A Hamburger Lunch Tablescape

 

Oh my!

 "We're on our way. What's for lunch?"

Umm Umm Hamburgers!

So out came the quilt i made for our youngest.

Denim and flannel. Old shirts, scraps, etc. Love how comforting it is.

Some camping plates. Metal, Divided. Heavy!

Red Cambridge flatware.

Red bubble glasses.

Red check napkins secured in red knot napkin rings.

No time to run to the store.. pull the burlap sunflowers off the buffet.

Plop onto the table.

Add some votives. 

Who says you can't have candles at lunch???

And this is what you have.

Fun, casual and easy.

Quick napkin story. These red check napkins came all the way from Switzerland.

On a Bernina dealer's trip (I used to work for Bernina, USA. LOVED, Loved loved that job.),

we took a train ride on the Bernina Express.

source

The Bernina Express will take you to Piz Bernina, or the Bernina mountain. Anyway.

They had lunch for us. Served wrapped up in this very sturdy, darling lapkins.

Of course, the hoarder collector that I am, I took every one whose owner did not 

want theirs. What a wonderful reminder of a really good time!

 I really have some cute pictures, but they are on the hard drive that needs to go in for some special, individual attention. Much easier to think of it that way!

 The One Kings Lane pitcher adds just the right amount of rustic charm to the table.

see the lacy leaf peaking out?

 It belongs to these Hobby Lobby sunflowers. They are made of burlap and I just love them!!

 

   This quilt is a simple square of flannel with  windowpanes of denim fabric. 

The quilting is all repetitive stars. 

Not all quilts have to be masterpieces. ;-)

 

A bit closer view of the leaf. It's quite stiff. And there is a wire for giving it shape.

 

 Really loving this look. How about you?

 The weather was awesome on Sunday!

We've been out of the triple digits for a few days and everybody's tempers

have certainly departed the boiling point!!

 So glad you dropped in.

I love having company.

Expected or not!

Cast:

Quilt - handmade by me

Plates - camping gear

Glasses - red bubble glasses from Stein Mart

Flatware - SteinMart

Napkins - Bernina Express, Switzerland

Napkin Rings - World Market

Flowers - Hobby Lobby

Pitcher - One Kings Lane

I'll see you over at Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish and Susan's Tablescape Thursday!!

ps... This is not Regan, this is Billy. He rules the yard. Allows you to pet him until he realizes you are petting him. Wants in, but not if you are there. Regan wants him to come in and play, but if you talk to Billy, Regan does not like it. Anyway, he and Scaredy Cat are well taken care of. They keep the back yard safe. :-)

Burlap Sunflowers - do you love them too?

Warning, enabler alert. 

I went into Hobby Lobby last Saturday. Looking for buttercups for a tablescape, HERE.

Did not find any. But I came across these burlap sunflowers.

With their lacy leaves. Two of these on each stem. See through. Divine.

And I picked up some "meadow" flowers. I'm on a yellow kick. Can you tell?

Pulled out a French looking pitcher to use as a vase. Thinking this was a One Kings Lane purchase.

Look at these petals. Rough cut. so textural.

The centers just swept me off my feet.

I know you need some. You know it too. Oh and if you don't have a Hobby Lobby, I'm sorry.

Thanks for dropping in to see what's going on in West Texas! It's been a way cooler week this past week. Praising God!!

A Valetine's times two tablescape

 

What's in a name? Oh I know Shakespeare has the answer, but that's not where I'm going!

The ever so delightful and ueber-talented Cherry Kay from Entertaining Women blog is my partner at the table setting party tonight!  

 We chose to use our Schumann Dresden dishes. I've used them before HERE and HERE. And I just realized I used the same tablecloth from one of the tables. But with a twist. I paired them with a gold charger today and used gold flatware. 

We actually used this table last Sunday evening. So I didn't use a lot of any hearts. Shame on me. 

In their stead, I used some vase napkin rings to reign in the napkins, freshly embroidered. In each vase, I inserted a single alstroemeria blossom.

I love how the sweet blossoms present their precious heads far above the plates.

Now don't laugh.. but I have a confession to make. I'm sure this has never happened to anyone else. Ever. I probably took the first 20-30 pictures of the table.... sans glasses!! Yep, as I was fixing dinner, I noticed my omission. And sprung into action and pulled out some glasses. I'm sure the guests would have just had a good laugh and dinner would still have been a success! I wonder if I would have laughed at myself.

I placed a hot pink tablecloth under the lace to set the tone for the table. 

By this time the late afternoon sun was streaming in the window and there was no

 way to avoid the sun dance!

I used the silver candelabras on the table. I think it's perfectly acceptable to mix metals. 

What do you think?

Because all good things are in 3's... the silver plateau found it's way under the bouquet of flowers. Which, truth be told might be a tad bit high, but everyone could still be seen over them, and conversation flowed as freely as ever.

I think the lace, embroidery and crystal help give the table a very romantic look, even without hearts. What do you think?

I love how crystal seems to come to life when the sun or lighting hits it just so.

Finding flowers for the centerpiece proved a bit of challenge. Here's a tip.. take a picture of the dishes, carry it with you and then hold it up to the flowers in the store. It's amazing what pops out at you when you do that. 

No roses, but every color in the bouquet is in the dishes.

Because Cherry Kay often uses soup tureens as centerpieces; in her honor, I used the matching one to the dishes to sit in as a container for the flowers this evening. 

The silver butter dish and the Lenox swans add a bit more jewelry to the table.

After the near disaster of the missing glasses, I didn't take any pictures with the candles lit that evening. Too busy with guests and getting our dinner of pecan crusted trout, garlic roasted red potatoes, steamed broccoli with hollandaise sauce on the table. Our first course was a fresh mixed lettuce salad with vinaigrette. And to follow all this up, I served a mixed berry dessert over which I spooned a tequila cream sauce. Yummy!

I hope you will find your way over to Cherry Kay's to see her table, which I might say is absolutely fabulous. She, too, chose pink as a backdrop.. but oooh with just her special touches, it looks so stunning.  You do know that it was her gentle nudge that pushed me ever so gently into forward motion and got me collecting these beautiful dishes. So it was fitting we teamed up to bring you a duo of tables for Valentine's. 

Wishing all of you a Valentine's day full of happiness and joy. It's not the big things that matter, but all the little things that happen along the way that really make a difference. So single, in a relationship or married for eons; do something fun, enjoy the day and buy yourself flowers if need be.

Cast:

Chargers - Hobby Lobby

Dishes - Antiques, Schumann Dresden (ebay)

Flatware - International

Water goblets - Mikasa Parklane

Wine glasses - Libbey Rock Sharpe

Silver candelabra, silver plateau - antique 

Lenox swan salt cellars - Lenox "To the Bride"

 Embroidery design - Sonia Showalter designs

 Joining the party over at Cuisine Kathleen's - Let's Dish - on Wednesday evening

And then I'll be partying over at Susan's Beneath Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday!

A Wistful Winter Tablescape

It's been the weirdest winter around here! My tulips are breaking ground. What in the world am I gonna do when the next freeze comes? Oh well. Snow? Non-existent. It's going to be a really bad spring with no moisture around here.

Today, I'm sharing our New Year's table. It fits the bill for Cuisine Kathleen's January challenge to create a winter tablescape. 

I loved being able to find more of the snowflake chargers at Hobby Lobby this year. Previously only had 6, now I have 20? Yep, these will get lots of use. 

I used two antique lace runners down the center of the table. And also placed the rustic hand-made box on top of them. Using the glittery, white jingle bells certainly gave it a fun look.

The turquoise glass plates add just the right bit of color to the table. Dinner is buffet style, so no salad plates!

I used fresh greenery, white candles, white pinecone ornaments, turquoise glass ornaments and large snowflakes in the box.

 

I love to use rock salt in the bottom of the glass hurricanes and set candles on top of the salt. Sort of looks like snow drifts in the containers.

With this many dishes on the table, there isn't really a lot of room for much finery.

Can you believe that the napkins have no starch in them? Yessirree Bob! I like to iron my napkins while they are damp. I take them out of the washer, stack them flat and then slip them into a plastic bag and iron them the next day. Using as hot an iron as your fabric, mine is linen, can stand, iron them dry. You will not need any starch!

Because the box is quite rustic and sets the tone for the table, hunky glasses were de riguer! The larger cut crystal came from the dollar tree. We use them quite a bit when we entertain outside. This time however, there pretty design which reminds me of snowflakes, graces this table to welcome the new year. 

I also used more rock salt and some smaller candles in the swirly Cheers votive holders from Mikasa. 

 

I've had these snowflake napkin rings for quite some time. I believe they came from Dillards years ago. Here you can see the different snowflakes on the chargers.

 

 

I even hung some crystal looking snowflakes and a strand of the same from the greenery in the chandelier. 

Cast:

Chargers - Hobby Lobby

Turquoise Glass Dinner Plates - TJMaxx; Artistic Accents

Silver - Old Company Plate

Water Goblets - Dollar Tree

Champagnes - World Market

Napkins - Linen Hemstiched

Napkin Rings - Dillards

Joining the parties at Cuisine Kathleen's and Susan's Tablescape Thursday. See you there!

If you want to know what we've been up to, click HERE to visit Santa Fe with us!