Black and white, or black and cream, is very trendy right now.  Farmhouse style.  Urban Cottage.  Por quoi?  Because it's timeless, classic and it always looks good.

Building on the designs and aesthetic of the Urban Cottage fabric collection, the UrbanChiks also designed some super-cool products to use at home.

This is the Large Tote Bag - it's cotton canvas so it's durable, cute, and yes... washable.  It also holds A LOT of stuff... which might be why it was originally used for the tote bag at Sample Spree.  Just saying...

Kitchen towels - I am already using a set of these.  They wash up beautifully - very soft, and the black is a lovely, slightly faded, blackboard shade.

You should know that I am a huge fan of the Moda toweling and the four Urban Cottage Towelings are some of my favorites.  Thick. Absorbent.  And just cool-looking.  Yes, I make my own towels because most kitchen towels are a skosh bigger than I want, and dish cloths are too small.  So I cut a 23" length, press the ends up 1/2", then again another 1/2".  I top-stitch to finish the hems and voila... the perfect size towel and napkin.  They shrink a little bit after washing but the size is still exactly what I like.  

This toweling also makes really cool pillows.  

The Small Tote Bag is a perfect size to keep in your car and suitcase for "stuff".  It's also perfect for carrying stitching supplies to class, or books to your book club. 

Pot Holders.  Because take-out food is hot, especially after the dish has been re-heated in the microwave!  And they look really good next to the stove-oven.  There are also two really cute aprons - the Urban Cottage Center Stripe and the Urban Cottage Geese Stripe.  They're the same designs as shown on the potholders above.

The Center Stripe Zipper Bag is the perfect size for tucking into tote bags with sewing supplies, pens and pencils, and yes, make-up and accessories.  It's a thick, slub-texture cotton and it washes beautifully.  (Ask me how I know!)  There were also some adorable Urban Cottage Mini Notes but those look to be all gone - so if you see one in your favorite shop, grab it!

Grab these too.  They're the Urban Cottage Canvas Storage Buckets.  Though there may not be many of these in shops because I'm buying as many as I can find.  For scraps and storage, in your sewing room and living room, in the bathroom and kitchen, these are really good.  And versatile.  

The Urban Cottage products will be arriving in shops in the next week or so, if they aren't already there.  

Maybe they arrived and I got there first.  It is a possibility.  

Happy Tuesday!