Happy Easter

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“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” – 1 Peter 1-3.

Happy Easter!

Hoppy Easter 2013 Tablescape

 

I welcome you to my warren. A warren of bunnies that is. 

 These darling bunny plates hopped their way from their warren at Williams Sonoma to their new warren in Lubbock, Texas via UPS!  Here's a tip: If you see something on line that is out of stock.. call the catalog, they can tell you which stores still have stock. Call the stores, order your merchandise and it shall come to you!

Ordered some. Needed more. Followed the tip above. 

Aren't they darling?

I paired them with their matching napkins on a gingham placemat that I was the lucky one to win from Linda at More Fun Less Laundry. Just love these. So very versatile. Run over and pay Linda a visit and tell her I sent ya!

And I pulled out those green DT goblets again. You know, the color is just so good. I keep checking to see if they get them back in. A girl can never have enough dishes, glassware or shoes! They are still available online HERE.

I might just have to order a dozen more green, the blue is out of stock :-(!!

And then. 

I invited the Pier One dancing bunnies. They sure know how to party.

Just say I told you so. 

And the green vases I found a while back from, ya you guessed it, Dollar Tree.

I just knew they would be so perfect to march down a table.

With all the frivolity going on, the silver came out to tone down the partying bunnies.

I used some fabulous fauxs for this table. Just because it's not quite Easter - yet.

Even the sun came out to play when it saw how much those frolicking bunnies were having.

Silver trays for chargers, white Wedgwood plates, Old Company Plate silver and World Market floral napkin rings. Here's another tip: if you can't find the finishing pieces to Estate Sale silver, check Ebay. You be surprised at how reasonable you can find the missing pieces. I have enough of this now to serve a small army, or the entire family and their friends.

Some is monogrammed, some not. Antique dealers want 5x more than what I paid on Ebay.

This pattern came about in 1950. The majority of the pieces came monogrammed. 

Pier One had the cutest bunnies this year. I did remove the brown gingham ribbon from around their necks and change it out for some green. I've got a few more around the house sporting pink, orange and blue neckware. 

Promise I'm not on a ladder. My Canon has a vari-angle viewer. I reach way up by the chandelier, point down and click away.

For the new potatoes, I like to serve chive butter in individual butter dishes. 

Set the butter out to come to room temperature. Work it with a fork, or the beater blade of your mixer. Add in a bit of salt, I always buy unsalted, and then the chopped chives. 

I was so excited to be able to use chives from my basket on the kitchen porch! They came back from last year. Oh yeah, I was pleased as a peach.

Cast:

Placemats - checked and yellow - Villeroy and Boch

Silver trays - estate sales

Dinner Plates - Wedgwood Windsor

Salad Plates - Williams Sonoma Yellow Banded Easter

Napkins - Williams Sonoma Yellow Banded Easter

Silver - Old Company Plate

Candlelabra - Vintage

Green vases and Goblets - Dollar Tree

Bunnies - Pier One

Butter dishes - One Kings Lane

Napkin rings - World Market

Wishing each of you a beautiful day and a blessed Easter. 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! On the third morning He arose, Bright with victory o'er his foes. Sing we lauding, And applauding, Hallelujah!

John Mason Neale

I love your comments and get to know you more that way! What a blessing that is.

I'll be sharing my joy at

Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish

and

Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch. 

See ya there!

 

A Walk through my Garden

I changed out the quilts hanging in the studio. Something lighter and more spring-like.

Luckily, I label my quilts. Made this in 2001. For a Bernina publication. Was it A Touch of Artistry? How can I not be sure? Woe be me. 

I embroidered the flowers on stabilizer only and then used a heat tool to melt the stabilizer away from the embroidered piece so that all the embroidery were separate pieces. I could layer and add at will.

I used free motion stitching, straight line stitching, stitch in the ditch quilting. One of my favorite things is how the piping peaks out of the binding. 

I also couched some threads down around the center. I'm all about texture!!

Those decorative stitches on your machine are just dying to be used.. Let them out, they can create some fun pieces of art!

Update: I found the publication in which this quilt was featured.

Available HERE.

Welcome Spring

I welcome Spring! With open arms. With baited breath. 

With my whole being.

Tree, Saturday Morning.

 

Tree, Saturday Afternoon.

Amazing.

If I hadn't had pictures, I couldn't prove it!

 

There are so many bad things said about elms.

But I love their color.

Their bark.

Their fluttering leaves.

 Clearing out old shrubs that had been

neglected enough to become wannabe trees!

Snow drops.

I have an affection for these.

This year they bloomed with abundance.

Work commenced on the Cantina.

Our son has done so much work around here!

What a blessing.

I can't wait till it's finished.

The last of the Narcissus.

This fall, I think I'll plant some with white and orange.

ps.. most of these pictures were taken with my cell.

Happy Spring!!!

Heralding Spring Tablescape

Happy Spring! Have you been looking forward to spring, too? Although we've already had wonderful days, I know that our Easter freeze can't be too far away. So for now, I'll be celebrating a new season. 

 It was quite a dilemma this week... gingham napkin with white ring, or the Ralph Lauren napkins I used for St. Patrick's with the same green rings... Your thoughts?

Last week, Bordallo chargers, Wedgwood dinner plates, and clear glass salads. The Ralph Lauren napkin with the glass napkin ring. Silver flatware. 

The Bordallo charger plates make really great dinner plates! Seriously. They are just a smidgen larger than a regular dinner plate and I find myself using them more than the Bordallo dinner plates! I added a pretty reticulated salad plate with figs and blueberries. Once again, the Dollar Tree glasses. They sure get a workout around here.

I added a "nest" charger from World Market and the dark bamboo flatware. 

I also used the same white placemats. It's really pretty easy to change up dinner from week to week with just a few changes.

 

Instead of shamrocks/oxalis (which I did find just in time for our St. Pat's dinner Sunday evening), I planted a bunch of fabulous fauxs in the wooden box.

 Why fauxs? Let's see, Thursday evening we will be celebrating our sweet Zoe's 6th birthday, and around here.. it's way toooo late in the year to find bulbs in bloom. My planted daffodils are starting to wither already. 

I really wanted to pick up some of the "nest" chargers from Pottery Barn, but I found these at World Market instead. No need for shipping! And I do like them with the bamboo flatware.

It's hard to believe that the Easter Bunny will be making his appearance in little over a week. I'm hoping for a nice warm day so that the house full, we are gathering here this year, can move straight out to the patio!

I've always loved these plates. I use them for both salads and desserts. From Spring through Summer.

Thanks for dropping in.. I hope you had fun seeing a quick transformation from St. Pat's to a table to herald the awakening of Spring!

Cast:

Irish Linen Placemats

Pier One Nest Chargers

Horchow Dark Bamboo Flatware

Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage Chargers

Brunelli Salad Plates

Ralph Lauren Napkins

Stein Mart Napkin Rings

Dollar Tree Wine Glasses

I'll be going to view all the pretties for our pleasure at 

Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish

and

Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

See you there!!