A Toile Tale: May 2015

Saturday, May 9, 2015

The Best Mom in the World

I owe EVERYTHING to this woman. My mom. My mentor, my shining example, my cheerleader, and my true inspiration. She showed me what a beautiful marriage looked like, how to parent with just the right amount of sternness, and how to love unconditionally. Her best advise to me when I became a parent was, "no is a complete sentence". She didn't argue, didn't compromise, and didn't give in to peer pressure. What she did was love and love and love. And we ALWAYS knew her parameters. She's ninety one now, and we treasure every single day that we have her. Believe me.....she's the very best God has ever made.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Cinco De Mayo

I'm re-posting a Cinco De Mayo party that we had with some of our favorite people. There is no way I'm entertaining tonight, so this is the closest I'm getting to a party today. I am, however, fixing a yummy dish of chicken enchiladas and yellow rice. I might even wear my sombrero!

Take fourteen dear friends, a beautiful evening, a potluck format, a festive table......and you get an evening of fun and memory making.

This was the placesetting at the dining room table. I sat 8 in there and 6 in the bar. I have had these stripped placemats for a long time so I used them to bring in all of the colors of Cinco de Mayo. Then I cooled things down a bit with plain white plates.

Hair elastics gave the napkins a little Carmen Miranda feeling.

I pulled out some green flatware for even more color.

This big succulent was out in the garden in a zinc pot, so it became the centerpiece....

and I supplemented it with these mums. I wanted sunflowers, as they seem so Mexican, but this was the closest I could come this weekend.

Maracas and beads from Party City and peppers from Kroger added to the decor.

And then I added these folding flowers to the chandelier and this table was ready.

In the bar, I put the leaves up on the trestle table, added a stripped runner and some straw mats. Then I used the same napkins and napkin "rings" and more white plates.

This time I used red flatware and small blue glasses.

I used another dish of succulents in the garden, and used more black-eyed mums.

This is not too much to look at on its own, but all together it worked for a fun, fast setting.

I repeated the maracas, beads, and peppers.

The drinks were set up behind the bar in a colorful display.

These traditional Mexican party flags were made on my Silhouette cutter and strung on kitchen twine.

Besides these colorful plastic margarita glasses, I bought these fun, furry little adhesive mustaches and put them on the wine glasses. Thank you Party City! They had a great selection of Cinco de Mayo items.

I also added some Mexican soda, mainly for the colors!

In one of the guest baths, I put those little mums and some fresh oregano in the little Black Forest bird vase. The color is really off in this photo. Our toilet is NOT really green!

The other guest bath had a wink to Cinco de Mayo, too.

Besides the fresh flowers and vegetables, I found these stripped guest towels that look like serapes. I have often heard that, much like St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, Cinco de Mayo is not really celebrated that much in Mexico, but I'll throw a party just because the sun came up in the morning! I let someone else entertain for the Derby and I took the Sunday gig.

The front door welcomed our guests with a sombrero and a bouquet of orange ranuculus.

Hola!

Also joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

No Minimalist Here

Centerpiece Wednesday

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Table It

Home Sweet Home

Sheltered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

www.nancherrow.com

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Friday, May 1, 2015

The Iconic Iris

This Mikasa pattern, Garden Gallery, is one I use often in the springtime. While the pattern is busy, the edges have a simple border, and that makes it good for combining with other patterns, or stacking, as I have here.

When our local Trader Jo's had these beautiful iris, I scooped them up to do this table. I love Iris, but they are so short-lived once they are cut. I love the flower, and I'm soon going shopping at my favorite source, M P Flower Garden, for some new iris plants. I did a post on that here.

I set this in the breakfast room on a gloomy day.

I liked the wicker chargers with this, and these light lavender napkins added color to the stack.

Pale purple stems, and clear Juliska stems seemed to do the trick for glassware.

This World Market flatware complimented the green on the plates.

The dinner plate has daffodils and some unidentifiable pink flower. Pretty..... but I think the iris salad plate is the star.

In order to let the flowers shine, not the vase, I chose this white paste vase from France. I can't believe that I haven't broken some of these flowers.

Perfect!

This majolica salt and pepper dish picked out a little more green.

Nothing fancy here.

Did I tell you it was gloomy????? I took this through the window. As you can see, spring has surely sprung here in Georgia and it is soooo welcome. Soon the pollen season will be over and the pressure washing season starts.

Joining: