The Sporting Life - Equestrian Style

Doesn't this look like fun?  When Rebecca Smith, owner of Rebecca Ray Designs invited me to come to her house and play with dishes, I couldn't wait to start.  My last post was the first table we collaborated on, titled "The Sporting Life - Canine Style".  You can see it here.  Then, we quickly put those dishes and accessories away and pulled this breakfast table together.  We switched to equestrian style with these beautiful pieces.

Again, we just set up one end of the table with three placesettings.

My first choice was these vintage hunt scene napkins and placemats.  They went directly on the old Baker table.

Next she offered these old Fitz and Floyd plates.  How perfect!

But wait!  It gets better!  Then she remembered these dessert size plates that were perfect on top.  They are Wedgewood and the pattern is "Hunting Scene".

Then she threw open this closet full of glass and crystal and said, "just pick some glasses".  Well......I think I did pretty well.  Rebecca doesn't know anything about these beauties, as they came from an estate sale.  I grabbed the water goblets ......

and the compotes.  Score!

After that, I was on a roll.  Rebecca got some unexpected company, so I just wandered around the house filling up the table.  There were so many beautiful things to pick from.

Like these sterling silver and cobalt glass salt cellars.  Do you see what is on top????  A fox!!!

And I found more foxes to use as knife rests.

Then, in the silver drawer, I found these engraved silver dishes.  I'm not sure what they were intended to be used for, but I'm showing them here as butter plates, and I've added these silver plate individual butter spreaders.  These were all Rebecca's grandmother's.

One has to have a teapot for breakfast, right?  I first thought that this was a fox on top, but it really is a cat.  Still, it's perfect.  I only used one of a pair of these.

Now, I'm on to the centerpiece.  Out in the kitchen, I found a basket of white peaches, just picked that morning from their orchard, and a single dahlia that "matched" the peaches.  Onto a green bordered plate they went, and they were perfect to soften the table.

Rebecca suggested this cement horse for the center of the table.  It is one of a pair and very special.  It is signed and dated "Hughette Wheeler, 1930".  I did a little research and found that the sculptor is often called "Tex" Wheeler and did the life sized statue of Seabiscuit that stands in Santa Anita Park.  

Naturally, we added these old stirrup cups for some extra color.

And there you have it!  It only represents a tiny fraction of the beautiful decorative accessories Rebecca and Derek had available to me.  And they were still unpacking!!!

Yep!  You'd never guess from this angle that they had JUST moved and that much of their stuff was still in boxes.  This house is undergoing some major changes and I can't wait to see what they do.  

For now, I'll just give them a huge thank you for inviting me to do this photo shoot and hope that it won't be too long before they can actually take the time to sit down and enjoy a meal at a table like this.

Talley Ho!

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Cuisine Kathleen

Bridge Buddies Come for St. Patrick's Luncheon

I'm re-posting a luncheon that I served last March for my bridge buddies.  This is my contribution to Cuisine Kathleen's St. Patrick  Day's Party.  Isn't she sweet to do this? All of you ladies who take the time each week to host parties are heros in my book!

I rushed St. Patrick's Day a bit when I had my bridge group for lunch on Tuesday.  

I love a mix of high and low items with a bit of kitsch.

I started out with some felt placemats from Michael's.  There were three different patterns.

Then I used my plain gold banded Lenox for the underplate and this fern pattern china for the luncheon sized plate.  I found it at a tag sale and excitedly bought the service for twelve.  Then I proceeded to drop all twelve dinner plates and broke every one of them.  There wasn't even enough left to send to a restorer.  They were dust!

My favorite mis-matched silverplate and ivory handled knives were my choice for flatware.

The crystal was Waterford.  What else for St. Patrick's Day?  I placed the goblets on a sparkly foam cut-out from Michael's just to add some color and interest.

I wasn't serving bread today, so there was no call for butter, but I wanted to use these little butter pat dishes.   I settled on using them as individual salt and pepper dishes.

The centerpiece was very simple.  I used three blooming pots of shamrocks and stuck white carnations in them.

Don't you love the faux bois design on the porcelain basket?

I love to use a printed menu when we entertain.  I found a printed napkin ring that I downloaded from a site I found on Pinterest.  The white linen napkin from The Palm line of linens was folded into a pocket for the menu.

I used a silly little green dog as the image, also from Pinterest.  The quote at the bottom reads:

"May God give you....for every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise, and a blessing in each trial.  For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share,

 for every sigh a sweeet song and an answer for each prayer."  Unknown

A friend brought this to me at a St. Pat's dinner a couple of years ago.

More silliness:  the place cards were potatoes with a decorative ribbon and the names on flags.

The favors were dollar store garden gloves with tags that read, "I'm Lucky That We're Friends".  And I AM!!!

Appetizers were asparagus spears wrapped in puff pastry, herbed cheese, and prosciutto.  Just for today, I called them Leprechaun Wands.

These white ironstone footed bowls held the potato soup that I served with mini Reuben sandwiches.  (Corned beef, ya know?)

And dessert was super simple and pretty.  It was a pistachio parfait with crushed Lorna Doones in between layers.  Then I simply stuck a green plastic shamrock pick in the top.  These green depression glass plates and Juliska glasses made them look especially pretty.  I bought gold coins (from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow) to scatter on the plates, but I couldn't find them for days.  Of course, I found them this morning.

I set up the coffee on a silver tray.  I used a lot of these elements for a St. Patrick's dinner party last year.  You can see that post here.

It is always so rewarding to entertain people who are appreciative, and these women are the best!  I would have them here every week.  We played a little bridge, but the eating and chatting were definitely the main event!

I'll share this post at the following parties:

Tablescape Thursday

Wow Us Wednesday

Home Sweet Home

Cuisine Kathleen

Seasonal Sundays

Boo!!!!

Our favorite dinner party that we give each year is the one we do for Halloween.  It's always no more than 6-8 people and we never have repeats guests.

I start with this black linen tablecloth and top each place setting with an orange straw placemat.  The the chargers are black French wire.  Don't they look like a spider web?

The next layer is our everyday white dinner plates.  Nothing precious here!

The glassware is a Waterford wine stem in the Lismore pattern and the water stem is etched and painted with a black harelequin pattern.  Here's another example of how my tables are usually a mix of high and low, meaning that some items are high quality, but they will be mixed with low cost, often mass produced items.  Some occassions call for pulling out the best of everything, but not for this dinner.  Fun is the goal here!  You can see a Waterford wine coaster here, too.  I used this for the water, which you will see later in the post.

These napkins are vintage linens that I found years ago.  Some have black cats, some are pumpkins, and some say "boo".  Many years later, I found tea towels that match.

What's better than plastic fangs for a napkin ring?  Every single year that I've done this, someone has put these in their mouth.  Last year, it was a judge!

I bought these tiny little zinc signs to use as placecards.  I used chalk on these to make them look like a tombstone.

These mis-matched pieces of silverplate get used more than any other set of flatware I own.  I've collected it for years and the only thing the pieces have in common is the keystone shape of the handle.

The mother-of-pearl handled knives are pretty special, though, don't you think?

I'm not too sure what these little pumpkin-like things are, but I got them at Whole Foods.  I put them in a white footed urn which shows up well on the black tablecloth.

Then in these white chippendale squares, I put these wonderful roses in the most vibrant orange I could find.

There is no doubt what holiday we are celebrating here!

These kitchy salt and pepper shakers were the girls' favorite from the time they were little tykes.  Here's part of the high/low combination.  They're pretty low, but fun.

Check out the wine we found.

This is a French Syrah by Montperoux Estates.  The lable is done by designer and visionnaire Christian Audigier.  It might be just be too perfect to open!  One thing's for sure.....I won't be throwing this away when it is empty.  It's begging for a drippy candle, don't you think?  The wine coaster is sort of gothic, too.

I replaced labels from water bottles with some from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's.  Then I put these plastic bottles in that Waterford wine coaster!

This setting is nothing but fun.

I about broke my neck to get this shot! 

I wish I could be sure to get these every year.  Are they persimmons?  Anybody know?

Here are the bar glasses set out for drinks.

And these cocktail napkins are so cute.  They are actually orange cotton appliqued with this cute black cat.  I've had them a long, long time.

The coffee tray is set up early.  The pumpkin cream and sugar set is old, as well.  There's that tea towel I was talking about.

Mugs, not cups for this party.  We are so casual and this allows us to linger at the table until late.

My friends give me the best gifts.  Knowing how I love Halloween, Ann knew how much I would love this handmade apron.  You can just barely see the petticoat like ruffle on the bottom.  Isn't it the cutest?

Bows, appliques, and sparkly fabric!  All I'll need is a pair of black pants and a t-shirt.  And killer heels, right?

We'll be dining at the witching hour!

This is getting pretty long, so I'll be posting on the decor and the menu in another post. 

See lots and lots of fall ideas at: