As Traditional As You Get

I think Lenox's Holiday pattern is just about as pretty as you can get and as traditional.  I have used these dishes with plaid, with stripes and with vibrant colors, but tonight, for our Christmas dinner, I decided to go with the most formal use of them, and here's why:

I was gifted this gorgeous tulle Christmas topper, handmade by my grandmother many, many years ago.  She made it for my mom, who never used it!!!!  Can you imagine?  It was a pretty good fit over my standard white Williams Sonoma linen cloth, too.

Look at this detail!  All of the applique and beading!  That line you see is sequins, and the edges are scalloped felt.  Over time, the felt and the tulle have yellowed a bit, but that is fine, as these dishes are a cream, and I have never liked the way they look on a stark white cloth.

See the edging?

The designs are fabulous.

Look at this handwork!  No Stitch-Witchery!  No hot glue!  These are all hand sewn with a million TINY stitches.  Thank you, Grandma!

Early this fall, I found these napkins at Homegoods.  They go perfectly with this china pattern.  I only found seven at the first store I saw them, none at the next one, none at the next next one, and then.....Eureka!.....one more in Cleveland when I visited our girls.  The flatware is mis-matched silverplate that I find much more interesting than my sterling.  That stays in the safety deposit box and I use this all the time.

I loved the color this glassware gave the table.

My daughter gave me these incredible French knives with china handles and brass blades.  I think they are really fruit knives, but I use them as bread and butter knives here.

I already had these place cards.

Since I REALLY didn't want any spills or messes on this precious cloth, I pulled out these crystal knife rests.  No....that is not tarnish on the blade.....it is the reflection of a red goblet. 

Every once in a while, I clip these little candle holders onto the chargers and it makes the meal really special.

I totally overbought these red carnations.  It always takes so many more to pave the flowers, so I didn't want to run short.  But I chose a smaller cachepot than I planned on, so I have a ton left.  Fortunately, carnations last so long that I'll find a use for them. 

Since I had so much gold going on, I substituted these gold angel candlesticks for the crystal ones I started with.  I always use them for Valentine's Day, but I never before thought to use them for Christmas.  Duh! 

I think the table looked pretty in the afternoon as I photographed it.

But it looked truly beautiful with this precious lady sitting there by candlelight. 

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Joyeux Noel

This is my wish for you ALL!!!!!

My 90 year old mother came for her winter visit last week and this is the table I set to welcome her to Atlanta.  I haven't posted until today, because she has kept me BUSY!  She had shopping to do and that took days.  Nothing like pushing a wheelchair through every Atlanta mall the week before Christmas. I say that with a wink, because the truth is, I am very honored to have her here and we both adore her.

This greeted her.  

You might guess from the name of my blog that I love toile and this plate made me think of a simple red toile.  It is even called Holiday Toile.  I used this with a red charger over a red and white stripped ticking runner.

And between the two, I used these simple French dinner plates made by Circa.

Red handled flatware, a red napkin, and a white wicker napkin ring are no-brainers to go with this table.

Simple white salt and peppers, and a white French butter dish let the plates remain the star.  These red glass bread and butter plates are from Walmart, I think.

Vintage red stems and a Reidel stemless wineglass finish off the placesetting.

This faux bois chachepot filled with greens and red poinsettias do the trick for a centerpiece.  I had just used this for a luncheon for my bridge buddies.  You can see this luncheon here.  

Welcome, Mom!!!  We are so blessed to have you here.

Joining:

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Table It

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Home Sweet Home

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The Charm of Home

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French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

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Savvy Southern Style

Make It Pretty Monday

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The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

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New Year's Eve 2014

Happy New Year to all of you! 

The table I set this year is very similar to the last two years, but because I got an amazing new toy, it sports a few new touches.  Yep!  I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas, and I couldn't resist making some little projects for this table.  First, let me thank my very sweet friend, Amy Barfield for taking time out of her medical practice to teach me the basics of this machine.  She is truly a wonder!  And a thanks to Robin at "All Things Heart and Home" blog for offering a really good bargain for the machine.  I passed it on to several of my friends, and at least two of them purchased one as well.  Now......group lessons! 

While I could have cut this out of vinyl and stuck it on the plate, I elected to cut it from cardstock and simply put the red cut-out on top of the silver glittered circle and sandwich it between the Lenox dinner plate with a platinum border, and a clear glass dinner plate.  You can't see the glass plate, but it's there.  Then I served dinner on the glass plate and that's all I had to wash, and the cut-out stayed nice as well.  (Not like I could re-use it, though.)  The silver chargers are inexpensive plastic ones, but they look better than some.

This is the table: white and silver with just a touch of red.

We almost never have snow in Georgia, so for some reason, this snowflake tablecloth seems silly at anytime other than New Year's Eve, when I pair it with lots of silver.

I added more snowflakes from the dollar store as little coasters under the Waterford goblets.

And, again, in the placecard holder.  I used my favorite mis-matched silverplate.

These cute little bread and butter plates came from the grocery store a couple of years ago. 

Ta-dah!  My other Silhouette project!  I made these napkin rings from the same red card stock.  I'm a little bit proud of this project, as I designed it myself, as my first project and I really, really, really didn't know what the heck I was doing.  You'd never believe how long it took, but I was learning as I went along.  (Sort of a steep learning curve!)  Then we had to have some noisemakers. 

I picked up a dozen red roses from the grocery store and split them into two square clear vases.  A few more flowers would have been nice, but this isn't bad.

Then I positioned this heavy antique silver tray with a mica snow covered scene in the middle of the table, but perpendicular to the length of the table to make it feel more intimate for the three of us.  ( My mom is visiting and at 89, she is too old to go out on the town........come to think of it, so am I.)   

Here's a close-up.  Some of these object are old and precious, and some are from the Dollar Store.

These are my Juliska knock-off white salt and pepper shakers and they look almost like they have snowflakes on them.

And for a little more sparkle, I used this Waterford wine coaster. 

Here's our table.  If I were a good blogger, I would have photo shopped that outlet and cord out of the picture, but I'm keeping it real at A Toile Tale.

May you be blessed beyond belief in 2014!

Joining:

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Chickens Again

My Mom is still visiting and since she loves chickens and loves blue, I decided to do this very casual table when we had one of Mr. Pressed Pant's golf buddies here for dinner.  It was not girly foo-foo fussy but Mom and I had fun putting it together.  I started with these napkins from Old Time Pottery, bought with her in mind.  Here's a link to the chicken table I did last year when she visited.

I just took those colors of cream, navy and red and started setting the table.

These place mats were from Old Time Pottery, too, and the red flatware was from some other discount store.  I can't even remember which one.

Then I added this squarish blue dinner plate, also from Old Time Pottery, and the red scalloped salad plate from Ballard Design.

The red water goblets are vintage, and these wine stems are Juliska.  They were a gift from a reeeeeealy good friend!

The napkin was gathered into a point at the center.......

and held with a chicken wire napkin ring from Pottery Barn.

Also from Pottery Barn, these chickens held simple placecards.

I chose two of these red pots with scalloped edges and..........

filled them Kroger daisies and nandina berries from our yard.  These simple flowers seemed like farm-yard blooms.

Boy!  I should call this post "Ode to Old Time Pottery", as this rooster is from there, too.  I used him for a post about a breakfast table I did a few months ago.  You can see it here.

Here's how the center of the table looked with the rooster and two pots of daisies on a cream twill runner.

I have some chicken salt and pepper shakers, but I couldn't find them.  I don't have Alycia Nichols' (Table Twenty-Two) inventory system!!!!  So, I used these, as I thought they had a farmhouse look.

And this held peach pie, as our guest, Corey, was leaving Atlanta after about five month's of business here, and returning to California.  I wish I had thought about serving him grits, too!

I'll be posting at:

 Tablescape Thursday

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