To Burlap or NOT to Burlap!

Burlap -- it is EVERYWHERE. I really thought I was going to jump on the bandwagon. After all, you all are making such wonderful things with it -- all you have to do is enter the word burlap in the search on Pinterest and you'll get a bazillion ideas for gorgeous things to make with it. I bought yards of it on sale at Joann's Fabric a few weeks ago thinking I would do a table runner or two to use with my Christmas decorating.

This PIN was my inspiration!

Only problem was when I actually went to work with it -- I HATED IT!! Really, I found it stinky and scratchy and I didn't like it one bit -- I feel better for saying that but hope I haven't alienated you burlap loving folks! I won't let what I bought go to waste - I'll find some way to use it in the garden next spring. But now I was left with no inspiration for my tabletops.

I really didn't want to spend any more money so I opened my craft cupboard and started rooting around. What I had there was a stack of these......


I buy these dish towels in bulk from Colonial Patterns for my embroidery work. I love these simple, red-striped cotton towels. Could they be turned into a runner? Well, I lived with that idea for a couple days and then I started cutting and sewing. I am very happy with the final product -- well, that should read products -- my sideboard, kitchen island, dining table and upright grand piano top are all sporting runners. I think they capture the old farmhouse feel I adore!






Joining the lovelies Susan and Marty for Met Monday and Tabletop Tuesday!

Debbie Mumm Trick or Treat Tablescape

I love the artwork of Debbie Mumm and have
used many of her fabrics and quilt patterns over the years. A quilting friend who knows of both my Debbie Mumm and my dish *like* gifted me with these cute plates and mugs a few years ago. I thought them darling and her gesture so sweet -- problem with that was we usually just skipped Halloween.

This year my sweet little friends (the ones that were over a couple weeks ago) will be paying me a visit on Saturday and I decided to dust off those cute dishes and do a sweet lunch for them. They are coming dressed in their costumes (2 older boys are going to be firefighters and the younger one, a dalmation dog, lol). We'll lunch on soup and sandwiches and CUPCAKES (see tomorrow's Old-Fashioned Bake Sale post for the cupcakes).

The Welcoming Committee on the front porch!


















Sharing at Susan's Tablescape Thursday!

Dishes, Dishes, Dishes!

Remember back at New Years when everyone in blogland was picking their word for the year? I didn't really find one that fit but I should have picked DETERMINED! I entered this year determined to NOT add to my lumbering collection of dishes. I've done pretty well. In January, I was off to a shaky start when I found these vintage Clover Blossom dishes to complete my everyday breakfast set.

But I gave some dishes to Goodwill in my January organizing blitz. That round of purging was pretty painless. It was mostly, the *WHAT WAS I THINKING* dishes.

Then along came March -- FOREVER I had been coveting some Mikasa white dishes and found (at Goodwill again) a complete set for 8 of French Countryside (with completer pieces) for a fraction of their worth, in pristine condition and they came home with me too.

I knew I'd use them and indeed I do. I replaced my old *everyday* dishes with them. AND I gave my old everyday dishes away to a friend. Although I liked my old white dishes, the parting was pretty painless.

Spring and summer found me pretty distracted and although I did do some thrifty shopping, I only breezed past the dishes. I completely stayed away from my old haunt, TJ Maxx....that is, until late summer. I went in there with daughter to *look at baby stuff*. I knew it would be hard for me and indeed it was. One stroll down the clearance aisle and away I came with ......

Now let me clarify, the green square Mikasa's were already mine (yeah, I lugged them babies all over Mall of America last year -- I think my right arm is now permanently longer than my left). What gave me such temptation was the square rooster plates -- BUT in all reality, I NEEDED square rooster plates to go with those (never been used) square green plates. I was TOTALLY justified in my purchase! When I got home, I searched my dish collection for something to go from my collection -- hum, I was pretty sure I could part ways with some funky dessert plates I had picked up somewhere in my travels. Off to the GW with them. Whew, I have not *added* to my problem, I mean collection!

Then I ran into a REAL problem -- A stack of 8 of these babies at GW.

Yeah, they are in my dish storage awaiting a holiday tablescape. NO MORE THOUGH -- NO MORE! Oh, and I didn't part with a thing -- my thought is I'll use them one season and then away they go! It isn't technically an addition if I'm not planning to keep them long term, is it?

A few weeks ago my daughters and I made our annual trip to Lincoln, NE to visit The Historic Haymarket (and this bad blogger totally went off without her camera -- it was sitting on the dining room table where I left it). This is a trip I look forward to every year. In the Haymarket is Burlington Antiques. My daughters ditched me there to run off and eat all sorts of foods that are forbidden for me to eat, lol. I was totally okay with that - you see, Burlington Antiques has more DISHES than your average antique mall. I knew I wouldn't be coming home with any of those dishes and enjoyed a long stroll through taking in ALL the wonderful antique and vintage dishes.

Even though I didn't buy a thing in that trip to the antique mall it STILL got me into trouble! You see, on Saturday, I was on the GW side of town and before I knew what was going on, I was pulling into the parking lot and heading right in the door. Let me say that this isn't my favorite time of year for thrifty shopping -- too many Halloween costume seekers are rummaging through my favorite thrifty source this time of year. That said, I made a pass around the whole store and then headed back to the dishes - spying a box on the ground, I take a peek inside and recognize what I see -- China -- made in England, bone china -- ROYAL WORCESTER CHINA -- TOPAZ BY ROYAL WORCESTER BONE CHINA. This was one of the chinas that I studied for quite some time during my trip to Burlington Antiques. I loved the fall like pattern, and the calming sandstone colored rim and the name -- my oldest daughters birthstone and now here I was holding a box full of it. The price ------ $3.00!! FOR ALL OF IT!! My GW has taken to putting sets of dishes in opened topped boxes and then using packing tape to make a see-thru but cannot handle thru top. You can see what is in the box but not really see anything under the first layer or so. Nothing was packed in paper so who knows what kind of condition these are actually in. Since the asking price was only $3.00, I took a chance on condition and exactly what was there. Once home, I inspected all the contents and basically pieced together 4 complete place settings (dinner plate, salad plate, bread & butter plate, dessert plate & cup & saucer). I am happy with that -- 4 diners is the most common at my dining table....anything more than that, and it will have to be a different set of dishes.
According to Wikipedia, Royal Worcester is believed to be the oldest remaining English pottery brand still in existence today.

Topaz was manufactured from 1958 through 1964.


These beauties will be making many appearances on my table over the next few weeks.


Linking to Susan's Tablescape Thursday!

Salad Time ~ Go Green!!

Spring greens are GORGEOUS right now and although I love salads year round, they never taste quite as good as they do when the greens are sweet and tender in spring. At my house, we like dressing our salads with a variety of different homemade dressings but none are as popular as good ole ranch-style dressing -- creamy and cool and with the addition of fresh, spring herbs, just the perfect compliment to the tender, fresh greens. I've used the same ranch-style formula for years with few variations.....it's tried and true. When my June copy of EVERYDAY FOOD came in I spied a great formula for making different dressings with a Creamy Salad Dressing Base. I've been playing with those formulas all week and thought I'd share both my tried and true recipe and that formula for making the 6 different dressing using the creamy base.


Ranch-style Dressing
(Printable Version)

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4cup buttermilk (I always use real buttermilk, I freeze it in 1/2-1 cup measurements)
1-1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar (or 1 Splenda packet)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsely (or 2 Tbsp fresh chopped)
1/4 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tsp fresh)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash sweet paprika

Wisk all ingredients together and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Makes 1cup.


Creamy Salad Dressing Base
EVERYDAY FOOD
(Printable Version)

1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
desired mix-ins (see below)
coarse salt and pepper

In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, and mayonnaise until smooth. Whisk in desired mix-in. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix-Ins:

Green Goodess ~ 1/2 avocado, mashed until smooth, 1/4 cup finely chopped chives. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley.

Roasted Garlic ~ 1 small head roasted garlic, skins removed and cloves mashed until smooth (about 2 tablespoons).

Blue Cheese ~ 3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled.

Ranch ~ 1-1/2 reaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, 1 small garlic clove, minced, pinch of cayenne pepper.

Thousand Island ~ 1/3 cup ketchup, 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish.

Peppercorn-Parmesan ~ 2 ounces finely grated Parmesan (2/3 cup), 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper.

Orange-Current Scones

I am a self-confessed scone-aholic. For St Paddy's breakfast, I almost always make scones....this year I served these wonderful Orange-Current scones with Sweet Cream Irish Butter, Orange Marmalade and Irish Breakfast Tea....such a treat!

Orange-Current Scones
(Printable Version)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup currants
1 egg
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup cream

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a scone pan, or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and using a pastry blender, blend until pea-sized crumbs. Stir in the currants.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, cream and orange zest until blended and add to the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir until large, moist clumps of dough are formed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together with your hands until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough, flouring as needed, into a 10-inch round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 equal-size wedges. Press each wedge into a well of the prepared scone pan, or place the wedges 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake until the scones are golden, about 25 minutes. Invert the scone pan onto a rack and lift off the pan, or transfer the scones from the baking sheet to the rack. Let the scones cool for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8 scones.

Posting to Michael's Foodie Friday and Alii's Sweet Tooth Friday!

Going Green

I'm joining in the FUN at the wee Kathleen's for her 3rd Annual St. Patrick's Day Crawl. Be sure to visit and see all the creative St Paddy's Day celebrations.

I decided to keep my table very, very simple -- afterall, I am a simple girl with simple tastes. I also purposed to shop my house and come up with all the elements without spending anything -- I think I was able to do both pretty well.

When I think of all things Irish - the things that immediately come to my mind are Irish Lace, Irish Crystal and Belleek China. I own none of these things - but I found elements for my table that remind me of all three.

I started with a tablecloth I picked up Kmart last fall. It is from their Country Living line and I was able to score this beauty for a mere $6.00. While not actual lace, I love the lacy motif and the burlap looking background. Very attractive to me.
Next, I set the table with my favorite everyday dishes - French Countryside by Mikasa. Today though, I will refer to them as Irish Countryside. Is there anything more attractive than a beautiful set of white dishes? Simply stunning!!
I didn't like any of my napkins for this table so I dug into my fabric stash and came up with some lovely greens for 4 mismatched napkins -- I like mismatched!

A vintage shamrock shaped pickle dish will serve as a salad plate - I love these and over the years have collected a total of 6 of them.
Some sweet candle holders found last year at the thrifty stores. I both remembered that I bought them AND where I had stashed them, lol. They are perfect for this table.
One of my favorite African Violets as a centerpiece.
No Waterford on this table but I am using my favorite Dollar Tree goblets.
Vintage silverplate Calvalcade is the pattern name - I use these a lot.









Thank you for stopping by! I'll also be linking up to Susan's Tablescape Thursday!

Delmar Lace & Old Doilies

Remember my repurposed doily tablerunner project? I knew I had the perfect dishes to do a sweet tablescape using my new runner. Isn't it all just perfect for dessert and coffee?
I have a few crazed, chippy, faded pieces of Delmar Lace by Royal China. Although they are crazed, chippy and faded, I love them. I've used some old Homer Laughlin plates as chargers. They are in about the same condition as the Royal pieces.
No romantic story behind them, just thrifty finds. Although they do remind me of dishes that my great-grandmother had. I remember spending a few days at her house as a teenager....just her and I. She lived several hundred miles from where we lived and we only saw her once a year or so. She left quite an impression on me though. My oldest daughter, Jessica, is named for her. When I stayed with Grandma Jessie, she was in her 90's (she was born in 1885) and still living on her own. During that stay, we had tea in the evenings in her dishes. These old dishes do remind me of that time. Oh, I guess there is a little romance in these thrifty dishes.
I wish I had a full set but alas, I only have a few pieces....4 cups & saucers, 6 small dessert bowls and 8 small dessert plates. Enough for a dessert setting for 4.
I shopped the house to complete the tablescape. Pink crepe paper flowers. As a girl, I loved crepe paper...it made the most fun things.
Vintage relish bowls hold the crepe paper roses.
Vintage ercu napkins with crocheted edging matches the tea stained runner.

Old textile spools hold votive candles.

Old mismatched silver plate fork & spoon at the ready for eating dessert.

Pretty pink roses bringing out the faded pink of the dishes.


I have a confession. Last summer I saw the sweetest blog post (cannot remember who's) where old china plates were used to edge a flower bed. I decided I wanted to do that, but once I started picking up old plates, I didn't have the heart to set them outside. Aren't I a sap?...oh, well, the way I see it, these still have a few parties left in them!

Sharing at Tablescape Thursday, Vintage Thingie Thursday and Pink Saturday.