I've been busy recently so I haven't posted as many updates as I might like. I've been getting ready for the semester to start, and teaching at the fabric store as always. I've been running a monthly embroidery club, where every month we've been working with new techniques and working on projects. This month we worked on embroidering towels since the pile makes embroidering interesting to say the least.

My brother just moved to a new apartment, with his first real job... so I figured I'd do some kitchen towels for him. I debated making something classy and stylish, but then if it didn't go with his decor at some point he wouldn't use them. So I figured I'd be better off to go with ridiculous/fun and that way there was no worries. They wouldn't match anything. Ever. So he'd use them.

I got a cheap set of towels, rags, and pot holders at Target for $6, and figured they'd be perfect. As I sorted through my embroidery designs, I debated lots of options for something fun. I ended up using the Viking #62- Crazy Creatures Collection, and stitched #1, #10, and #14 on the towels. Below is the final color of #14 doing the outline.

My personal life has been thrown for a bit a of a loop recently (and part of that is my fault), but the end result is I have the house to myself now. So the ex-boy is slowly moving his things out, and I'm gaining lots more space just for me. The perk is that I'm going to start planning dinner parties again! I haven't hosted one since I lived in Pennsylvania and we used to have them about once a week combined with a movie night.

So... I've been looking for fun dining things. I love the look of handthrown pottery, but the reality is as a graduate student being able to afford food is much more important than having an awesome bowl to eat ramen out of. Though I've ordered a few that were "seconds" but are going to be awesome! I'll take photos when they get here.

On that note I've been looking for some great table stuff that's reasonably inexpensive.

At the top right are some great recycled beer glass glasses (tongue twister!) that I think I'd like to try and make! the pair pictured were made Rachel Sudlow over at Sudlow Jewelry. She makes awesome stuff, and these look like loads of fun. I've been stockpiling printed beer bottles for a bit now... and I think I have enough to finally try it. I just need to dig out my glass equipment.

I also have been very into the table linens recently. I've been drooling over these matching place mats and napkins recently. They're the second photo down on the right. How cool are they? They're from MichelleBrusegaard and would look perfect on my dinner table. I've also been looking at the recycled silver spoon napkin rings from LTCreatesJewelry which would also be fabulous.