Blue Quail Breakfast

Most Sunday evenings, you will find Sweet Mr. and me enjoying 'Breakfast for Dinner.  It's one of my favorite meal choices.  We tend to like the traditional fare...fried eggs, crisp bacon, toast or English muffins, juice, and a large glass of cold milk.  Yesterday, we added scrambled eggs to the mix (pun intended) for our precious daughter and son-in-love, who were joining us for supper.  Late summer sun was still filtering through the Western exposure of the breakfast room as I finished setting the table.

I have always appreciated the design value of English Transferware, but there are several other significant reasons that I chose to collect and use it.  Entertaining Tip:  Like so many young brides, I went through a season of being enamored with Italian pottery.  It was gorgeous; it was heavy; and it chipped every time that I looked sideways at it.  Furthermore, many Italian pottery designs are manufactured for a short time and then discontinued.  It became a burden to try to replace broken and chipped pieces, and I was not a happy camper.  Next, I spent a number of years using Dansk Pottery, "Bistro," as my every day pattern.  It was gorgeous, it rarely chipped or broke; but oh my, pulling it out of the cabinet and putting it away was like a full upper body workout!  Heavy just doesn't adequately describe the weight of this dinnerware....Enter...my mother-in-love.  She loved English Transferware, and one year for my birthday, she started my collection of Spode Tower Pink.  We are blessed that we now also are the caretakers for her Copeland Spode Tower Pink.  You can spot a portion of it in the Welsh Dresser in the background.  English Transferware...it was a wonderful new world of dinnerware.  It's gorgeous, it rarely chips, or breaks, I can find replacements on the secondary market if needed, and it is relatively light weight.  And so it began...

After the service of Spode Tower Pink was completed, my generous Mother-in-Love asked me what I next would like for my birthday, Christmas, etc.  I had seen and fallen in love with Furnivals 'Blue Quail.'  Between my MIL and the rest of my family, it didn't take too many holidays to complete a

service of this wonderful blue and white transferware pattern.  Furnivals eventually went out of business, but their designs were bought by Mason's, who continued to produce this pattern in the blue and in a wonderful brown.  The blue/yellow laminated fabric placemat is by Patricia Spratt for the Home, www.patriciasprattforthehome.com.

The blue quilted tumblers have been in use for years.  A number of manufacturers make this design, including Fostoria.  I think that these were made by Colony.  The cut crystal juice glass belonged to Nana, and I don't know who made them.  The stainless is Towle, 'Antique Bead.'  

I didn't spend a great deal of time planning this tablescape, maybe ten minutes before the kids arrived.  There were no plans for a floral centerpiece; I grabbed the Blue Quail tureen and a pair of blue and white candlesticks from Portugal.  A cobalt butter dish by Mosser Glass and a blue glass pitcher from a local thrift shop completed my design for a simple family meal.

The last of the day's sunshine is gently dancing across our table.  The bacon smells so good, and my Sweet Mister is preparing to fry and scramble the eggs.   My precious daughter and SIL are fixing the toast and English muffins, and I'm ready to pour the juice and ice cold glasses of milk.  We're right here most Sunday evenings; I hope that you'll join us some time for a simple meal and fellowship.  You would be welcome at our table.


I'm linking for the first time to "Blue Monday" sponsored by http://smilingsally.blogspot.com
Thank you Sally for the opportunity to immerse myself in my favorite color, blue!  Click here to hop on over and join other bloggers who are participating in this wonderful meme.