A Toile Tale: bridge friends

One of my very favorite groups to entertain is my Bridge Buddies! We are six women who have been together for years and years and play bridge once a week. Usually, we meet at 2:30 and play, but several times a year, we have lunch and then play. This week, I invited them to come for lunch.

These ladies seem to appreciate every little detail, and I love giving them lots to look at!

My inspiration started with this cheerful tablecloth from Homegoods.

After an epic fail (I wish I had photos to show you the sad attempt), I came up with this centerpiece.

Lemons and daisies! Sure felt like summer!

In place of a wreath, I simply tied a small bouquet with gingham ribbon onto the door.

The tag read "Please Come In". My landscaper happened to come to the door before the girls arrived and asked me if I was expecting company, or was I just lonely!!!!!!!!!!!

These placecard holders were from Pottery Barn a year or so ago. I cut the layered name card out with my Silhouette cutter, and then hand lettered each name.

On top of my every day white dinner plate, I placed a bright yellow napkin and topped it with a menu card. They were a simple rectangle, even though they photographed sort of misshapen. I always add a quote to the menu card and this one says "Girlfriends help us think our best thoughts, do our noblest deeds, and be our finest selves." (Anon.) Love this!

I used a rattan charger and this bamboo handled flatware from Horshow.

Initially, I planned to use these bright yellow glasses, but I found I only had four.

Didn't they look cuter? The other glass is a plain Tiffany wine glass.

And here's what we put in them! The cutest bottle of pinot grigio! These daisies on the bottle just sent me into orbit. And it was really good!!!!

This is really a candle holder from Italy. I would have used it on the table, but I only have one, so I filled the little hole with water and placed just a few daisies in it and used it on the sideboard.

In one powder room, I added daisies and a hand towel with a lemon tree.

I forgot I had this till I was looking for a towel.

The other powder room got a small daisy arrangement, too.

In the bar, I used some lemon napkins and some small yellow appetizer sized napkins. The fern covered dish held buffalo chicken roll-ups that were a hit.

This tray held the coffee fixings.

I made lemon-thyme salt for favors. It is so good on chicken or veggies.

And the other favor was raffle tickets for produce from my grandson's farm. He's TEN! And he has his own farm. Last year he harvested 300 lbs of potatoes alone. This boy can work! These raffle tickets afforded him the cash to buy his seeds, etc. this spring. I'm going to do a post about him later in the season.

After a leisurely lunch and lots of laughter, we got down to business. We never take our games too seriously, though. This is party bridge. Boy, was I ever surprised to find these cards with lemons in my stash! I don't remember buying them. It was like a miracle.

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21 Rosemary Lane

If you've followed this blog for long, you know how much I look forward to having my Bridge Buddies here for lunch. Last fall I did a pale, neutral colored tablescape with lots of natural, rustic items for them, so I decided this year to walk a bit on the wild side and set a bright, sparkly table. The more subdued, rustic look is more me, but I have to say that I rather like this design, too.

Three large, glittered pumpkins were the basis of this centerpiece that I placed on an old gold colored damask tablecloth.

Then I added some small items, some of which were glittered or beaded. Then, I added some velvet leaves and feathers.

And this little guy joined the party in his cute little velvet outfit.

Then I carried the decorations to the back of the chairs with some wheat, ribbon, and berries.

In place of a charger, I used these wreaths with orange berries. They are meant to be fluffed out for lots of texture and depth, but here I used them flattened down, which is good because that's what happens when they are stored!

Then this off-white, gold banded Lenox dinner plate holds the leaf -shaped salad plate.

Here's how it looked with the autumn salad and puffed pastry croutons that I cut into oak leaves and acorns. (I'll do a separate post of the recipes.)

But, before it was filled, it looked a bit pale and uninteresting, so I moved the metal bittersweet placecard holder onto the salad plate.

Then I took the menu card.....

and snuggled it in beside the salad plate for a little more interest.

A bittersweet colored napkin was held with these very special gold napkin rings from my sweet friend, Allison. I thought the table had enough bling, so I toned it down with wooden-handled flatware in place of silver.

The amber glassware was an easy choice.

I served the pumpkin/carrot soup in these little covered bowls.

It was pretty yummy! The open-faced brie/apple sandwiches don't look here as good as they tasted, though.

This is one of the plates I used for the gooey pumpkin cake, but, alas, there's no photo of it. I guess it's asking too much for me to remember to take a photo of every course!

These salt and pepper shakers look giant here, but they are really quite small.

We brought this amber bottle back from France, and I like to use it for water.

This wine wasn't chosen for the label, but it does work, doesn't it?

Here's the coffee and tea set-up.

It was a smaller group than usual, but there were just enough for a table of bridge.

Here's an overhead shot of the table.

Do you have time for more? I'll show you how some of the rest of the house looked that day. This is the sideboard in the dining room. See? This is more my style than all of that bold-colored glitter!

And this is a small vignette in the bar.

And the guest bathroom had several fall touches.

I'll always love this Osborne and Little wallpaper with acorns and oak leaves and the cream hand towel echoes this perfectly.

And the soap does, too!

This black forest bird vase is just the right size for a small handful of fall flowers and berries.

And, in the kitchen, this small grouping keeps the feeling of fall on the counter.

Oh yea!!! I forget to show you the favors for the girls. I made each one a packet of this stationery. They're stamped, embossed and hand water colored. Sounds like a lot of work, but they just took a very few minutes. I've used this same image often for fall menus, invitations, or place cards.

I'm so privileged to call these women my friends. And it's also my privilege to have them for lunch now and then. Do you have such a group in your life?

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9 COMMENTS:

Divine TheatreOctober 29, 2012 1:17 PM

You'd think with all the spare body parts laying around that someone could have given you a helping hand with all the work!?

This was very well done!

Andie
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FABBY'S LIVINGOctober 29, 2012 6:46 PM

Terrific Halloween vignettes! I love all your dishes with ghosts! Great!! Happy Halloween from Table To Tuesday! Big hugs,
FABBY
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RonOctober 29, 2012 7:33 PM

Great vignettes. What a great party idea.
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Alycia NicholsOctober 29, 2012 11:38 PM

What a fun party set up, Linda! You really outdid yourself! I must be a kid at heart, too, because I love the idea of the fog machine and the skeleton hand out the door! It just adds to the spooky fun! Seriously?!? You had someone to show up early?!?!?!! That always freaks me out. I use those 15-20 minutes prior to "show time" to catch my breath, light candles, turn on the music, put ice in the cooler...all those last minute kinds of things. When people show up early I always end up forgetting something! Off with their heads...then put some salad greens around those heads and add them to the decor! :-) :-) :-)
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marty (A Stroll Thru Life)October 31, 2012 9:29 AM

Oh how fun and all of the decor is unreal. Thanks for joining TTT Hugs, marty
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Infuse With LizNovember 1, 2012 12:05 AM

How funny and what a great way to get a party going with the creepy hand at the door!! All of your deco looks great...especially the pile of bones!
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SarahNovember 1, 2012 12:15 AM

Clever idea for a Halloween party. The wine selection sounds interesting. I'm going to look for these just to see the wine labels. ;-)
Happy Halloween.......Sarah
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ScribblerNovember 1, 2012 4:55 PM

Well! Looks like a great time! Those salted caramel cupcakes sound divine and all your attention to detail is amazing. Early guests? Off with their heads!
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Melissa@TheHappierHomemakerNovember 1, 2012 9:58 PM

Wow, it looks great! You have amazing attention to detail! Here from Inspiration Friday. (I have that gauzy dollar store fabric too-isn't it great?!)
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