Thankyou Paddy!
Sandi, my favorite fabric medium so far is burlap. Hubbs bought me a roll of 10oz. I have yet to try a towel. Used towels are a very useful thing when you live with a zoo. Really no such thing as used towels here, just using towels.
My absolute fave thing I have tried though is some table place matts a friend gave me. We are pretty uncivilized in this household and would never use something like that. It makes for great square pottery though.