Elisa, yes, they are bright. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with them. I used some new variegated thread I bought on them. The surfboard one was a little loud, but the lady I gave it to not only thanked me in person, she also emailed me to tell me how much she loved it, so I think I picked the right person to give it to. It was nice to bring some color into that environment of gray and brown. I posted these pictures on facebook after I posted them here, and my best friend has already requested one with of the "coffee" themed ones. I guess I'll throw it together and it'll be part of her Christmas, since I haven't had a chance to give her gifts to her yet. I bought her the most adorable cheese plate with matching knife at the Syrup Sop a couple months ago, and brought her a pair of warm purple slippers like mine from Denmark.
Our house isn't especially football themed, but we do have Auburn University logos stashed all over the house. The biggest is probably the fireplace screen (
http://www.sportsmirrors.com/auburn-...ace-screen.htm). We have all Auburn logo'd Tervis tumblers, I sit on an Auburn pillow when I sew, we have orange and blue bed sheets, and then there's the little things here and there that are Auburn, but not orange and blue. We definitely have a male oriented decor in our house, lots of black, chrome, glass, and medium to dark woods, but it's OK, because the house I lived in when I was married to my ex was way too girly for my taste because that's what he wanted. Our dining room table is currently unfinished, but I'm thinking of staining it black (not painting, because that'll be too stark). The table is at least 15 years old and was made in Denmark. My boyfriend's had it since he was in college and brought it with him when he moved to the US to teach at Auburn University.
I think your hotpad style mug rug is a great idea. Perhaps we should do a whole swap of them! I have some squares already cut out to match the placemats I made for my boyfriend's mom for Christmas & I'm thinking that I may make her a couple hotpads to match, since I know she'll use them. I could use a hotpad runner that will fit our bar. When we have my boyfriend's grad students here for graduation parties, we usually put everything out as a buffet on the bar. It's granite so the heat doesn't affect it so much, but it would be nice to have something pretty to put on the bar, especially an Auburn themed one for graduation parties. Now that I'm down to 2 unfinished projects, maybe I'll add that to my to-do list.
