A Toile Tale: spring

Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Saturday, April 8, 2017

A Blue and Yellow Birthday

One of my dearest friends recently celebrated a birthday and some of us took this opportunity to show her some love. This lunch was the result of this group effort. It was held at our mutual friend, Anne's, beautiful home.

I agreed to do the flowers, and when I arrived, this beautiful table is what I saw! Our honoree is a blue and white lover, so Anne pulled out this wonderful Blue Danube china, and set it on this Ralph Lauren tablecloth. Waterford and vintage crystal added to the glamor. Notice how, placing the china on a blue placemat makes all this pattern work perfectly!

Here's my centerpiece! I have soooo many blue and white pots of all sizes and shapes, so I brought them filled with all sorts of bright yellow spring flowers. Easy and pretty!

This worked so well and felt so fresh.

There were primroses,

tulips, daffodils, and gerbera daisies,

in a real mix of pots, including this one flow blue gravy boat.

The star is, of course, the daffodil.

We even slipped one tete-a-tete daffodil into each silver napkin ring.

Anne added these precious little gifts for each person. They are made from little left-over bits of clay from a potter. Mine was this pink smile, and I have it on my kitchen window sill. It brings a warm feeling to me every morning as I check the temperature and make coffee.

Beth's was a tiny bunny, as she is a bunny lover!

One end of the table had these beautiful silver and crystal salt and pepper shakers,

And the other had these chubby little bluebirds.

Isn't this a beautiful table?

And isn't this a beautiful meal? These are all Judy's favorites. I wish I had a picture to show you of the delicious pound cake with blueberries that Beth made for dessert!

It's my policy not to photograph my friends for my blog, but I wish you could see and know the incredible woman we celebrated here. I have this birthday crown for all my friends to wear as we party with them, and it never sat on a more deserving head. She is so caring, so spiritual, creative, funny, gorgeous, interesting, and just about perfect. I am so fortunate to be her good friend, and I want her to know how loved she is. My wish for you is that you all have such a friend.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Lydia's Luncheon

Nothing beats an afternoon spent with good friends, celebrating a birthday! Several of my friends and I gave a luncheon for a mutual friend and it was such a lovely day.

I was anxious to celebrate spring, as well, so I chose these colors and added a selection of birds and bird related dishes.

This greeted the guests as they arrived at the front door.

I like to give a hint of the event on the gates or the door, or both. This chalkboard with ribbons was a substitute for a wreath or basket of flowers.

These majolica-like salad plates led the charge! They came from Pottery Barn a year or so ago. I paired them with turquoise dinner plates from Target.

The flatware was cream, and kept the look casual and the colors soft.

I've had these stems so long, I can't begin to remember where I got them. They are unusual, in that the base is a periwinkle blue, the stems a soft turquoise, and the bowl a light blue. Unfortunately, I broke two while I was cleaning up.

I thought the butter pats would look pretty with a fresh viola.

These clear glass napkin holders were a hit. I actually bought more to give the birthday girl as a gift. They came from Boxwoods in Atlanta. The tag serves as a placecard and is just attached with a narrow ribbon. The napkin is a soft linen banded in white. I think I picked them up at Homegoods.

I love to print a menu for each place setting, and include a quote at the bottom. This one says, "Here's to tall ships. Here's to small ships. Here's to all the ships on the sea. But the best ships are friendships.....Here's to you and me." It is an old Maritime blessing. At the end of the event, I always ask the guests to sign their name on it and then I keep it as a souvenir of the day.

I bought these twig and nest arrangements at the floral wholesaler. Then I added the eggs and the velvet covered birds.

Here's a close-up. Doesn't he just make you smile?

The centerpiece is an arrangement of fresh hydrangeas in a whitewashed birch pot. Then I added thistles for some interest......

And texture.

This ceramic bowl held the rolls.

I think these bird salt and pepper shakers came from Boxwoods, as well.

I used this chicken wire cloche with a bird in it on the chest in the dining room.

And the buffet held the coffee/tea set-up.

I have this sweet teapot and sugar/creamer with birds on them. Don't you love the way I left the plastic wrap on the lemons in the picture? Keeping it real here, folks.

Another bird plate that one of my guests gave me for Christmas held the tea selection. The silver bird and edging added some class to the offerings!

I even found a beaded bird in the same colors for the gift wrapping.

And every birthday girl must wear this fun crown. Lydia looked beautiful in it, but I promise my friends that they needn't have their picture in my blog. Some folks are too private for this, and I want to respect their feelings. I don't even put my own photo on the blog!

This was the beverage set up in the bar. I had these white hydrangea plants but I'm afraid that they are at the end of their beauty.

One powder room had our first three daffodils and an extra hydrangea.

The other powder room had a bird vase, as well.

And some Caspari guest towels in an aqua toile.

It was a pretty day, but cool, so we sat by the fire and talked and talked.

Don't you wish you joined us for this dessert? As pretty as it is, it tasted even better. I'm sure hoping that Anne shares this recipe!!!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Here's To The Birthday Chick!

When a dear friend is having a birthday and these plates come home with me from Pier One.....a party was born! I took the "Birthday Chick" theme and ran with it.

This made a colorful and fun table where we had LOTS of laughter.

I've had these chicken chair covers for a couple of years, but I've never used them. I'm gifting them to two of the women who came to this luncheon, since they have little, little grandchildren. I think my guys have outgrown the magic of a chicken on their chair!

The centerpiece started like this. I used the trick of a vase within a vase, filling the "wall" with Easter grass and marshmallow peeps.

Then I found these white lisianthis and beautiful yellow roses. I just love the way those white buds gracefully bend and create shape to the arrangement.

This yellow napkin looks washed out here, but it was a little more vibrant in person. I just love these knot napkin rings that I bought at Old Time Pottery for $1 each. I have them in several colors. I can't for the life of me remember where I bought this yellow polka dotted flatware.

My old, old wedding crystal got to come to the party. I sat it on a yellow straw coaster. You wouldn't believe the difference that makes in perking up the table.

I have had these in my stash of entertaining papers and thought they were cute for the day. Instead of using names, I used something special about each guest. We had "Birthday Chick", "Auburn Chick", "Short Chick", and for the sweet friend who raises chickens, "Chicken Chick"!

This pink and yellow salt and pepper set are vintage LuRay that I collect. LuRay was made in the '40's and came in four beautiful pastel colors that I use a lot in the spring.

I brought this coffee tray in with dessert. It sits here in the bar where I have a little daffodil vignette with a vintage book, a porcelain basket, and a very precious tray that my Daddy made and my Mom painted. The dishes are also LuRay china.

The napkin this sits on is from Target.

Here's some more LuRay in the French shelves. I added these nutcracker bunnies that I love and a "Happy Easter" cut-out that I bought at a craft show years ago when my girls were tiny.

I love to give little favors, or parting gifts at luncheons. There is never anything precious in them, but I promise you they will put a smile on your guest's face. :-)

Today's goody bag held a packet of tissues with the chicken on them, a pack of daffodil post-it notes, and a painted glass egg, all nestled on a bed of pink Easter grass. I popped it all in a cellophane florists' bag and tied with a green ribbon.

This was the sideboard that I leave up for the season. It just makes spring seem like it sprouted in the dining room. You can just see the top of the photographer's head in the mirror. Ha!

We made memories here. I just love to honor a friend with a meal made with love.

There is a lot of whimsy here. The birthday girl was a second grade teacher, so it was right up her alley.

How do you like the first course that we had in the dining room? It's a cheese chick! I found the basic idea on pintrest, of course. I used a shortcut of starting with a cheese ball from the market and made a small ball of it. Then I rolled it in some shredded cheddar that I pulsed very briefly in the food processor to make it a little finer. The feet and wings are cut out of a slice of processed cheese with little tiny canape cutters, and the eyes and beak are from a Kalamata olive. Then I sat them on a cracker and served a couple of extra crackers. Aren't they cute?

Our mutual friend, Anne, brought the tossed salad with blueberries that was delicious. The egg cup holds pimento cheese with Pepperidge Farm butterfly crackers perched on the edge. I know.....this menu turned out a little heavy on the cheese, but it was GOOD.

Here's the main plate. What says spring more than asparagus? This is a cold, marinated recipe. Then, to give another wink to the chicken theme, there's a chick shaped deviled egg. Anne made the chicken salad, too. (She's such a great help!) It was from James Farmer's newest cookbook, "A Time to Celebrate". We have a mutual crush on him. A big one. A really big one. I could go on!

Dessert was a lady-like serving of Hagan Daz pineapple/coconut ice cream, which is heavenly, with a non lady-like individual coconut cake with lemon curd inside. A little mint, a few raspberries, and it's a birthday cake. Did you notice there are no candles? You're welcome, Beth.

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