Sooo Versatile, Blue and White

Hi!  Boy, I’ve been a way for most of July, all of August, and part of September…not too sure where the time went, but I do have great memories of summer—family vacation at the beach, time with babies, evening rides in our convertible.  So as you can well imagine, I’m not…quite…ready for fall.  Getting there, as I always do, but not there quite yet.

Earlier in the summer I did a blue and white table, then made minor changes to it with different color accents to explore the versatility of lovely, bright, serene, blue and white.

Today’s post is about, well, BLUE AND WHITE.

  Isn’t it serene?  The table was set for a romantic dinner for two.

Let’s take a closer look:

Blue, white, crystal, and silver.

Salad plates:  Spode, The Blue Room Collection

Dinner plates:  Spode Delamere

Chargers:  Silverplate, a purchase years ago.

Sterling:  Lunt Eloquence

Individual salt and pepper shakers:  Sterling, purchased years ago.

Linen napkin:  Pottery Barn

Napkin rings:  Sterling, baptismal gift to our firstborn, from his godmother.  One has his name engraved on it, and the other was left blank for his future bride.  Isn’t that a sweet gift?  We must get hers engraved now; it’s time to turn them over.  But it’ll be hard…I’ve loved being their keeper for 30+ years.

Waterford Kinsale vase, silverplate pitcher, and Bombay Company blue and white cut votive cup.

Waterford Lismore Tall goblet, vintage Alana wine stem (now archived by Waterford).  Vintage pressed glass dish for lemon slices to brighten the water in the pitcher.

Do you love the sweet, intricate detail of vintage linens?  I can hardly resist them when I see them in antique shops.

Dessert will also be served.

Pressed glass dishes:  I haven’t researched them yet, but they’re a recent, and now favorite find.

The sweet cordials are very vintage, and very special—they were a gift from my husband’s dear, dear aunt.

The two bowls are sterling, from my collection, and the serving tray?  A garage sale find years ago (a set of 3!)!

The beautiful vintage linen napkins are in perfect condition; a purchase this spring at the Springfield (Ohio) Antique Show.

If you really are looking closely, the dessert spoons are not from the Lunt set.  They are 1847 Rogers Brothers vintage silverplate; a hostess gift from my SIL.

Champagne flutes were a wedding gift from another SIL.  I don’t know the pattern, but they have been used for many, many Mimosas over the years, because I love them.  The stem is frosted.

The lavender is from our garden.

Evening arrives…

Did you think that the daylight table was perhaps a little empty?  There was a plan…for candleholders.

And yes, we DID have a candlelight dinner.

 

Do you love blue and white as much as I do?  I’d love to hear what colors you have woven into your table settings that started out as blue and white.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you!

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Our Crazy Quilt of a Tree

I wanted to share our Chirstmas tree before it gets too late in the season...Will it serve as inspiration, or give ideas to some who are a bit behind?  I hope so.

Ours has been "up" (as in the tree stand) for almost two weeks, but it took us one week to finish it!   Even though it's technically done, I'm still looking at other beautiful blogs with beautiful Christmas trees--never hurts to see one more, get one more idea to either tweak this year, or save for next year, right?

We use the multi-color lights because our tree is never a theme tree.  It's a conglomeration of US--what we love and cherish.  So in the past we've thought that the multi-color lights looked better.  But we use white lights outside, and when I saw our tree with the multi-color lights from outside, I wondered if I would prefer white inside too.  What do you think?

So here it is! 

Pretty full, isn't it?  We love to load it with ornaments that are all dear and precious to us.
My husband and I buy a new ornament each year, and we now also buy them for our grandbabies, but they
go on our tree, so they'l have the memories of their being on our tree.  Plus we have many ornaments
from those early years when you buy them to start your first trees.
And our Black Beauty... She's an antique.  We bought her right after
Chickadee was born, for her and others to come, and they've all loved to ride her.

Some special ornaments: 

I bought this Reed and Barton silver ornament in 1982.  As you can see by the pictures on the right, the bottom
comes off and you removed the rolled green paper inside and wrote down the memories of that Christmas season.
It was a s-t-r-e-t-c-h at the time, believe me--I was a young, single mom with two little boys,
but because I had those two precious babies I wanted to have it for them.
Now, as I read my notes, I am ever so glad that I bought it.

 

It's our Crazy-Quilt Tree
The ornaments range from Wedgwood and Radkos to school crafts from when our babies were in pre-school--
Gguess which are the most treasured?  :)
This one is a snowman (you could tell, right?) with only one arm left, with a poem about building a snowlady.
I love that this crazy assortment of ornaments tell so much about us:
We're a mom and a dad--no doubt about that.
We're a grandmama & grandpapa--no doubt about that.
I love sunflowers.
We love our memories of a wonderful trip to Paris.
We love Santas--the fat, old-fashioned kind with soft, round, rosy cheecks.
We love palm trees, the beach, summer.
And we love our history--together and individually.  We have ornaments on our tree from
the year my husband was born, and because I came to the USA at age 8, we have
no ornaments from my early years, but we DO have two ornaments
from our first tree in the US.

Here is one of the two ornaments from our first Christmas tree in the US:

Isn't it the sweetest thing?  The "propeller" inside moves when you blow on it--the children have all loved them, of course.  I'm glad I have two--one for each of my boys and their families someday.
These ornaments represent not only the obvious memories, but also the kindness of the people
who helped us when my parents, little brother, and I arrived from Cuba with little more than
the clothes that fit in a suitcase in 1961.  They even had Christmas ornaments for us to start our new lives!



Our 2011 ornament.
Isn't it interesting?!  It's made of strips of cardstock.
Has anyone done a tutorial on how to make these?  It looks relatively easy; I'd love to make more!



The picture of our grandbabies is actually last year's Christmas card.
They're wearing matching Lanz of Salzburg jammies--so cute!



How about that palm tree?!  Is that not the coolest?!
We bought it at FantaSea at St. Armand's Circle outside of Sarasota.
(Beach lovers: be sure to find a FantaSea! Lots of cool stuff!)
You also see a handmade snowman, an apple, candy, etc.

 

Old and new...
The ornament on the left is circa 1965, from when my MIL and FIL lived in Venezuela, where he worked
for an American company.
The one on the right, the precious NEW.

 

Significant Family Events...
Our son and his lovely bride, at their wedding in October of this year.
Above that, my stepson's little thumbprint ornament, from 1982.



The Lenox pitcher and bowl ornament is a gift from one of our sons, because we also have the
Lenox Holiday china.  And the beautiful Santa?  From my MIL. 
The thoughtfulness of others.

A Fitz and Floyd reindeer our little Chickadee loves.
She just turned 4, but when she saw it this year she said, "I remember that."
We're making memories.

"Little Angel" school ornament next to Lenox, next to a tin Santa...perfect.



I told you about this nest HERE, when I had it in the china cabinet.
But as I explained, this nest appeared in our tree one year with a very nice {small} gift in it.
So, being the wise woman I am, it's back in its proper place now :).
I hope none of the chickadees or cardinals on the tree decide to take up residence
there, because it needs to be empty till Santa arrives!



My sons' First Year ornaments...1977 & 1978.
Yes, they've been on our tree every single year.

And, although these are not on our Christmas tree, for Chirstmas Vacation fans...

Can you believe there are people out there crazy enough to have these in their homes?!
The scene where Clark and Eddie "enjoy" a bit of eggnog is one of my husband's favorite scenes,
so one of our sons found these for him.  Every Christmas since, he wants to make sure they're out
(and we don't even like eggnog!)

 I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

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 Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

 Five Minutes Just for Me at http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com

 Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 House in Roses Show Off Your Cottage Monday at http://houseinroses.blogspot.com

 Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

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 Mrs. Hines’ Wednesday Show & Tell at http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=120723&type=thumbnail

 Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

From my Chickadee Nest to yours~

    Zuni

Tea for Cookie

I am blessed to have a long-time friend who moved away many years ago, and we have maintained our lovely friendship the old-fashioned way--through letters.  Her letters are so special, that when one arrives my husband sets it on top of all the mail, so I'll see it first.  Sometimes I don't read it right away...I save it for when I have time to enjoy our visit.  Often we don't respond to each other's letters right away--for me, part of my enjoyment is thinking about what I will write next.

In August she was in town, and we were able to visit!  The logical choice--come to our home for tea.  A restaurant would've been far too impersonal for this sweet friendship and rare visit.

Our Tea Party ~

We enjoyed our tea in the great room, where we could sit comfortably.  Dessert plates are Depression glass, Heritage pattern, by Federal (a gift from my mother), and the precious Depression glass tea cups, from my mother-in-law, are Cherry Blossom, by Jeannette Glass.  Pitcher is Waterford Lismore.

The iced tea goblets are Godinger/Shannon, Sutton Place pattern.

The silver flatware is Oneida King James.

OUR MENU

Mini croissant cucumber, cream cheese and chives tea sandwiches

Blueberries in silver Revere bowl

Chocolate chip mini muffins

G'Day Melaleuca Herbal Tea

The creamer (Fostoria, "American" pattern) (and the matching sugar bowl) as well as

the beautiful sugar spoon (1847 Rogers Bros., "Columbia") were a hostess gift

from my sister-in-law when I hosted her daughter-in-law-to-be's bridal shower.

I bought the sweet little violet plate (Victoria Carlsbad, Austria) at this year's

Decorator's Show House gift shop.

I bought this precious miniature cake plate as a gift...

but found I couldn't part with it.

The linens are vintage, collected over many years.

Flowers from our garden.

So tell me...do you still write letters?  If you do, whom do you write?  Do you save the letters you receive?  What stationery do you use?

Thanks for stopping by.  I love your comments, so please stop by and let me know you visisted me.


I will be linking to:

 Susan's Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Courtneys, Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Honey's Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

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 Marty's Table Top Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Kim's Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/  

 The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 Trisha at Sweetology: http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/

http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/2011/10/tea-party-tuesday-fast-and-fancy-ways.html

Be sure to visit their fabulous parties!