Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Garden Friends Christmas Luncheon, 2013

"First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. During this beautiful season when we celebrate harvest and Thanksgiving, I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.
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Merry Christmas!  I know that we've all had a full day with family and friends.  I'll share our Christmas Eve dinner next week.  This morning we were invited to share Beatrice Emaline's first Santa Claus tree at KC and David's new home.  It was such a precious time.




A week ago, I was blessed to gather some of the Garden Friends around my table to celebrate the most important birthday of the year.  Christmas...such a blessed season...we had a marvelous time filled with food, fun, and fellowship.  A good number of us were out of town for the holiday or entertaining family home for the week.  I set a table for six at our 'temporary' dining table.  



 Come on in.  Christmas is waiting for you...

 Traditional colors...

 ...made the season bright for our Christmas luncheon.

 The red Bormioli charger continues to demand a spot on my holiday tables.  The flatware is Retroneu Holly.  I've had it for years.  Tip:  Occasionally it shows up on eBay!


 The Copeland Spode Pink Tower is one of our everyday patterns.  It set a comfortable, casually traditional tone; plus, it goes in the dishwasher.  Perfect for a busy schedule.

 The Kings Crown ruby flash accent plate has also been a regular performer during the holidays.

 The napkins were a gift from my sister, and the tablecloth was a fortunate eBay find.


  Continuing with traditional Christmas colors, I paired the Vietri optical red goblet with the AJKA Arabella wine.  I get so much mileage out of these two patterns.  The crystal salt cellars were a gift from my friend Debbi.  They had belonged to her mother-in-love, Norma.


 A few easy "at hand" elements for the centerpiece...

 The Copeland Spode Camilla tureen, an eBay acquistion, is flanked by a pair of red transferware vases filled with Alstroemaria and a pair of Paden City ruby glass lidded compotes.  One of the  compotes belonged to our precious Nana.  I found its partner on eBay.

 Ready to roll!

 The buffet features a number of elements that I've used for different luncheons throughout the season.

 I'm serving Quiche Lorraine, Simple Salad, mixed berries, hot bread, and chocolate cake balls and cookies for dessert.

  May the details of your Christmas come together for you just the way that you've visualized them!  Merry Christmas, my dear blogging friends and readers.  You've made my year shimmer and sparkle!

This week I'll be joining the following parties:

Let's Dish with Cuisine Kathleen

Tablescape Thursday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch


Monday, December 16, 2013

Bells Will Be Ringing

"First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. During this beautiful season when we celebrate harvest and Thanksgiving, I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.
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I've missed you all so much!  I can't believe that it's been more than a month since I've been able to post.  So....where have I been?  Sweet Mister had hip replacement surgery in November.  On the day that he had his surgery KC and David closed on a new/old home in one of our city's historical preservation districts. There's a neat story to go with the purchase of their new home, but I'll tell you about that a little later.  Sweet Mister came home from the hospital on the 23rd, KC and David made their move on the day before Thanksgiving, and we hosted Thanksgiving for the family.  I could have slept for a week, but no time for that!  

I've been dancing as fast as I can.  It's been a blessing to care for Sweet Mister, and I have often thought about those of you who are sole caregivers.  You have every ounce of respect and admiration that I can muster.  My mama was my daddy's sole caregiver for 25 years, after he became a paraplegic.  My esteem for her has always been great, and it has grown even more during the last month.  My Sweet Mister is doing quite well, and this evening some of his friends took him to one of their hunting leases for a hunt tomorrow morning.  He was ecstatic!

Today I was thrilled to once again entertain a small group of my friends.  Come on in.  We'll be seated in the dining room...

Whoa, Nelly!  What's going on?  Where are the dining room table and chairs?  That would be part of the story about KC and David's new home.  They just bought Sweet Mister's childhood home!  We are so excited about it.  It's the only home that Sweet Mister lived in, from the time he was born until we were married 45 years ago this week.  His mom sold the house in November, 1971, while Sweet Mister was in Viet Nam.  He never had the opportunity to say goodbye to the home, and now it's back in the family.  Shortly after KC and David closed on the house, Sweet Mister asked me if I would be willing to find new dining room furniture, so we could return the table and chairs to the home for which the suite was originally purchased.  I thought it was a grand idea, and immediately said "Yes!"  I found 12 Karges chairs in a wonderful local consignment shop, and the same night, I found the dining table that goes with them on....wait for it....you know the answer...yep...eBay.  It is currently at an antique store in Pennsylvania, waiting to be loaded onto a truck that was already preparing to make a trip out here to the prairie.  In the meantime, we are improvising for the Christmas season.  Never a dull moment!

Today's tablescape was all about...
Cranberry bells!  I first saw cranberry bells used on a tablescape in  A PASSION FOR FLOWERS by Carolyne Roehm.  I've never forgotten the idea, and I was inspired to collect my own grouping of bells...on eBay, of course.  Thanks for the idea, Carolyne!  I knew that I wanted to create a Christmas table with the bells, and I planned to give each of my guests a cranberry bell for their Christmas gift.  The bells also worked perfectly as place cards for the table.  The azaleas are in an old cranberry bowl that belonged to my dear Aunt Ida.

I love them!  Aren't they pretty!?  I placed the large "Whimsy" bells on festive, glittery candle rings.

 The Bormioli red glass charger plate kept with the cranberry color story.  I've had the Retroneau gold Holly flatware for many years; I always enjoy using them during the Christmas holiday.

 The texture and creamy white color of the Copeland Spode Jewel dinner plate was elegant...
 ...paired with the thumbprint ruby glass accent plate, used later for a dessert of individual sized red velvet bundt cake.

 The stack was crowned with each guest's cranberry bell.


I'm smiling...I love the way that it all came together.

I was really committed to all things cranberry for this design.  I paired the AJKA Arabella wine goblet with the Waterford Simply Red goblet.  Tip:  The Waterford goblet is actually the Glendora pattern, but you can usually find it on eBay and Replacements listed as Waterford Simply Red.

I purchased the cranberry and white Fenton splatter ware pitcher at an auction during my birthday week in early November.  It will always be a special reminder of the first time that I got to meet sweet and wonderful...

Sarah @ Hyacinths for the Soul.  She came with her friend Susan, who was helping with the auction which featured an abundance of antique Quimper.  We had a great time, I bought some wonderful treasures, and I can hardly wait for us to get together again!  It was a superb birthday treat!  But I digress...

Because we were a small group of 4 at a 60" table, I used an assortment of other cranberry glass pieces to act as "filler."  Smaller containers held posy arrangements of flowers.

We had such a wonderful time today.  I prepared Quiche Lorraine, a simple salad, mixed berries, and hot garlic bread.  I felt so blessed to have time to gather friends around my table once again.  Matter of fact, I'm hosting two more luncheons this week!  I can hardly wait!

This week I'll be joining:




Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Bittersweet for Fall, 11.6.13

"First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. During this beautiful season when we celebrate harvest and Thanksgiving, I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.
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Today was the Kappa Alpha Theta Flaming Festival, always a delightful time to reconnect with friends whom you don't see regularly the rest of the year.  Yesterday was spent setting up tables for the enjoyment of those attending.  The festival was a marvelous time, as always, and tonight I am worn slick.  I'll share pics of the wonderful tablescapes over the next few weeks.

This evening I'm sharing a table that I created for out of town guests who were here last weekend.  We didn't end up using the table because Sweet Mister decided that he wanted to take us all out to dinner.

Games table in the living room...flip-top tabletop to create a 60" round table for six....you know the drill.

The door bell rang the morning that I was brainstorming ideas for the table...

...and these lovely blossoms were sitting on the front porch, a thank you gift from friends whom we entertained with an evening out the previous week.  I set them in the Coalport Bittersweet centerpiece bowl, and I was off to the races.

I paired the bowl and flowers with a quartet of cobalt depression glass candlesticks and a grouping of faux pumpkins.  Centerpiece...done.

 The orange Bormioli  glass charger seemed an obvious choice for my Autumn table highlighting clear, high colors.

 Returning to lessons from the color chart, I chose the Coalport Spearpoint dinner plate for the strong pop of cobalt on the rim of the plate.   
 The leading lady of the stack was the Colcough Bittersweet luncheon plate.  Tidbit:  Did you notice that although the centerpiece bowl matches the luncheon plate perfectly, they were made by two different manufacturers?  This is not uncommon, especially it seems, with the English potters.  It is interesting to note that a variety of companies produced versions of the same pattern.  One good example is the Indian Tree pattern.  Check it out...I think that just about every company made their own Indian Tree design at one time or another.  Additionally, sometimes when one company would go out of business, another pottery company would step in to purchase certain molds and transferware patterns, and the design would continue, with minor differences.

 Picking up on the soft browns in the luncheon plate, I added the Horchow brown handled flatware and one of Nana's madeira and lace napkins with Cuisine Kathleen's gift, the Waverly beaded napkin ring.

 Continuing with more accent colors from the Bittersweet pieces, I paired the Vietri green optic goblet with the AJKA Arabella cobalt wine goblet.  The silver and cobalt salt cellars were our dear Nana's.

I really liked the way that this design worked with the living room colorscape...

I look forward to using this grouping again...another time.  Maybe I'll lay my table with it once more when you happen to pass my way.  I'd really like that!

This week I'm joining the following parties...with thanks to the hostesses!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Masquerade...A Reprise

"First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. During this beautiful season when we celebrate harvest and Thanksgiving, I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.
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This post was originally published in October, 2011.  A busy week finds me without the needed time to create a new tablescape design for you.  If you weren't reading my blog in 2011, I hope that you'll enjoy this for the first time.  If you are one of my dear regular readers, I pray that you will enjoy seeing this one again.  Next week is the annual Theta Flaming Festival, so it will be an activity packed week, too.  I'm doing two tables this year, and I look forward to sharing both of them with you, in addition to the many other delightful tables at the festival.  Now, stepping back in time....

It's all ready been a busy week.  My Haviland group has been busy preparing for this year's Theta Flaming Festival, Wednesday, November 2.  We spent a great part of today staging the centerpiece for the Festival's Tea Table.  I also designed an additional table with my Theta friend, Barb.  Remember that I'm a Chi Omega, and Barb and I have been creating tablescapes for this event for many years...a Panhellenic endeavor, if you will.  That said, I wanted to at least give a nod to Halloween.  I created 'Masquerade' for all of those who like to disappear for a few hours by donning a costume, a mask, and a new personality.

The game table in the living room has been turned into a 60" table with the assistance of one of our flip-top table tops.  In the foreground, the Lalique Eagle and Nana's old sterling presentation bowl give a hint of eye candy to come.

I made the black tablecloth out of....felt!  Entertaining Tip: If you need a large under cloth or just an inexpensive solid color cloth, take yourself to your local fabric shop and be amazed at the multitude of colors available in felt. It's about $5.00 per yard, and it is VERY wide.  It's a quick sew, and you don't even have to hem it!  How much easier could it be?

Do you love to get a package in the mail, waiting on your doorstep?  About a week ago, I opened a package to discover these glorious black and white quilted place mats and napkins from Southern Style Home Decor.  They sponsored a give away with Yvonne @ Stone Gable, and I was the winner of this lovely, generous gift.  Southern Style Home Decor has a wonderful online shopping site...check it out!  Thank you, Yvonne and Southern Style Home Decor!  I'm going to enjoy these fine linens for many years to come.

My inspiration for tonight's table was a collection of jeweled and feathered masks...reminiscent of Venice Carnival...

Of all the amazing things that we've received from our blessed Nana, this has to be one of my very favorites.  It's a Black Starr & Frost, sterling reticulated bowl,  from the 1920's.  If you peak under the black mask, you can see a small portion of the decorative brass 'frog' that fits the bowl.  The intricate art deco design work seemed fitting for my 'high drama' table.

On top of the quilted place mat, I set a black Hobby Lobby charger plate beneath our silver Baroque charger plate.  My mother-in- love's Reed & Barton, "Francis I" flatware continued the opulent tone of my table.  To crown the entire place setting...



...I chose some of our Lalique "Plate of the Year" crystal plates.  When Sweet Mister and I were married, almost 43 years ago, my mama, my mother-in-love, and I each started collecting the series of these beautiful plates.  We now have all three sets, ours to shepherd until it's time for the next generation to enjoy.  I wanted the incredible designs to glow, so I set them directly on the silver chargers.

The Lalique, "Treves" goblet and the Corbel silver goblet  were both part of my wedding trousseau.  If I had to choose all over again, I would still choose both of these stems.  I've used them often through the years. 




The decanter is St. Louis crystal.

The sterling master salt and pepper came from....you've got it...dear Nana.





A few Blue Hour shots.  I'm in love with my new camera, the Nikon 7000D SLR...so much smarter than I.  They were all shot sans flash...























...as were my candlelight shots.  Thank you, thank you Sweet Mister!  I'm reading about ways to use my camera more effectively every day.  Have you checked out The Pioneer Woman's blog site?  She has a really nice segment on photography with complete archives.  She loves Photo Shop.  I encourage you to check her out, if you've never visited her.  Her whole blog is pure pleasure.  Can you tell by the blue light emanating from the den that Sweet Mister was watching television?  If you had rung the bell at this moment, he'd have rounded the corner and offered you some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  We had so many trick or treaters that I wondered if we'd have enough goodies.  We did...and I took the excess to the beauty shop this morning when I went to get back to my 'natural blonde.'    Hope that you had a happy and safe Halloween!



You can check out KC's music at www.kcclifford.com, on iTunes, and on YouTube.  I hope that you'll take a few minutes and give her a listen.  You'll also enjoy reading back through her blog on this site.  The girl can really write!  Her latest CD is called "The Tag Hollow Sessions."  It is available on iTunes or through her website.  I hope that you'll give her music a chance.  I know that I have zero objectivity where she is concerned, but I think that you'll fall in love with her music and her! 

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