Pretty Little French Fishes

A table in the time of Covid. In March where nothing was in bloom and I wasn't going out.

I had purchased this French jacquard tablecloth from my friend Sophie Christian. She lives in Arizona and is my tablecloth purveyor. I have many of these French textiles. They are coated, but you can't feel it and they resist stains. Water and wine both bead up on the surface!

Edited: Sophie's website is up and running! Bleu d'Olive

I found the French Limoges fish plates at a local antique mall, A Beautiful Mess. If you are ever in Lubbock, do drop in! You won't regret it.

These have some beautiful specimens on them!

The gilding around the rims is just icing on the cake.

I finally found the much wanted pearl handled fish cutlery.

Could  you have resisted this engraving?

I could not. Period.

I paired everything with my Lenox Colonnade dinner plate on a Jay-Imports charger.

Added the Mikasa Parklane Iced Tea along side a Tiffin wine glass.

In anticipation of being able to put together a table such as this, I had eaten, soaked in clorox, boiled for 30 minutes and then dried some oyster shells. I then edged them in liquid gold leaf. Insert a sterling salt spoon and the perfect salt cellar is born.

In the center, there are Pottery Barn brass and glass hurricanes, Baldwin brass candlesticks, and a Mikasa crystal votive holder repurposed as a vase.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. I wish you'd stay for a bite. It's been quiet around here during these Covid times. I am looking forward to the day when there are jewels around the table and laughter reigns again.

Cherish your friends, they are the jewels of life.

In LOVE with green and blue tablescape

I have found myself smitten; heads over heels; in LOVE with blue and green this summer. I think it all started with a post I did back in February, HERE...

Lovely Scribbles

that featured this table, that I am still head over heels swooning about.

source

And then I posted this table. Still haven't seen blue flowers anywhere!!!

And then came these goblets.

Horchow's when they have their 25-30% off everything sale.

Bahia - green feet on a gorgeous blue bowl.

At Tuesday Morning last week, I found some Waterford place mats in a gorgeous light blue linen. 

They had 8, and then Saturday morning there was another set of 4 (to make 12) on eBay. 

They were meant to be!!

I found that I had a plaid napkin that had both blue and green. Perfect!

Added a white World Market napkin ring.

The Cambridge flatware from Horchow's.

Cabbage plate from Bordallo Pinheiro.

A pasta plate made in Italy with a gorgeous blue edge.

 The white daisies give just the feeling I wanted, relaxed and casual.

The tall etched hurricanes are a Pottery Barn find and the blue vases came from Home Goods in Dallas.

One tip about place mats:

Don't crowd everything onto the place mat, it's better to improvise and or leave off a piece instead of cramming everything on the place mat seam to seam. 

This is some of the hardest working flatware I have.

Are you tired of this color combination already?

Not this year, I am not.

As I was playing around with what to use, I discovered a few combinations that will be perfect. 

Salad on a World Market Passaro plate.

And if I wanted to dress it up, a blue and white china plate with an elegant embroidered napkin.

Totally a very versatile combination.

Cast:

Placemats - Waterford

Cabbage Plates - Bordallo Pinheiro

Pasta Plates - Toscana

Salad Plates - World Market Passaro

Blue and White Salad Plate - Hutschenreuter

Napkin - old but not vintage

Napkin ring - World Market

Flatware - Cambridge from Horchow

Glasses - Bahia from Horchow

Hurricanes - Pottery Barn 

Vases - Home Goods

Thank you so much for dropping in. I so enjoy your company!!

I'll be visiting over at Cuisine Kathleen's on Wednesday evening for Let's Dish

and then over at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

I hope to see you there!

ps... I might have to do one more green and blue table.....

Cinco de Mayo Sunday Dinner Tablescape

Welcome to our Sunday night dinner. Viva Cinco de Mayo. These days, my 97 year old father joins us each Sunday for dinner. Mostly dinner in or sometimes dinner out.

I was determined to have Mexican food for dinner.

 

 

I was determined to have Mexican food for dinner.

 

I don't know about you, but I like my Mexican food spicy.

 

So how do you feed spicy Mexican food to a 97 year old man who thinks black pepper is spicy?

 

This is where careful planning comes in.

 

Did I mention that he has dentures and they don't fit well?

 

So no spicy food, nothing that would require a lot of chewing.

 

Menu:

Abuelo's papas con chile

Mexican pork roast

green beans

Mexican chopped salad with Honey Lime dressing

Flan

 

It worked. Great jalapeno flavor, no heat. Winner for everyone.

 

Mexican Chopped Salad with Honey Lime Dressing.

From Epicurious. Recipe HERE.

Son's plate, minus the feta cheese and the avocados.

I highly recommend that salad dressing. Can you say I would drink it straight? LOVE this dressing.

Loved the salad.

Romaine lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, corn, jicama, black beans, feta cheese and avocados.

Heaven!

 

Cast:

Guatemalen Linens (placemats & napkins - The Shop - Santa Fe, NM

Flatware - Wallace Silversmiths

Talavera dinner plates - Guadalupano Imports, Santa Fe, NM

Napkin rings - Pottery Barn

Mercury Glass candlesticks  - Jackalope, Santa Fe, NM

Etched Wine Goblets - Cielo, Santa Fe, NM

Blue goblets - Dollar Tree

Yellow-orange salad plates - BIA

 

Thanks so much for coming by. Dinner was a success and enjoyed by all.

I'm sharing this table with Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish on Wednesday evening

and with Susan for Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

I hope to see you there!

If you want to check out some previous Mexican inspired tables,

click HERE, HERE,or HERE.

Advent Calendar 2012 - the Bedroom

Do you bring a little Christmas into the bedroom? I've always brought a little bit of the decorations into the bedroom. I want to dream with Sugarplums dancing in my head. Velvet pillow, made and embroidered by myself, the check matches the drapes and the holly pillow is new this year. Gotta love a bit of Pottery Barn.

 

I added fresh greenery over the headboard. It smells so good. Another way to bring those sugarplums to the dreams. The holly "topper" is a really large tablecloth, probably Williams Sonoma last year or earlier, and adds just a bit of holiday to the bed. Of course Regan has to have final approval. He's not too sure, yet!

So do you decorate your bedroom? I want to know!

Sunday Sunflowers

Thank you so much for dropping in! You know that were it not for you, I wouldn't be doing this. So I'm honored and say thank you!!

Sunday night dinner. Just family. And sunflowers at the market. Braised pork tenderloins with sage on the stove. Recipe HERE. Gnocchi. English peas. A fresh garden salad. And sopapilla cheesecake for dessert. I'll post that easy-peasy recipe soon. You will love it!!

Tip: Many times a color will unite the whole table. However, don't forget to add a bit of relief to the eyes. I did that with the white dinner plates.

 

I really do not get on a ladder for these shots. Raise my arms and camera up high and capture the shot. My camera has a vari-angle viewer so I can see what I'm doing (most of the time - ha).

 You can't really see the dessert plate between the salad bowl and the dinner plate, but it really added a bit of green to the dishes. Boy. Do. I. Need. Some. Green. Plates! Oh yeah, My name is Marlis and I am a dishaholic and I'm on the 12 step program. Ha.

Tip: Admitting a problem is one step to overcoming your addiction!

Can you believe these placemats are 36 years old? Really. Yes. Somehow, I've lost one or two. Now that is indeed strange. Yellow bowls from TJ's, my workhorse Wedgwood Windsor, and the most precious Granada dishes. History of these dishes HERE. The rosewood handled brass flatware was a gift from my mother when we were still newlyweds. 

I have fallen in love with all the antique amber pieces I keep finding. Is this a throwback to the harvest gold of the 70's? Oh yeah I had a kitchen with some of those 70's colors.. can you guess the color that went with it? I love the bowl, it's a recent find. As are the covered dishes. The amber hurricanes came from Home Goods in Dallas last year. The wine goblets were from Stein Mart and the tumblers are antique Whitehall. Boy do I wish they were Fostoria, but hey, this way the grands can use these without me thinking twice about it.

Silly me, I didn't raise the blinds. I really do not like blinds. However, that window faces west. I live in West Texas. Do the math, blinds or the house is not much cooler than the triple digit outside temperatures!

I just love the fluted edges of these bowls. It's that texture thing. OOh yeah, it was Sunday. Mr. CJ was home. Which means -  the tv was on.

See the undulating edge of the bowl.. plays nicely with the classic dinner plates. More texture from the tumblers and the placemats. 

Mr. CJ shelled out cash for these napkins on a trip to Fort Worth's Pottery Barn last year. Yep, he feeds my obsession some of the time. Napkin rings from Stein Mart a long time ago. The napkin sets had different patterns in them. Loved that.

I just love Sunflowers. One of my favorite memories of my mom was of her having us stop at the side of the road leaving our cabin in New Mexico and cutting arm fulls of wild sunflowers to bring home. Naturally, I think of her with each sunflower.

Cast:

Vintage - placemats, amber covered dishes, amber bowl

Dinner plates - Wedgwood Windsor

Salad/desserts - Granada

Salad bowls - TJMaxx, they just have a B on the underside

Wine hocks - Stein Mart

Tumblers - Whitehall

Flatware - Rosewood handled flatware from Mom

Hurricanes - Home Goods Dallas

Napkins - Pottery Barn

Napkin rings - Stein Mart

Burlap runner - made by me

Thank you again for coming to visit. I'm delighted to see by your comments that you've been here. I'm partying over at Yvonne's Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits and  Susan's Tablescape Thursday.. c y'all there!