Lilac and Mint

When long lost girlfriends call and give you less than a day's notice, do you start cooking and use paper plates, or do you set a thoughtful table and head to Whole Foods for prepared food?  I bet you can guess my answer!

It's been so hot here, but a short storm lowered the temperature to the point where we could dine outside for lunch.  You can still see the rain puddles on the deck. (That's because I did such a great job this spring with the weatherproofing.  Just saying.)

I remembered that Jane loves any shade of purple, so I started with that and added some soft green.

It made a refreshing combination and one I have rarely used.

Starting with a purple hobnail glass charger from J.C.Penney's from many, many years ago, I added a green dinner plate that was not Jadite, but the same color.  It looks like pleats around the edges.  Then, I found a purple paper doily to separate the bowl from the plate.

Here's the Jadite bowl with a lavender placecard.  I glued a simple velvet flower in the corner.

For a little pattern, I added this Royal Staffordshire transferware bread and butter plate.  It's designer is none other than Clarice Cliff.  The subject matter is so great.  I love it.

This flatware is a little more modern.  It is nothing special, but I liked the color on this table.

I don't exactly consider myself a collector of Jadite, but I do have a number of pieces.  These hobnail tumblers are some of my favorites.

I placed this stem on the railing to show the lavender glass.  

I started with some Jadite salt and peppers, but changed to these lavender and green asparagus ones.

These lavender napkins are some overstock ones that I ordered on line from a restaurant supplier.  I wish I could remember the site.  The napkin rings are made from frosted 

green resin.

Here's the way the placesetting looked.

Remember I said I bought all the food at Whole Foods?  Well, I bought these lilac colored lisianthis there too.  I just love this flower.  The buds are every bit as pretty as the open blooms, and when they do open, they are many shades of purple.  

I used this vase that I bought at Goodwill.  I think it looks like McCoy pottery, but it isn't.  

Here's the overhead.

Mr. Pressed Pants was going to join us, but he had a "surprise" conference call.  That seemed a bit suspicious, but we three girls didn't really miss him. 

Can't you just feel the coolness of the day?  Well, the friendship sure was warm!

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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. 

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Ooooommmmmm.

I've been sitting on this beautiful piece of fabric for a couple of weeks.  I wasn't sure how I was going to use it, but I thought it was stunning.

And the best part was the price. My friend, Amy Barfield,(who is so talented and fabulous that you could almost hate her), told me about a small fabric outlet that has designer fabrics.  Designer fabrics?????????  Can you say Scalamandre?  Holy smokes!  Hold onto you hats.....it was less than five dollars per yard.  I scooped it up and ran for the hills. (I was afraid they would change their mind.)

Then, the other day, I was at T.J. Maxx and I found this perfect piece to go with it.  I had planned to use my white orchids and some river rocks, but I wasn't too excited about that, and I was still thinking about it, so when I found this, I knew I could make it into a centerpiece.

So I did!

Kroger had these lovely white dahlias with just a touch of lavender on the edges, and I filled in a bit with white alstroemeria that had lavender stripes and spots on them.  The other material was a neighborhood "donation".  I cut the bamboo from my next door neighbor's without even asking him.  It's bamboo, people!  It grows and spreads faster than kudzu!  Anyhow, he loves me and would give me anything!  And our nearby nursery has a large area of reeds which they said they were happy to share with me.  I offered to buy some, but they told me to just go snip!  Thanks, Autumn Hill!

Simple and serene.

I first tried to use a purple toile plate that I recently found at Target.  I did a post about it here.  But it was WAY too busy, so I tried these taupe scalloped plates from ZGallerie.  They almost matched the browny-lavender color in the fabric.

Here's how they looked.

I needed a light colored flatware, so this cream cutlery worked fine.

These light lavender napkins worked, too, and I tucked some reeds and bamboo into the corner of the fold.

Glassware needed to be simple, too.  I used a light purple stem and a stemless Riedel wine.

Can you tell it has a light purple hue?

Here's a placesetting.

I brightened the table up a bit when I added these carved soapstone votives with a definite Chinoiserie vibe. These were on clearance at Yankee Candle last week.  I was lucky to find them, because I rarely go into the store.  I just can't stand the smell.  I know it's  lovely to some, but my senses are always screaming, "Let's get out of here!".  Fortunately, they had them displayed just inside the door, and I saw them from the mall.  They were meant to be used with oil, but I took that part out, and used a small candle.

Here's the result!

Fabulous as the fabric is, this little lady makes the table.

Even the back is pretty nice.

You probably think I'm cooking Japanese food or serving sushi tonight!  Nope!  

Is it wrong that we're having hamburgers, potato salad, and baked beans?

Is our feng shui good?

Here's a photo that shows the details better.

Wishing you serenity, peace, balanced energy and good fortune.

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