Graphics in the bathroom

A fun way to spice up your bathroom (or any other room): put patterned paper behind glass doors to hide any unsightly unmentionables. I change the paper regularly for variety. And these are some tub decals Megumi and I installed. They make for happy showering. These are from Hangar 18 in Chicago. And those cute feet are not mine. :)

Some big shoes to fill

So my good buddy Megan was moved by my shoe size angst and felt inspired to find me some websites listing celebrity shoe sizes. In case anybody wondered (unlikely), the following ladies also wear size 11s: Uma Thurman, Kate Winslet, Heidi Klum, and Paris Hilton. Oprah's a 10.5; not bad. And I believe all of this, because the internet never lies.

How to's: embroidery stitches

Here are references I wish I'd had when starting the napkin project. Thanks, Flibbertygibbet, for the suggestion. The following tutorials are from Primrose Design's stitch school.

Learn how to choose supplies (needle, thread, hoop) here. Fortunately all this stuff is really cheap. Also pick up a fabric marker to use for drawing your stem and leaf shapes on your napkin. Choose a "disappearing" marker that fades away later.

Use this stem stitch to make stems. It turns out it's the backstitch flipped over. I'm so pleased to find I accidentally used a real, bona fide stitch! (For the most part.) I divided the embroidery floss to use 3 strands.

Use this satin stitch to make leaves.

Good luck!

Fruity button napkins

My cool downstairs neighbor Elizabeth suggested we embark on a project she saw on TV: embroidered napkins. So we gathered our supplies and set to work, only to discover that neither of us knows how to embroider. After great confusion, here's my first attempt. Which only took... 2 hours? Don't laugh. I followed stitch directions I found online here, but decided I liked the stitching on the underside of my fabric more than I liked the stitching on top. So I ripped it out and figured out how to do the stitch "upside down." All you embroiderers out there will probably scoff, but I don't care. I'm happy with it. Now I only have 3 more napkins to go. Sigh. We hope to be done by Christmas.

Color personality quiz

I first saw this when Jamie at Insidesign posted it awhile ago. You can take a super quick online Colorgenics test, designed to reveal your mood and emotional state based on colors you select. Alex and I were pretty surprised when we read my profile, which fit amazingly well. I became skeptical, though, and thought maybe all the profiles would fit equally well because they're rather general. Not so. I put in "fake" choices I wouldn't pick, got different results, and they weren't a good match for me. Tell me if your profile fits you!

For your reading pleasure

I ordered this edition of Jane Eyre, one of my favorite books, from Amazon. I couldn't resist. It's one of the new mini Gramercy Classics with the tiny patterned print on the cover. Just $5.99. How could I pass it up?

Cheap framed art

I found this graphic wrapping paper at Old Navy awhile back, and the guy on the bike is an illustration I bought from istockphoto.com. My printer wouldn't print large enough, so I traced him onto white sketchbook paper and colored him in with a Sharpie. Instant art.