Napkins: Complete!

So, Boyfriend gave me a sewing machine for my birthday. Did I tell you? Either way, I am pretty thrilled about it. I bought a bunch of fabric remnants at Joann's (50% off! woo!) and spent some time practicing stitches and making little pouches and such. Boyfriend even made something! It was his first time using a sewing machine, but he did an awesome job making a little case for my phone. Haha.

Anyway, my first major project was to make cloth napkins. I used a tutorial from Skip To My Lou, which made the whole process really simple. I used one of my larger remnants for these. My napkins ended up being like 11 inch squares (or so), which is smaller than I would have really liked, but I'll take it. I also didn't really realize how much folding, measuring, pinning and pressing would be involved in this process. I mean, I knew there would be some, but man. It took forever! It took longer to do all of those things than it did to actually sew the darn things! I used the mitered corner instructions. It was interesting and it took some time, but I think it turned out nicely. 

Here is one of the pinned mitered corners:

 

  

And here we have a mitered corner, post-stitching:

 

And, finally, here is a good shot of the fabric I used. These are the finished napkins!!

I'm so excited!! I'm nervous to use the napkins, though. I need to look into whether or not I should do something to protect them from staining. Anyone have any tips? 

I am feeling very ambitious about my sewing and, today, bought fabric to make a set of curtains for one of the windows in our stairwell. It should be good. I am also thinking of making drapes for the living room because the ones we have up aren't my favorite and I would like, generally, more color in the decor around here. Boyfriend supports my "color initiative," so that's a good thing. Slowly, but surely, I will brighten up our home and make it more homey. I think I'm still getting used to the idea that we won't be moving for a long time. Amazing! This is the first year I haven't moved since... college. WOOHOO!!

Huzzah for my sewing machine! Huzzah for the napkins!