A prayer in spring...

 Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

 And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

 

All simply in the springing of the year.

 

  Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

 Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

 And make us happy in the happy bees,

 The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

 

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

 The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

 And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

 For this is love and nothing else is love,

 

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

~~Robert Frost

Things in our neck of the woods are sprouting, blooming, and budding. Like answers to prayers.

Have a blessed week.

A Gaelic Tablescape celebrating St. Patrick

Irish we are not.

But on St. Patrick's we all celebrate our faux Irish ancestry!

With some faux Irish linens.

I do have a set of Irish linen napkins, but these cutwork embroidered with a bit of bobbin lace and finished off with lace edging suited the table better.

Out came the Pier One chargers on top of which I chose to use the green cabbage Bordallo Pinheiro dinner plates. For a lovely salad, the Granada soups fit the bill.

This Granada set has a history your can read Here and see more of Here and Here.

I also pulled out this wine chiller, wine server. It's an antique, fitted with a chamber to insert ice with a cork plug. You can see the chamber going into the center of the bottle. I believe it is Spanish (still the same side of the Atlantic) - it has a name, but I've forgotten it - anyone want to chime in?

All this on top of a Williams Sonoma Irish green hemstitched linen tablecloth.

I placed a bobbin lace runner down the center of the table. 

I took my shamrock plant and plopped it into a Vietri jardiniere.

Can you believe this is the same plant I used last year for St. Pat's, too.

Yes, I kept it alive for a year. It had a few downs, but that was because I was learning what it liked.

It's bloomed so much, but of course this week, not one white blossom to be found.

The underside of the leaves is a glorious eggplant color. Don't you just love it?

The table is augmented with lots of faux Irish crystal.

One for water, one for wine and the old fashioned champagnes even came out to play.

I really like the dainty scrolls on this china. The white is all raised and gives so much dimension to the pieces.

Ignore the black specs.. not sure from where those came, they aren't on the dishes, really.

But there they are again.. dagnabit! Still am enchanted how the scrolls on the chargers play so well with the scrolls on the salads. The green Bordallo plates in between just unify the pieces all the more.

Gold flatware picks up the gold in the Granada pieces.

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

Cast:

Tablecloth - Williams Sonoma

Napkins, runner - estate sales

Chargers - Pier One

Dinner Plate - Bordallo Pinheiro

Salad plate - Granada

Flatware - Certified International

Water goblets - Mikasa Parklane

Wine and champagne - estate sale

Jardiniere - Vietri

Shamrock - still alive by the grace of God

Thank you for dropping in.. So glad you did. Thank you for your kind comments so that I can know you've been here. 

Joining Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch thursday morning at 9am CDT... see you there!!
Also making my first appearance at Cuisine Kathleen's 4th Annual St. Patrick's Day crawl. Do drop in and see all that is green!

Pansies

The Pansy is a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers. Pansies are derived from Viola species Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana^[1] or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name for other Viola species that are wildflowers in Europe. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have "pansy" in their name. (from Wikipedia)

These sweet violas came home with me today.

I totally love pansies and violas. Totally.

One of my most favorite tops was made several years ago,

featured in Sew Beautiful Magazine.

I used Madeira rayon thread to embroider the Jenny Haskins pansies on linen table topper used as the collar on this blouse. The hemstitching and the sage band were already on the topper. What a time saver!

 The I turned a portion of the design into an applique (but removed linen fabric and added silk organza to the area) and stitched the grid portion with Sulky 2116.

The back of the collar.

Each sleeve sports a different motif. 

This one embellished with a Bernina lace monogram.

And this one, simply more pansies.

The beautiful embroidery designs are by my dear friend Jenny Haskins.

This is an older embroidery design set and can be purchased HERE.

Go to Jenny's website HERE and see some of the most beautiful embroidery designs, ever.

Source

A long time ago, I had also created this window shade for Designs in Embroidery Magazine (did I say a long time ago?)...  Note the use of a different pansy motif. These are Bernina Debbie Mumm embroidery designs and the project can be found on the web HERE.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. I love hearing from you and seeing by your comments that you've been here. Have a blessed week!

Tulips

The tulips make me want to paint,

Something about the way they drop

Their petals on the tabletop

And do not wilt so much as faint,

 

Something about their burnt-out hearts,

Something about their pallid stems

Wearing decay like diadems,

Parading finishes like starts,

 

Something about the way they twist

As if to catch the last applause,

And drink the moment through long straws,

And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.

 

The way they’re somehow getting clearer,

The tulips make me want to see—

The tulips make the other me

(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,

 

The one who can’t tell left from right),

Glance now over the wrong shoulder

To watch them get a little older

And give themselves up to the light.

 

 A.E. Stallings

If you put flowers on the table, I will investigate. It's my job. ~Regan.

 

I wish you all a very happy weekend. If you've been following the sporadic posts, you've gleaned a bit of upheaval in our lives. We are still blessed. God has rained down blessings in the last 24 hours that blow my mind. My praises for Him are great and His timing is perfect. Thank you all for the concern and the woods of hope. You've made my day!

Tulips - Wal-Mart

Candleholders - Pottery Barn

Vase/Jug - One Kings' Lane

Cat - ruler of the castle

 

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11