Tale of the Traveling Totes Episode #28 and a Giveaway

 

The Tales of the Traveling Totes is a quarterly link party that chronicles the travels and activities of ten women who live all across the United States. Our purpose is to learn how much of the world can 10 average women, carrying the same MacKenzie-Childs Courtly Check Tote, see. You can read tales about our adventures on March 1st, June 1st, September 1, and December 1st. I am thrilled to participate with this amazing group of women. At the end of my post, you'll find links to join the other toters and read what they've been doing this quarter.

The third quarter of 2021, has found  Miss Carrie Ann Hall and me right here at home for the entire quarter. I figure if I can't travel, I can certainly take the opportunity to invite as many of my friends as possible to gather around my tables and share, good food, great fun, and cherished fellowship. I've saved a chair for you at each of my luncheons. Come on in; the parties are about to get started...

I was asked to host our city's Bar Auxillary for their final Spring luncheon. Their meeting took place on the back porch. Hydrangea trees in a pair of my cobalt pots paired well with the MacKenzie-Childs Royal Check enamelware.

The following week, the Hydrangea trees were recalled to serve as the centerpieces for my Garden Friends Spring luncheon. Today we dined on the Herend Queen Victoria atop the Mottahedeh Blue Lace Charger. The Michael Weems green goblets and Baccarat Provence goblets were a nice blend in the place setting.

Ever the watchful hostess, Carrie Ann reclined beneath her MacKenzie-Childs floral bumpershoot. What a champion of hospitality she is!

Next up was a Bridal Shower for my friend Kathy's granddaughter. The table was anchored by the Mottahedeh Musée Decoratif white tureen, one of my favorite tureens. The Kim Seybert beaded table runner and Baccarat Butterflies added a wonderful combination of delightful colors for my table.

The MacKenzie-Childs Cheese Course was perfect for the Brie "Deli" Cheese, located in the living room on the games table.

Garlands of flowers welcomed our guests and also created a photo op. The bride and her friends had a great time taking pics of each other. Carrie Ann and I helped out for their group shots. 

The following week, two friends joined me for a quiet luncheon. I used my favorite Luneville pattern with a trio of Luneville Jardinieres holding hydrangeas from my garden.

Sweet Mister's Men's Dinner Club held their June meeting at our house. As you can guess, the menu was Mexican food. I set their tables with La Gadeaux Melamine dinner plates atop Caspari rattan chargers. They voted to have all their future meetings at our house. Sweet Mister said, "Probably not."

June also found a group of my lifetime high school friends gathering to celebrate a birthday. We laughed and visited the afternoon away. I chose to use the Luneville again, this time set atop the Bormioli hot pink glass charger. The wine is a pink Murano; the water is the Baccarat Provence 

Independence Day found the back porch table set with the Blue Liberty Hall dinner plates atop a red charger. A pair of Uncle Sam Santas rode in the rear of the red, white, and blue pickup trucks with Old Faithful flying...all ready for the parade. The centerpiece is the 

MacKenzie-Childs Royal Check large casserole. It's about the size of a large tureen. Works great. 

Late July found a small group of friends gathering to celebrate a birthday. Today I had fun using the Mottahedeh Magnolia.The pair of spill vases flanking the Magnolia tureen are also Mottahedeh.  It was a wonderful luncheon with cherished friends. 

By August, I needed a Garden Friends 'fix.' Our Bible study doesn't meet during the summer because a number of us spend a great deal of time out of state. The rest of us get together anytime we want. Today was one of those days. It also turned out that we were able to celebrate one of our summer birthday girls. Miss Carrie Ann Hall volunteered to be in charge of the appetizers. Here she is calling all the ladies to give the 'Gone in 60 Seconds' dip a try.

She also had a lot to say about how the tablescape was going to be designed. That's okay. She has impeccable taste.

The birthday girl loves turquoise/aqua and pink. We try to please. The dinner plate is by Minton. The crystal includes the Waterford Simply Pink, paired with the Edinburgh King James. The tureen is by Mottahedeh.

The Baccarat butterflies and the MacKenzie-Childs Pedestal Cakes added to the Spring colors and the'Flutterby' birthday party atmosphere. Such fun! 

Last week I loved gathering two friends to celebrate one more birthday party for another precious friend. I used two of my tulipieres to showcase some wonderful roses. The dinner plates are Spode Maritime Rose. We got up from the table at 4:00 p.m. A wonderful way to spend a blazing hot summer day.

I may not have left town, but I can honestly say that this quarter found me definitely on the go! I had a blast. I never take those of you who take your time to read my posts for granted. I appreciate you so much. Thank you!!! Remember that we have a giveaway, and this time I am your host. Be sure to stop by to visit and comment on the posts from all the ladies of The Traveling Totes. You'll automatically be entered to win our giveaway, a darling MacKenzie-Childs gift when you visit me and leave a comment.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box. 

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader@

CherryKay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women

The Tales of the Traveling Totes will return for the fourth quarter on December 1st. We hope you'll come back again and see what our Traveling Totes have been up to on their adventures!

 

A Garden Friends Fix, July, 2018

Things have been hopping in the month of July.  Dinner with friends over the 4th, meant no tablescape at our house. With the exception of a few weekend trips, we've held pretty close to home. I've been blessed to welcome guests to gather around our table on several occasions. Today I'm eager to share a luncheon that I hosted for my Garden Friends Bible study group. 

 

With some of us away for a fair chunk of the summer, I set a table for seven. After I finished taking my pictures, we had a late addition, so the luncheon was actually for eight. Ahhh, about the pictures. I've been doggedly trying to wrap my head around shooting in manual with my trusty Nikon. I fear that the quality of the photos to follow will reveal that for me, it's going to be a very steep learning curve. I hope that you will bear with me. Right now my results seem to yield aces and spaces. Okay, that's my disclaimer, now on to the luncheon.  I find that since we redecorated the kitchen, I enjoy entertaining in the space more and more. Today we gathered for lunch in the breakfast room. Come on in and join us... 

For my dear Garden Friends, I wanted to sculpt a softly feminine, creatively colorful tablescape. 

It's hard to go wrong when your art work is framed by the Mottahedeh Cornflower Blue Lace charger. 

The Mottahedeh Tobacco Leaf is easily one of my favorite patterns in China Town. The colors are truly magnificent. 

The Williams Sonoma banded linen napkin was the perfect amendment with its aqua accent border. 

Making an appearance after the luncheon began, the Tiffin Minton luncheon plate was used for dessert. The coupe soup and underplate held an avocado cucumber soup as a first course.

The taller Pier One wine was purchased many years ago, and I've used it often over the years. The larger goblet was a recent purchase at Hobby Lobby on the clearance aisle. I found a full dozen, and they are a perfect color match. I think I will now use them even more.

This canvas was complete, and my guests loved the place setting. 

Two different pair of petite bouquets from Whole Foods Market were snipped and placed...

...in a quartet of green vases found at a local florist some years ago.

The vases surrounded a Mottahedeh tureen. The celadon background and the pink trim worked well with the colors in the Tobacco Leaf plates.

It was a blazing hot summer day out here on the plains. It was one of those days when no one wanted to eat anything heavy or hot. Following the chilled avocado cucumber soup, we dined on chicken salad, egg salad, and a fruit salad featuring a variety of summer berries and fresh peaches.

Dessert consisted of birthday cake and brandy ice.

When we finally stood to leave the table, everyone realized that they would need to rush right home. It was almost time for them to have supper on the table. 

Sweet Mister called with plans to take me out for supper, a wonderful ending to a fabulous day. Remember, if you're coming my way, give me a call, and I'd love to set a table for you.

This week I'm joining:

Tablescape Thursday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Inspire Me Tuesday with Marty @ A Stroll Through Life

The Scoop with Anita @ Cedar Hill FarmHouse

Fourth Quarter Dinner Party, June 1, 2018

Sweet Mister has been at it again, so the end of May turned out to be quite a busy period of time. Sweet Mister's birthday was Wednesday, May 30, and to celebrate we hosted about 100 guests in our backyard for a bluegrass concert. Thursday was a whirlwind as I cleared away things from the Wednesday party and maintained a dead run as I prepared for a Friday, June 1, dinner party for 24. Our guests were members of Sweet Mister's Fourth Quarter group. Fourth Quarter is a group of men who seek to invest their resources in significant projects to help others, as they approach the fourth quarter of their lives. I set three tables for our guests. We'll start in the breakfast room; come on in...

Mottahedeh Duke of Gloucester, May 10, 2018

Spring was slowly beginning to rear it's gentle head, and it was a nice sunny day, still not warm enough to dine al fresco, but nice, none the less. I invited the Garden Friends Bible study to celebrate my dear friend Kathy's recent birthday. Today I prepared a table for six in the breakfast room. Come on in and join us...

I had a great time designing this tablescape. As I do so often, I found myself turning to lovely appointments that can be found in my repertoire because of our dear Nana. She was quite the entertaining woman, and I am blessed to shepherd her treasures until it's time for them to move on to the next generation.

 I was also eager to share one of the newer denizens in China Town...

...the classic Mottahedeh Duke of Gloucester. I have long admired this pattern, and the more I play with it, the more I understand that there are a myriad of ways in which it can be used. It's really an amazing design. It reminds me of that priceless little black dress in the back of all of our closets. You know, the one that can be dressed up or down, and it will always be perfect for any situation.

I kept the plates to a minimum this day, and the first layer of my design was Nana's antique lace placemat...just the right touch of texture. The flatware is my wedding silver, Reed & Barton Grande Renaissance.

Duke of Gloucester offers four different center designs that share the same rim design. This pattern has quickly worked it way to one of the top spots in my favorites list.

I was in a mood to use clear crystal, and I selected what I call the "Lost and Found" crystal goblets. These are Nana's goblets which were stolen by a woman who pretended to be a friend of my sister-in-love. They were missing for years, and then one day I spotted them among the pictures marketing an up-coming estate sale for a pawn shop that was going out of business. There they sat on a shelf where they had gathered dust for years. I made sure that I was one of the first people at the sale, and I was able to get my hands on most of them, so now they are back with the family. I say a little prayer of thanks every time that I use them. 

A linen napkin caught in a gold beaded napkin ring and the whimsical individual s&p's that I use so often completed my place setting. Simple, but effective, I think.

My mind kept thinking about the gardens of early spring with buds suddenly appearing . I had a great time slipping crocus buds into the small assortment of Glastonbury Lotus gold vases. The Lenox urns were simply "snip and slip" prepared bouquets that I bought at Whole Foods.

 

Being a less than accomplished gardener, I really appreciate the bounty to be found at our local grocery stores. Currently I'm praying that my hydrangea bushes are going to make a come-back from a particularly late and hard freeze that we experienced in April. Thank heaven for good old fish emulsion. They are finally starting to fill with their lovely leaves, and I'm beginning to see the hope found in baby buds nestled in the leaves. Now if they would just hurry, hurry hurry! I have two luncheons in the next two weeks, and the second one is supposed to be served al fresco. Maybe it will, and maybe it won't.  It's yet to be seen.


The centerpiece is completed with the Royal Copenhagen Gold Fan tureen, which is elevated on the Schumann Empress Dresden Flowers reticulated compote.



Everything was ready before my precious friends arrived for our Wednesday morning Bible study.

The birthday girl had requested a light salad luncheon, so the chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad, broccoli salad, and fresh berries salad were waiting for each one to fill one of the dinner plates.


Dessert was a delicious Tiramisu birthday cake. It was so incredibly light, I'm fairly certain there were few if any calories. Sure. As happens so often, I was blessed to have my friends gathered around my table long into the afternoon. I sent everyone home with flowers and left overs for their husbands, so they didn't have to worry about fixing dinner.


Remember that entries are still being taken for Entertaining Women's 8th Blogiversary Give Away! Just make a comment on today's post, and for extra entries take a stroll back into my archives and leave as many comments as you want on older posts. The drawing will be made the week of July 7, so you have plenty of time.

This week I'm joining:
Tablescape Thursday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

The Scoop with Suzy @ Worthing Court