Embroidered Lavender Napkins

Whenever I see plain white napkins on sale I usually buy a few.  They make a great medium for an upgraded linen.  A little ric rac, lace, buttons, or embroidery and you have a beautiful, and inexpensive, table linen. They make great hostess, wedding shower, or wedding gifts. I think cloth napkins add so much to a table setting, it makes the dinner feel a little more special. I've been gathering items to do a lavender table setting (still looking for the perfect plates!) so wanted to do some embroidered napkins.  I found a picture I liked, copied it and traced on the napkin.  I started embroidering them on Super Bowl Sunday.  Tax season got in the way and they sat in my craft room for a few months.  Now that tax season is over, I whipped six of them out in a matter of hours! Super easy and very pretty!

I have an Amazon credit card and use it for everything; groceries, clothing, travel, etc. I log online every few weeks and pay the charges so I don't incur interest (heaven forbid an accountant pay finance charges!)  The bonus for doing this is the Amazon points I accumulate.  I use these points to buy items that I wouldn't ordinarily spend money on, they are kind of my "splurge" points. With some of my points I bought this light box.  The rendering you want to trace is placed on the box, the light backlights it making it easy to trace the design onto fabric or paper.  It made tracing my design on these napkins so easy!

Winter Birds Table Setting

We recently hosted three couples for dinner. The plans were made on rather short notice so I didn't have a lot of time to think about how I would set the table. For me, part of the fun in entertaining is creating a nice table ambiance. For this occasion I pretty much had to run with what I have in my cabinets. Currently on our dining table is a winter bird table runner that I got from Pottery Barn a few years ago.  It has a lot of browns in it, with little pops of blue and burnt orange. I grabbed some blue Fiestaware plates, which went well with the blue in the table runner, and placed them on white chargers.  The flower mart had burnt orange Gerbera daisies, which really brought out the orange in one of the birds on the runner.  I threw them in some blue mason jars which tied the two colors together even more. A few candles on the table, in clear glass jars filled with bird seed, further enhanced the bird theme. I didn't go too crazy with the decorating as I was serving the food at the table, rather than buffet style. There's no room for food if there's too much stuff on the table! Every thing was a mix 'n match, but it made a nice and informal table setting.

By using items I already had, I didn't blow my budget on new things.  That doesn't mean I was a Saint, however.  I was browsing online, looking for bird salad plates.  Pier 1, which is quickly becoming my favorite store, had these plates showcased on their "new items" category.  They were perfect for my table setting plan so I drove across town to get some. My store didn't have them in stock yet so back home I went without spending a dime! I haven't been back out to see if they have arrived in the store, I'm trying very hard to resist the temptation!

I'm linking up with Tablesetting Thursday.

New Year's Eve Dinner By The Fire

We aren't New Year's Eve party people and have not been out on the holiday since 1983 (I remember because our son was 6 weeks old and it was our first date-night without him!) If we see the ball drop at midnight, it's only because we are watching the New York activities as they happen on our West Coast time zone! We are usually awakened by inconsiderate neighbors lighting off fireworks at midnight, but we quickly go back to sleep. Our dog, Harley, is now deaf so the fireworks no longer bother him! As you can tell, we aren't real lively for this holiday!

I do like to have a nice quiet dinner, to celebrate the end of one year and the anticipation of a new year.  Some years we have another couple or two over, some years it's just us.  This year was just the two of us. We are finally getting some rain and wintery weather here, it's the type of weather where you want to be inside and near the fire.  This gave me the perfect excuse to set up a table in front of the fireplace. The combination of the fire and twinkly lights on the table provided a nice setting for our cozy dinner.

I used my wedding china, Fragrance by Noritake, placed on a gold charger. To avoid making things too formal, I added a decoupaged salad plate with a clock motif. There are some orange and yellows in the fabric that coordinated well with the floral colors on the china rim. Black napkins helped to tie all the colors together, too. A quick run to the fabric store for some sparkly material (on sale for $4.25!) provided our table runner. We have the most wonderful floral mart in town and I was able to get two dozen white roses for $18! (Four days later they still look wonderful!) I told my Hubbers there wasn't a restaurant in town that could provide this sort of ambiance!

The only problem with our fireside dining was (1) there is no kitchen help and (2) it got a little warm sitting next to the fire! Overall, it was a wonderful evening.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and a bottle of our favorite wine. We didn't have to get dressed up, fight the crowds, or worry about drivers who drink and drive. And my Visa charge isn't holding a big restaurant bill! Priceless!

I'm linking up to Tablescape Thursday.

Fabric Decoupage Plates

By now, you know that I love to play with dishes; to mix and match dishes, napkins, and silverware to create fun table settings. I enjoy setting a pretty table for my guests and it's a nice creative outlet to put things together.

Sometimes I get an idea for a table setting but can't find all the pieces to make it work.  Such was the case for New Year's. I wanted to do a table setting using clock plates. A few years ago Pottery Barn had some clock plates.  I didn't buy them at the time, they are now discontinued, and I'm not paying E-Bay prices for them. I remembered that one of my local fabric stores had a display for plates that they made with fabric and Mod Podge, which is a decoupage medium. So I made a trip to the store, bought a few clear glass plates and some fabric. I grabbed their instruction sheet, as well as turned to the internet for guidance. They were very easy to make and I love how they turned out!

I always have Mod Podge on hand, the one I used was for a matte finish.  They make one for outdoor use, which probably holds up to water better, but my store didn't have any in stock. As the Mod Podge is on the back of the plates, you are able to eat off the plates.  To clean, hand wash them gently and avoid soaking them in water, then lay them upside down to dry.

Now that I've done my first few plates, I have many ideas for future plates and chargers.  It's a great way to have special occasion dishes at a very low cost.  Glass plates can be found quite inexpensively at most hobby and dollar stores.

Step 1:  Cut out a fabric circle large enough to cover the plate, about 1" wider than the plate all the way around.  You can lay the plate upside down on the fabric and draw a circle around it.  I stacked two plates together and cut.

Step 2:  Make sure the back of the plate is very clean. Lay it upside down on an old towel or waxed paper.  Using a sponge brush, paint a good even coat of Mod Podge all over the back of the plate.

Step 3: Place a fabric circle, right side down, on top of the plate and gently smooth it out to cover the plate and remove any creases.  You can use a credit card like a squeegee to remove any air bubbles and to make sure everything is stuck tight to the glass.

Step 4:  Paint a light, even coat of Mod Podge over the entire back surface of the plate and allow to dry.  I set them on top of a bowl so they wouldn't stick to my work towel. 

Step 5:  Using very sharp scissors, cut away the excess fabric around the edge of the plates as close to the edge as possible (you could probably trim it with an Exacto knife, too).  Paint another coat of Mod Podge onto the back of the plate. Wait at least 48 hours before using the plates to allow the Mod Podge to set up completely.

Thanksgiving 2016

 

Another year has flown by and my favorite holiday is here, Thanksgiving.  As I've said before, this holiday incorporates some of my favorite things; food, family, friends, and we must not forget football (3 games!) This year has been a rough one for my family.  The year started out with a cancer diagnosis and three surgeries for me.  Thankfully, it was caught early and all will be ok.  Since August my husband has lost two brothers to lung cancer. He also has been having complications as a result of his Rheumatoid Arthritis. Our parents are aging and we're having to deal with some serious health issues with them. So it's easy to say "woe-is-me".  Yet I look around and see people who have far worse problems to deal with and it's very humbling. I am very blessed.  My Thanksgiving table will be graced by my parents, my children and grandchildren, and some close family friends.  We will have more than enough to eat and a roof over our heads to shelter us. There is plenty to be thankful for.

My tables are set, with my Transferware and Woodland Spode dinnerware. I kept with a very neutral color scheme using ivory linens and table runner. Color comes from the gourds and pumpkins as well as the flowers I splurged on.  My guests will get to take flowers home, as a gift from me!

My antique bin table is the perfect spot for a dessert station.  My son's favorite pie, apple, is in its place.  Two pumpkin, a chocolate cream, and a pecan pie are in the fridge. Fresh whipped cream (or whooped cream, as my granddaughters call it!) and vanilla ice cream will be available as toppings. There will be no shortage of calories here!

The dinner menu doesn't vary much from year to year.  This is a holiday where tradition plays a huge role and each person has their "must have" dishes. I try to make everyone happy. My husband doesn't like homemade cranberry sauce so he will get his canned, jelled variety, while the rest of us have homemade sauce. He's not a fan of my Mom's cornbread dressing so I always have to make him a box of Stove Top (that is so hard for a food snob like me!)  To go with our roast turkey will be mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato souffle, dressing, homemade yeast rolls and various vegetables. We will eat until we're stuffed and eat some more.  Later that night we'll be making turkey sandwiches.

Friday we will begin our Christmas decorating.  Until then it's all about the turkey and counting our blessings! From my home to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Pomegrantes and Pumpkins!

I recently (and unexpectedly) bought some plates from Pier One. I used them in a pear-themed tablesetting a few weeks ago. I love these plates and have been using them almost daily this fall. We  hosted another couple for dinner and I wanted to use the plates but not do the same pear emphasis (I get bored easily!) The plates also have figs and pomegranates on them.  It just so happens that I have a big box of pomegranates in my garage as I am starting my annual pomegranate juicing/jelly making production. I started thinking about how I could incorporate those pomegranates in my tablesetting. 

During the fall I usually have this antique dough bowl filled with small pumpkins and gourds.  It's so simple and pretty. I added a few pomegranates to the mix.  Wow, that spark of red added a lot of color and tied the plates into the centerpiece perfectly! Combining pumpkins and pomegranates had never occurred to me before but I really like the combination of colors it makes.

 

 

I added some gold napkins, my Woodland Spode silverware, and some amber water glasses. Votive candles in gold holders added a little sparkle. I was able to put together a pretty table with little effort. I love it when things go together like this! 

I made the burlap table runner last year, see these instructions.  It's simple but has a little touch of elegance with the white ribbon. 

Please join me at Tablescape Thursday for more tabletop inspiration!

Pear Tablesetting (and how shopping can be dangerous!)

It all started with a table runner.  I got an e-mail from April Cornell with their latest fall designs and fell in love with a yellow and blue runner, with pears and blue birds on it. A few weeks ago I set it out as part of my introduction to this year's fall decorating.  It's just too hot around here right now for me to be thinking about decorating with pumpkins just yet! As the runner has birds in it I grabbed a birdbath-shaped ceramic bowl and filled it with pears and topped it with my bird salt and pepper shakers.  It made a nice display on my dining table.  I had no plans to do anything other than that.

Then I had to go to Pier One.  We were down to two wine glasses
in our motorhome and we like the cute and inexpensive wine glasses they sell. As I walked to the wine glass display I passed the linens section.  I needed some new white napkins so grabbed six of them.  I fell in love with the blue/green variations on the wine glasses, they will go well with the interior of the new motorhome we just bought, so, in my basket they went!  As I turned the corner to go to the cash register I spotted a dish display with plates and bowls with figs, pomegranates and pears.  Yes, pears! My mind started whirling, thinking of the table setting I could make with these plates and my runner. Yes, they also went in my cart! A quick trip into the store ended up being a little pricier than I had budgeted for! (I also have to figure out where I'm going to put six more plates in my already-full garage cabinets!)

My Hubbers had been hinting around that I hadn't made sugar cookies in a while.  It just so happens that I have a pear cookie cutter. All this hoarding does sometimes pay off!  I think they made an adorable table decoration as well as a tasty treat for our guests!

Coincidentally, the wine glasses went well with this table setting.  I may need to buy a few more to keep at the house as these are going in the RV!

Now I'm on the lookout for material or a table runner with pomegranates on them.  These plates will be used for many fall dinners.

I'm linking up to Tablescape Thursday.

Sunflowers and Bees!

Each year I plant a package of sunflower seeds in a corner of my flower bed. I love watching them grow, some days it seems like they grow a foot overnight! I look forward to when they will bloom, they are such a bright and festive flower! Once we have blooms, the bees flock to the flower heads, they are a natural pairing. In the fall, once the flower heads have dried up, I harvest the seeds and leave for the birds during the winter months. My flower beds are full of color but they also serve to nourish the birds, bees and butterflies.

I brought sunflowers and bees into the house for this tablesetting. The sunflower plates are new (Pier 1), everything else I had, so it was just a matter of mixing and matching until I got the look I was envisioning. I ended up having a lot more green than I wanted, so added a pop of pink in the Gerbera daisies, to bring out the pink that is in the pitcher.

 

Our front door even has a sunflower in the form of this wreath I bought through an Etsy vendor.  I have had so many neighbors stop and tell me how much they like this on my bright red door!

Today I'm linking up to Tablescape Thursday.

A Bicycle (Dinner) Built For Two!

My Hubbers is an avid bicycle rider.  He has ridden across the U.S.A., up and down the west coast, along the Pacific Northwest, Iowa, and along the Mississippi River, just to name of few of his jaunts.  Each summer, he and his small group head out on a 2-week bike trip.  This year it was to southern Idaho/Northern Oregon.  They were gone 12 days. He was home one day before I headed to Disneyland with my granddaughters and their moms. By the time I got home we were both missing each other and longing to catch up on all our events. It was time for a nice quiet dinner!

I bought these napkin rings a few years ago at Sur La Table.  Using them was especially fitting for this evening, I thought! They more resemble the beach cruiser bike I ride than his touring bikes (he has 9 bikes, including 2 tandems!) but I knew he would appreciate the sentiment.

 Again, I just mix 'n match pieces I have until I come up with a table setting that pleases me and matches my theme for the evening.  Tonight's table setting was especially festive and colorful! I used some yellow Fiesta Ware as well as the red Pioneer Woman salad plates. The red in the napkins picked up the red in the napkin rings. The placemats are reversible, a two-for-one purchase I think! The yellow flatware was purchased at Target, many years ago.  I only paid $12.99 for the four place settings, the tag is still on the box!

We had a nice filet mignon dinner, some good wine.  He told me all about his trip and we talked about my trip with the girls and how fast they are growing up.  We had a decadent dessert, too.  We probably should have gotten on a real bike afterwards and burned some calories!

Today I'm linking up to Tablescape Thursday.