Friends

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Spring Has Sprung!

It time to join Cuisine Kathleen for her second week of Let's Dish! You can enlarge any picture by clicking on it.


The other day I found a gorgeous tablecloth, $3.99, that is the inspiration for this week's very simple tablescape. It reminded me of spring, lots of greens, reds, pinks, blues and a little yellow.


I wasn't sure what dishes I would be using until I saw these dinner plates at Goodwill today...I want to thank a lady named Estelle for making them back in 1964. Again, I have found someone's ceramic project to showcase on my table! Being Senior Discount day, the cost was 74¢ per plate. They have blue, pink, red, green, purple and yellow on a creamy background. When I first saw them out of the corner of my eye, I thought they were Blue Ridge Pottery when I saw the large flowers and fruits in bold colors!



The background of the dishes is a deep cream, the only chargers I had that would go well with them are these octagonal ones.


I wanted the tablecloth and plates to be the stars, therefore I elected to use no other dishes.

The glassware is some you have seen before...they match the tablecloth so well.


The flatware is Oneida Afterglow.


The napkins are from Savers $1.99 for 4 and the fun bee napkin rings are from Pier 1 Imports, $3.95 each.



I have something to confess...this is actually a Thanksgiving tablecloth, complete with turkeys! I have never seen a tablecloth in these spring colors depict Thanksgiving. It is huge so I am going to see if a local seamstress can cut the turkeys off without ruining the whole thing. If it can't be done, I'll use it as I am today!


Thank you for visiting today, I really appreciate your comments and try to do the same for you.

I will be joining these fun parties this week:

Let's Dish at Cuisine Kathleen
Wednesdays Bunny Hop Party at Bunny Jeans Decor
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper

Saturday, March 24, 2012

It's Corny!

While visiting blogs I came across Back 2 Vintage where Sherry was showing a great set of corn dishes...it reminded me of some corny items I had found recently! I decided to show them to y'all.


They were all found at different times and places. The platter was found at Goodwill for $1.99 a few months back. The maker is Elpa made in Portugal. It is about 9½ x 15-inches.


The tureen is probably someone's ceramic project as there is just a fancy U etched into the bottom. I vaguely remember this piece from when I did ceramics back in the 70's. I bet some of you remember it, too, from one of those classes! I love the little ear of corn handle on the lid top. This piece was found at Savers for $3.99.


The last piece is a pitcher is a 7½-inch pitcher. I believe this piece may be a mass produced. There are no markings on the bottom other than 6 raised dots; 4 together, 2 almost directly across. This piece was found at a different Savers for $2.99.




I will be looking for more pieces to add to my small collection!

Thanks for taking the time to visit today! Come back again...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Copeland Spode Valencia

I am so excited to be part of Cuisine Kathleen's first weekly meme, Let's Dish, every Wednesday at 7 P.M.! Knowing Kathleen like I do, it is going to be a fun,interactive meme...some come along and join in the fun! Thank you, Kathleen for doing this on Wednesday evening! Make sure you stop by Kathleen's blog for a fun time!

I apologize for the pictures, a flash had to be used on most photos as it has been dark and rainy here for the past 3 days...3 more days to go until we will see the sun! Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.


The inspiration for tonight's table was the creme soup bowls/underplates I found on eBay, recently...Copeland Spode Valencia. There are no chips and very little crazing, almost like they have never been used. I was sucked into bidding on them because of the colors, my favorite blue/green combination against the creamy white. I was the only bidder, getting them for $4.95 each! Replacement, Ltd. is asking $89.95 for the flat cream soup bowl only! I feel like I got the deal of the year! They have a band around the middle of the bowl that is described as a Chelsea Wicker pattern, a band of the grapes is under that.






A blue tablecloth was layered with a lace cloth. Napkins are white with blue/green cotton with what looks like a blueberry pattern. They kind of mimic the pattern on the soup bowls, which are blue and green grapes.




The setting itself consists of Vera Bradley charger plates, a Wedgwood Hedge Rose dinner plate, Bordallo Pinheiro Frog Service salad plate and finally the star of the show, Spode Valencia.





The flatware is Oneida Afterglow, circa 1956. I used the International Silver Frontenac, circa 1903, cream soup spoons, too.




The green glassware is Libbey Duratuff Gibralter pattern in juniper.



The rim shot.





Thank you for taking the time to visit today, hope that you will come back again.

Blue tablecloth-Savers
Lace tablecloth-Goodwill
Cotton napkins-Sacks On Santa Fe
Blue napkin rings-have had forever
Vera Bradley charger plates-TJMaxx and eBay
Wedgwood Hedge Rose dinner plates-Goodwill
Bordallo Pinheiro-Frog Service salad plates-eBay
Copeland Spode Valencia cream soup bowls/underplates-eBay
Oneida Afterglow sterling flatware-Family
International Silver Frontenac sterling flatware-eBay
Libbey Duratuff Gibralter-Goodwill or Savers, can't remember
White/pale green vase-Three Sisters Antique Store (no longer in business)
Flowers-WalMart from the sale bucket
Candleholders-Goodwill 75¢ each
Candles-WalMart on sale


Iwill be joining:

Let's Dish at Cuisine Kathleen
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Wednesdays Bunny Hop Party at Bunny Jeans Decor
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters
Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch
Thrifty Thursday at Tales From Bloggeritaville
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone was lucky enough to enjoy their fill of corned beef like we did here In The Middle Of Nowhere! I kept it simple this year...corned beef, colcannon, fried cabbage and roasted the carrots in the same pan I did the meat. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert...not very Irish, but very good.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day family and friends!


Bradford pear tree in the front yard...it won't look this pretty if it rains tomorrow.

Monday, March 12, 2012

This One Is For Saint Kathleen!

I am happy to join Cuisine Kathleen's 4th Annual Saint Patrick Day's Crawl. Thanks for hosting this fun party, again, this year, Kathleen!

This year I decided not to use my usual SPD decorations, instead just a green/white/orange table to honor the colors of the Irish flag.

I started with an embroidered off white tablecloth. The colors taupe, green, tiny bits of yellow and orange. With the green and orange, I felt this suitable for SPD.


I don't have the Bordello Pinheiro cabbage plates that flooded the market a few years ago, but do have cabbage plates that would suffice for a SPD tablescape. The next layer is a white luncheon plate and finally the green and white salad plate.


I had pulled out the orange stemware, but it was just too strong a color for what I had in mind, so back into the hutch it went. The glassware used for this table is some found at Savers for 75¢ per stem. I am always drawn to anything green, somehow they ended up in the cart that day!


Being SPD, I absolutely had to use the green handled Madeline flatware! I love this stuff and it was so inexpensive...still looking for some in red.


I had a bit of a time wavering between green, or orange napkins...Howard was walking through, he said to go with the pale orange and use green napkin rings. I thought he was nuts, but when I tried it, I really liked it.


A wooden compote filled with a bag of clementines and white candles and candle holders rounded out the centerpiece. I made the compote with a wooden bowl and candle holder, then spray painted it green.






Our dinner for SPD will be corned beef with all the trimmings...meaning...potatoes, carrots and cabbage, fresh baked bread and a dessert, yet to be determined.

Tablecloth-Savers
Napkins-Thrift store, not sure if Goodwill or Savers
Green Madeline flatware-World Market
Green cabbage leaf charger (Home Essentials and Beyond) TJMaxx several years ago
White luncheon plate (Alfred Meakin)-ARC Thrift Store
Green/white salad plate (Glenwood Wood & Sons) eBay about 3 years ago
Green stemware-Savers
Candleholders-Goodwill
Compote-I made it from thrift store pieces
Candles-WalMart

Thanks for taking the time to visit today, hope you will enjoy it enough to make another visit.

I will be joining the following parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Wednesdays Bunny Hop Party at Bunny Jeans Decor
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters
Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch
Thrifty Thursday at Tales From Bloggeritaville
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper