Ants at the Picnic

I've been wanting to do this table for a long time.  I love the combo of red/white gingham and ants, but I find a lot of  this type of collection rather cheezy.  Can you imagine my glee when I found this set of linens at the floral wholesaler in early spring?

I've been dying to bring it out to the cutting garden and set it up on the dining platform.

Look at this closely.  It's a polyester dupioni tan and black and white plaid edged with red and white gingham embroidered with ants.  Perfect!  Unusual, and whimsical but not too trite.  I put it over a cream burlap table skirt on our unfinished dining table that I keep in the potting shed.  You can see that here.

I bought four embroidered napkins to go with the topper.

The dish combination was easy.  Cream dinner plate from Pottery Barn, black salad plate from Target, and a red bowl from Ballard Design.

Then I chose this black handled flatware.  I think it came from Target, too.

I easily decided on these vintage red stems.

And I had a bit of fun with the Fiesta-style butter pat.  These ants are tablecloth weights from Michael's, but I unscrewed and removed the clips.

I went to several nurseries for red geraniums, but they were all out.  It's too late in the season for much planting here.  I toyed with the idea of red roses but they seemed way too fancy.  Carnations were considered, too, but I really wanted geraniums.  So, I bought a faux spray at Michael's and stuck it in this heavy black iron urn.

Here's the overhead of the whole table for four.

This dappled sun wasn't the best for pictures, but it really was charming.  I removed the chairs to take better pictures.  They were on the pathway past the gardenia bush.

The only bugs welcome here are those darling little embroidered ones.  They make me smile.

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Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

White Fall Bridge Buddies Luncheon

I always look forward to having my bridge buddies here for lunch. They have become such sweet friends and they make the best guests. 

Here's what greeted them at the gates.

The front door decor has a lot more color than last year. 

But I set the table in a much more subtle palate of green and white and brown.

We first went to the bar for drinks.  Here's what it looked like before the food was put out.  Cider and iced tea and wine were offered.

I lined these pumpkins filled with mums up in a row as a backdrop.  These were take-home favors for the guests.  These will last about four or five days and then the pumpkin gets a bit soft, but the mums can be planted outside.

It was such a beautiful day that we started outside with appetizers.  I served Double Cranberry Crostinis.  I'll do another post about the food in a day or two.

Every beautiful day at this time of year is such a gift.

When we went in for lunch, this was the centerpiece.

Our last home had red silk walls in the dining room, so when fall came around, orange did not work at all.  So I collected these white paper mache gourds to use in place of orange pumpkins. I add nuts and grapes and some bleached wheat and placed them on an olive linen runner.

I used natural colored flat woven place mats on a bare table and then cream plates bordered with embossed acorns from Crate and Barrel.

These bowls with figs on them held pumpkin risotto...........

And these plates were for Fig/Arugula salad.  One of my bridge group gave them to me, since she knows how I love acorns.Can you imagine how thrilled I was.  And another friend gifted me with the matching platter that I used for appetizers.  How lucky am I?  Both the bowls and the salad plates are from Sur la Table.

This flatware from Kmart is made for Martha Stewart.  I like the way the cream color matches the place mats and the gourds.

I used two types of napkin rings with these olive linen napkins.  This one is antique carved bone, and I also used a cream color celluloid style.

The apple green wine glass is from Swoosie's and the etched brown water glass is from Bobby Flay's line at Kohl's.

I tied a cream tag embossed with an acorn onto bleached wheat for a name tag.  Mary Janet would have sat here, but she had to cancel due to illness.  I am so sorry that she didn't make it, especially since she was the one who gave me the salad plates that inspired the whole table!!!!

I like to add a menu card with an appropriate quote.  This one by George Elliot says "Delicous Autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns."

These sweet acorn salt and pepper shakers came from Michaels last year.

I didn't choose this wine entirely for it's pretty label, but it did play a part!

 Here's the wooden box lid that I used as a coffee tray.  I used the coffee cups that match the dinner plates.

This pretty tea pot was a gift, too.  I guess I am one lucky girl.

My favorite thing on this tray is this black forest bear that holds sugar.  Isn't he cute?

More acorns on the water pitcher!

This all makes a serene fall table. 

I also use these colors because they look good in my dining room, and I use them a lot all year around.  These fruits and gourds and grapes used as a centerpiece just seem to represent the bounty of fall.

And then we played bridge.  We didn't do so well, did we Kay?

I'll do another post on the menu and recipes and house decor in the next couple of days.

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Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

Wisteria and Wonderful Friends

Every now and then you have a dinner party that is so much fun that you know you'll remember it forever.  We had such a party Saturday night!  The wisteria was blooming, so it became the theme of the table and I added French zinc as the accents to go with the lavender and cream.

It was a soft look and just right for the occasion.

Each placesetting was simple and pretty.

Here's how the plates stacked up.

I started with "zinc" chargers.  These are really plastic charges from Old Time Pottery spray painted with a primer and then chalkboard paint.  Then using the side of a piece of chalk, just rub it in and wipe off.  I made these for so many people on my Christmas list this year.  I saw the tutorial on someone's blog and I wish I could remember where.  I'd love to give credit where it is due!

This looks like a Ralph Lauren pattern that I have admired, but it is Gibson china from Old Time Pottery.

Then the cabbage leaf dessert plate was added for the "something special".  These are very old and I'd love to have more.  I got them from a dealer at Queen of Hearts Antique Shop in Alpharetta, Georgia.

This French flatware adds more cream to the table.

I stuck a little bit of wisteria into every one's napkin ring.  These wire ones are from Pottery Barn this spring.  These lavender napkins are over stock from a party rental site.

I really have to learn to photograph glassware.  This is a light purple stem from Crate and Barrel and a Reidel stemless wine glass.

Every placesetting had a reproduction of a Victorian velvet bird at the top.  Aren't these wonderful?  They are from the floral wholesaler.

These salt and pepper shakers not only fit the color scheme, but felt like spring to me.

Pierre Deux makes this pewter cream pitcher.  Doesn't he make you smile?

I was going to use this basket for the rolls, but I ended up using it for something else.

This domed plate held the Parmesan crisps.  I found that I had lots of this wire look to put together.

Here's the pedestal I used for the floral arrangement.

Here's the bar set up for drinks.  It was such a beautiful day that we had them out by the pool, even though we were covered by pollen when we came in.

This was the most delicious cocktail that I've made in a very long time.  I'll post about the meal latter this week.  The blackberries made it tie in with the purple theme!!!

This is the dish of garnishes for the drinks.

Here's how I used the wire basket.  I put our monogrammed glasses for drinks in it with the lavender napkin.

These are my most favorite napkins in all of my linen closet.  They are antique ones that my mother found for us with our initials on them.  I've had them for years and they just get more beautiful with use.

Thanks, friends, for the memories!

Be sure to go to

betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

for a great blog party of tablescapes.