the evolution of a napkin.

i guess a napkin doesn't actually evolve, but it sounded good for a title! after a quick mention of my slight obession with handmade napkins, i thought it really is worthy of its own explanation.

it all started with this bright, happy brown and yellow floral print that i picked up a fat quarter of (that's a big square of fabric to any non-fabric people, about 40 by 40 inches) one time when shopping with my mom. i have also had an obsession with all-white dishes for quite some time, and i thought a big mix of coordinating napkins would be cute. so i added some cream rick rack in the hem and presto. cute napkins!

then i discovered a really great brown and yellow polka dotted set in a fellow etsy shop. perfect! so i snapped them up right away (thank heaven for paypal accounts):

then i discovered superbuzzy (it's obviously really unsafe for my wallet to stay on the internet for any given time). i found the brown dots. and i found that they carry the brown dots in other colors... coordinating colors. a little light brown rick rack from yet another etsy shop, and these will be set of 2 number three!

and then, when buying amy butler prints to make coasters from, i found a lovely mustardy-gold floral print (i would use cream rick rack on it as well) that i'm in a bit of a debate whether or not should round out the next set of 2 to make a total of eight.

the set of 4 i made was from a hand-woven liberty print that i inherited from my mom's stash. it was also a fat quarter, so just perfect for a set. it reminds me of a big kitchen table in the french countryside, so i can't imagine what else i would have used it for except napkins or maybe dishtowels (and napkins are a bit more fun). these i decided to do with a simple folded-under edge rather than use rick rack.

i also inherited from her stash a really pretty red and white print that looks like dots of snow on the ends of leaves that was very christmasy to me. i think it's going to be really pretty with all-white dishes or my solid red christmas dishes.

the other great thing is that napkins get lots of everyday use... so besides the convenience of being able to just toss them in the wash rather than throw away lots of paper ones, i get to be reminded of my mom by a frequently used thing in our house, since most of my fabric either came from her or i bought while shopping with her.

so, there you have my saga of the napkins!

on a quick unrelated but important side note, i want to thank any of you out there who are reading this blog. i have so much fun with it, i would keep doing it even if no one ever read, but i can't tell you how happy it makes me to know there are readers out there, tracking with me through my crazy and sometime ridiculous need to make things. thank you to those of you who can relate to that feeling and to those of you who can't, but keep reading anyway just to see where the craziness takes me next. thank you!