My mom came to town last weekend and we had buckets of fun. On Friday night we went out with Anthony's cousin and her friends to Karaoke. We pretty much dominated the microphone all night. "Who's Bad?"


Then the next night Anthony DJed my Aunt's 50th Birthday Party in Red Wing. At the last minute he had to make a cable adapter from miscellaneous parts McGyver style.

We all had a pretty great time dancing singing and drinking cocktails. Mom even had a car bomb with Anthony and my Uncle. Ha!


Mom and I accidentally wore matching outfits. Like mother, like daughter.


Auntie Lisa requested no gifts, but did receive a lovely sequined butterfly top, symbolizing this new life cycle. Her she is modeling it over her t-shirt with my Mom. I gave her my rooster lamp for her new French country decorated kitchen. She had seen it at my house before and exclaimed how great it would be in her kitchen. So, I bid it a fond farewell.
Julie @ 1:38 PM Permalink |

Love this print. From Aesthetic Apparatus.
Julie @ 11:12 AM Permalink |

Photo via Pimp Stitch

My favorite embroidery pattern designer had a book signing in Minneapolis last night. I picked up her new book Embroidered Effects, got it signed and had a lovely chat with her. I thanked her for making cool embroidery patterns and we discussed the benefits of using water soluble fabric stabilizer. Craft geek-out!

I now have all three of her books and lots of Sublime Stitching patterns. Must be time to actually do that girls craft night!

I love her Dolly Parton embroidery portrait. I've been thinking about doing an embroidery of a Warhol picture (Jackie O) or a CD cover (The Outsiders).


For more embroidery awesomeness, check out her blog, Embroidery As Art or follow her on twitter for extra sales, @sublimestitching.

I wanted a picture but, I forgot my camera, I could just kick myself. I think it's the first time it has been left at home in a million years.
Julie @ 8:28 AM Permalink |

Loving these cute baby clothes from American Apparel. Thinking they would make good Christmas presents for my new niece.




Julie @ 8:00 AM Permalink |

Our master bedroom is finally starting to get to a place where I want to show it to you. I broke down and bought a bedskirt and I'm really happy to have the boxspring hidden.


I hung pictures on the wall! SO happy to have things up on display.


I framed some Anna Maria Horner fabric in hoops and even embroidered one. They hang out around St. Theresa, a gift from my Grandma Albrecht. She hangs above a collage frame of photos that I love.

I bought the Keep Calm poster especially to add yellow to my grey, white and yellow scheme. Which is evolving to include pale blue, lavender, and beige. I'm happy to have the lovely Jen Oaks "Pink Tights" print back up. Which conveniently includes some yellow orange heels. It looks sweet with a favorite shot of Jess from our trip to San Francisco.



The closet is organized!

I still have dreams about painting the trim white, replacing the ceiling fan with a chandelier or updated fan and painting the furniture (black, white, yellow, pale blue?).

But, for now, I'm pretty happy with it.
Julie @ 1:58 PM Permalink |

The cute husband took me out on a little date night on Friday. We recreated our first date which was roughly two years ago! Dinner at Everest on Grand where we feasted on momos and curry. I had a yummy Japanese beer and Anthony sampled the latest Flat Earth Beer, Angry Planet.

Then we met up with a couple of Anthony's buddies at Billy's where the Jameson girls were giving out free Jameson and Ginger Ale, mmm. We moved to Axel's for dueling pianos, but it was two acoustic guitars. They were OK, but not what we were hoping for.

A very nice night.
Julie @ 1:48 PM Permalink |

Anthony decided to install our closet organizer in the master bedroom closet this weekend. Of course, every project is going to take 10 times longer than you thought it would and this was no exception.


When he removed the old shelf, he found that it was put in before they skim coated and painted. So, there was a large divet all the way around the closet that he need to to Spackle and repaint. And Spackle takes a million years to dry.

Here it is all spackled up and drying.

On Sunday he sanded and repainted the entire closet with some Antique White paint we had purchased at the Habitat Restore for $11. (I think we are planning to use it in the guest room? I can't remember) But it looks great with a fresh coat of shiny paint. Next up time to install the actual organizer.


Also, he put up my curtains on the other window which look really great behind our headboard. And I can't wait to get my Keep Calm and Carry On poster up, so we have some more yellow in here.

And I put some great pale blue and gray Anna Maria Horner fabric in 3 different sized hoops that will be cute on the wall. I only embroidered one of them, but now wish I had done something on all of them. Oh, well.

I have dreams of painting the dresser pale blue and painting our trim bright, clean white. Another day.

I pulled out a duvet cover that my mom had given me a while back and stuffed our bedspread in it. Unfortunately, it is narrower than the bed spread, so there are even less covers to share. I still prefer the white to the faded, yellowed print of the bed spread. It was a wedding gift that my parent's received from my mom's friend when they got married. She made it from two sheets with batting in the middle and binding around the edge. I have many found memories of it covering my parents bed for years. So, I don't want to give it away.

I need a bed skirt! Gah.

More pictures when we are finished.
Julie @ 9:40 AM Permalink |