A Toile Tale: March 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

Salute to Bullseye

I had these same dishes in a round shape last year, but I gave them away. And regretted it. Then, when our sweet grandson, Teddy adopted a show bunny named Bullseye who looked just like this, I really regretted it. THEN when Bullseye went over the rainbow bridge, much to Teddy's heartbreak, I really, really regretted it. So, when I found these at Homegoods this year in the square shape, I went to the checkout counter with tears in my eyes, buying every piece they had.

I placed a latex cabbage leaf under the plate to give it a bit of definition and used these World Market pieces of flatware. Sure wish I had bought more of these. Why did I think 6 placesettings were enough?

I started with this gray and white stripe remnant from a client's project. ( Relax....I paid her for it.)

I decided to make this a soup and salad lunch and I served asparagus soup in these cups. It was delicious, and the green color looked great on the table, I must say. (Yes, I'm one of those people who sometimes match my food to the color or theme of the table.)

These $1.00 glasses from Ikea were the perfect color, too. I was going for a range of green, not a match.

Thank you, Kroger, for the carnations which worked perfectly in this ribbed tin pot. My second choice was the shamrocks that I have left from St. Patrick's Day. Glad I didn't have to resort to them.

I rolled these grass green napkins into a tight roll so they wouldn't take much room on this small table. I like the way they looked in these pewter napkin rings.

Dessert was served on these plain gray plates from Ikea. You can see the cabbage leaf better in this pic.

I rarely set a table that is so matchy-matchy, but this accommodated the soup, salad, and roll just fine. Hope the dish police don't arrest me.

Crowded, but ok, since I plated in the kitchen and we didn't have any serving dishes on the table.

So, here's to you, Bullseye. I hope you are taking the blue ribbon in every heavenly show.

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

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.)

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

I took an idea I found on Pintrest and turned it into these placecards for a dinner for friends before the Easter entertaining begins in earnest. I used my silhouette machine and cut three different sizes of cardstock, white, pink and silver gray. Then I cut the names out of gray adhesive vinyl. A bow and a small carnation finished it off. This idea turned into...

this placesetting, which turned into....

this table.

These pink linen napkins were especially pretty because my Mom ironed them for me when she was visiting. She has a knack for ironing and I let her go wild. These white wooden bunny napkin rings are so old. Not to call my children old, but I had them when they were small. My mis-matched silverplate seemed like the right choice for flatware.

This photo doesn't do justice to these beautiful etched glasses. I found the stems at Erika Reade in Atlanta and I did a post on them. They are very similar to William Yeoward's Fern pattern. Then, the other day I wa sback and I found these tumblers in the same pattern.

You can see it a little better here.

M friend Ann, who is also our daughter's MIL gave me this darling salt and pepper set for Christmas. A bunny and a chick! I've been waiting all these months to use it.

The flowers had to be something I could do fast, so grocery store carnations were plopped into a mercury glass vase and I was done.

Then, on each side of the flowers, I placed a foil wrapped bunny. Doesn't he make you smile? After I took these pics, I went back and added some crystal candlesticks with pink candles to the table.

Aside from the wrinkles in the tablecloth, it's pretty cute, right?

After the dinner, as I was putting things away, I ran across these placecard holders which would have been cute on the table and a lot less work.

But......he was truly the star of the table. Everyone took their placecards home. Hope they knew that flower will die!

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

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.)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Welcome Spring!

We're having a small, casual dinner party tonight to welcome spring! Everyone is so eager to put this winter to rest and to usher in the pretty flowers and mild weather. Here in Georgia, the daffodils, hyacinths, forsythia, crocus, and Bradford pear trees are giving us their very most beautiful days. I say, "Bring it on!".

I wanted to use some of our daffodils, and I think there's nothing prettier than blue and white with these cheerful blossoms. The tablecloth is so busy that I chose a plain white urn to hold them.

This graphic tablecloth came from The Christmas Tree Shop in Florence, Kentucky. I made a quick stop on my trip home from Ohio last week. I have this same pattern in a cotton fabric in green, but this is a polyester like finish. Not as nice, but probably a good choice for outdoors later in the year. Then I paired it with these fabulous Lenox dishes named A TOILE TALE!!!!! How about that? I HAD to buy them.

Here's the dinner plate with the salad plate atop it. Love! It's a fragment of a Scalamandre fabric which I have always loved. I love the way the patterns line up. The rattan charger makes a nice background for the dishes and makes it show up more than just placing it on the cloth.

The glassware was kept simple.....an old large blue stem for water and a plain red wine stem from Tiffany's. I'm serving white wine, but the water goblet is so huge that the white wine glass looked soooo small beside it, that I replaced it with a larger one.

These white napkins are from Homegoods. They are from the Palm Restaurant line of linens and they are so nice. I used a blue and white porcelain ring with a fresh daffodil slipped into it. The flatware is also old. I can't even begin to remember where I got it.

A covered casserole dish is always handy and tonight it will be filled with a ravioli, mushroom, and sugar snap pea dish. Goes great with the pork tenderloin that Mr. Pressed Pants will grill.

Someone brought us this wine as a hostess gift, and I'm going to serve it tonight, only partially because the label is blue and white with a touch of yellow :-) Just like the table. I drive serious wine drinkers crazy when I choose wines like that.

These candlesticks seemed like the right choice. I've had them forever.

Don't you love a huge bunch of daffodils?

But, these are certainly the star of the show tonight.

I can't wait to use them with pink peonies.

Here's the coffee/tea tray. We'll serve this in the living room. With the time change, I thought we might be able to have coffee outside, but it is a blustery, rainy day and I'm sure the evening will be, too.