. She told me that she was just like me when she was younger, trying to do it all (and succeeding!), and it eventually caught up to her physically. She shared a scripture from 1 Thessalonians.  Paul told the residents of Thessalonica to "Make it your ambition to lead a quite life..." (1 Th 4:11). My life isn't very quiet right now.

Shea starts school on the 23rd. We have to be out of the house we are leasing on the 31st. The house we are building probably won't be ready until the second week of September. So, we are going to pack and move all our things into storage and live out of suitcases for a couple of weeks in the spare bedroom of my mother's house. We could stay here longer, but it's a 30 minute drive to school from here without traffic and traffic is terrible going into town in the mornings. My mother lives in town, so we think that will make life a little easier for at least a couple of weeks. In addition to all of the packing, moving and driving, I have my freelance work and all of the commitments I've made to keep up with. Oh, and the spike in lumber costs blew our construction budget, so we are laying, hand-scraping, and finishing an entire house of hardwood floors ourselves. I'm tired just typing all of that.

So, for the next month or so, I'm saying "no". I'm taking a blog break. I'll be back once we get moved and settled.

But, I don't want to leave you hanging, so I'm going to do a little giveaway in hopes that you'll come back. I'm going to share one set of fat-eights of my Katie Jump Rope collection. That's 11" x 18" cuts of the 33 fabrics you see above.

Want to win? Leave a comment. No need to become a follower, or Tweet, or blog about it, but if you want to do any of those things, it would make me smile. I'm going to let this one ride for a while; I'll pick a winner when I get back to the blog, mid-September. If your Blogger profile is set to hide your email, I won't be able to contact you if you are the winner, so be sure to check back.

I already feel a little weight off my shoulders. I'm going to try to find some time to read a book I bought last year called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. My friend on the phone this afternoon also suggested Simple Living by Jose Hobday, but I'll read that one after I get settled.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and I'll see you in September!