A Toile Tale: summer

Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Flamingo Frenzy

I know.....I've been missing. I have ignored my blog in favor of Instagram. It's a matter of time management. I won't totally walk away from A Toile Tale, but I'm posting less. I'm not entertaining less, however, so please follow me on Instagram at #ldpete2626.

I'm soooo not ready to give up summer entertaining. Will the rest of you bloggers please refrain from pushing fall????? This table is a perfect example. It's still hot, hot, hot here in Atlanta, so why pretend.

These plates inspired the table. They came from World Market last summer. I pulled the bold colors from them and set a screamingly bright table.

We needed the shade, so I chose the lower terrace.

Fiona the Flamingo made the perfect centerpiece. She's covered with pink feathers and has a little sister, too.

I found them at Lucy's Market in Buckhead. They are going to go to my daughter's pre-school class when I am done playing with them.

Here's the oasis ring that holds the pink carnations. It has plastic on the bottom which will protect your table, but once it's soaked in water, it will hold flowers for days, just like a brick of oasis.

I wrapped a varigated Apisdistra leaf and a small orchid on the ordinary water glass, and held them in place with a piece of rafia. The plain Tiffany wine glass was filled with Hogwash rose. (Several times!)

These salt and peppers came from The Christmas Tree Shop.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the gazpacho and the salad with mango and shrimp. I could do it all the day ahead, which is the way I like entertain.

These dessert plates came from Target years ago.

I used a flamingo margarita glass on a leaf to hold pineapple/coconut ice cream for dessert.

Caspari handtowels were joined in the guest bathroom by a blow-up flamingo filled with fresh carnations and orchids.

And a flotilla of them were in the pool. I must admit that the sound of the waterfall into the pool was a cooling sound on such a hot day. But the warm friendships felt good!

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Hello Hydrangeas!

I looked at my hydrangeas in the cutting garden and I knew I had to cut a big bunch to take inside. While cutting, I decided that they were too good to keep to myself, so I offered a bite of breakfast the next morning before a couple of us took off on a short road trip. Two girls came, and one opted to sleep in a bit.

This deck seemed like the right choice, as it is not very far to carry things back to the kitchen, and I knew we would be leaving in a hurry.

These plates are called Hailey's Sky by Nature's Home. They lend themselves to casual, or a little bit formal. They are not fragile or precious, but they sure are fun.

Here's the star of the show. I love all colors of hydrangeas, but this color might just be my favorite. I don't know what variety they are, as I transplanted them when we moved here.

These juice glasses are so old that I can't remember where they came from.

This sliver plate is quite special to me. It was my mother's and when she went to a personal care facility and we shared her beautiful things, I chose this because it was a part of so many of our special times around her lovely table.

And these napkins were a gift from her as well. They are so beautiful that they are actually a pleasure to iron!!!!! I can't say that about to many things!

This was a piece we brought home from France. It takes up less room on the table than a water pitcher.

This milk bottle came from World Market.

These bread plates came from France, too. And the fruit knives are Delft from Holland.

Here's the back side of the bread plates.

A bit of cherry jelly for our croissants.

The baby geese were out on the lake, but I didn't catch a photo of them.

Some summers these bloom all season long, and sometimes they bloom profusely in early summer and then they are done. That's why I grab my scissors and make sure I can enjoy them as much as possible. My landscapers cut my hydrangeas back on the lower terrace, so they have only given us a very few blooms, but the cutting garden plants aren't so stingy!

Joining:

Metamorphosis Monday, Inspire Me Tuesday, The Scoop,

Wow Us Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, Feathered Nest Friday,

Home Sweet Home, Foodie Friday and Everything Else,

Sundays at Home

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

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!

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Dishing It and Digging It (Sun.)

Rustic and Refined

Share Your Style (Wed.)

No Minimalist Here

The Scoop (Mon.)

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Inspire Me Tuesday

A Stroll Thru Life

Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Home Sweet Home (Fri.)

The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Foodie Friday

Designs By Gollum

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Monday Funday

All Things Heart and Home

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Share It One More Time (Sat.)

designthusiasm.com

Share Your Style (Thurs.)

21 Rosemary Lane

The Creative Exchange (Thurs.)

The Happy Scraps

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Best Late Summer Soup

Pretty, isn't it? And, oh Mama! Is it Good!!! This is based on a recipe I found in Coastal Living this summer. We've had regular gazpacho all summer, but, now that the corn and tomatoes are at their peak, I decided to try this. Seriously....give it a try. It's also very low fat, and aside from the carbs in the corn, it's good for you.

Corn Gazpacho with Crab

(serves 4 generously)

8 ears of fresh yellow corn

1 pint of yellow grape tomatoes

3/4 c. mild white onions or leeks

1 1/2 c. chicken stock

1 T. olive oil

2 t. fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. white pepper

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1/4 c. skim milk

1 c. lump crab meat, drained

1/4 c. thinly sliced green onion tops

Boil corn in a large pot of water for about 5-8 minutes. Drain and cool. Cut the kernels off of the cob. You should have about 4 cups. Finely chop a small amount of the yellow pepper and save for garnish.

Set aside a few tomatoes for garnish, and add the rest of the tomatoes to the corn in a blender. Add the next 7 ingredients, and process until smooth. Add the milk and process again. Chill at least 2 hours.

Divide among 4 bowls and top with crab. Sprinkle the halved tomatoes, chopped pepper, and sliced green onion tops.

Best made early the day of serving.

I served this last night at this dinner. We all loved it!

Joining:

Foodie Friday

Rattlebridge Farm

Friday, September 4, 2015

Feeling A Little Antsy

I am soooo not ready to pull out the fall decor and dishes. I'd love some cooler weather, but it will be a long time before we experience autumn here in Georgia. So, I'll be sticking with some late summer tables for a while. These linens are some of my favorite. They are a riff on a typical gingham picnic look.

I used a cream burlap floor-length tablecloth and topped it with this cream and black dupioni plaid edged with gingham. Seems like an odd combination, but it works for me.

The napkin is a regular cotton gingham embroidered with some fun ants.

Set on the upper, round white deck, this makes a great Friday night kick-off to the Labor Day weekend. We are predicted to have rain most of the weekend, so tonight's dinner might be the only outdoor dining we get.

The flowers at the wholesaler were a bit picked over this afternoon, but I did find these fringy (is that a word?) gerbera daisies and cream astilbe. They picked up the colors I was looking for. I put them in this heavy black iron urn.

This black handled flatware is old, but available everywhere. The cream charger is from ZGallerie, the red plate and bowl from Ballard's and the black rimmed salad plate is from Target.

These black stems are from Homegoods, and I use them far more than I ever thought I would. The red ones are vintage.

This small dish is smaller than a bread and butter dish, but larger than a butter pat dish. Here, I put only an ant from Michael's on it. It is actually a tablecloth weight, but I unscrewed the clip so that I could use it like this, just for giggles.

Here's the view over the railing.

And here's the view back toward the house. You can see the brick chimney with its weeping mortar.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but this is a net dome to keep bugs off of the food. It's sort of ironic that it is decorated with bugs! I only have two of these, so I used one over the bruchetta during cocktails.