Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Y is for YELLOW

...and I just couldn't resist this golden opportunity to share some of my favorite pottery in shades of yellow.  Come on over to Jenny Matlock's for AlphabeThursday

From L to R the teapots and pitchers are vintage HLC Fiesta, TS&T Vistosa, and HLC Riviera.  The vase holding the (yes fake) tulips and ball candleholders are contemporary HLC Fiesta.   The dinner plates and tiny eggcup/votive holder are Vistosa.   The individual salad bowls and the utility tray in the center of the table is vintage Fiesta.  The flatware is Cambridge Fiesta.  The tablecloth is vintage, and the napkins are reproduction Vera Neuman (and are a favorite gift from a dish fairy friend!)

I hope you enjoy the ode to yellow!





A Birthdayscape for the Queen of the Tropics

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday with a table celebrating my dear friend Rebecca's birthday! (We won't tell which one, since I'm still older than she is...!!)  I used a vintage tablecloth covered with stargazer lilies.  My dinnerware is a mixture of vintage Fiesta, Vistosa by Taylor, Smith and Taylor,  banded rings sherbet, and contemporary glassware.  The candleholders are La Rose by Roseville.  The vase is blue Leaves and Berries by McCoy. The napkin rings are from Tuesday Morning, and always remind me of Rebecca and her love of things that sparkle.
  
The birthday cupcake is dark chocolate with an icing lily decorating the top, and was made by a local bakery.  Please visit the other tablescape divas as they celebrate Rebecca, queen of all things tropical!

Candy at The Little Round Table
Becky at Random Musings of a Deco Lady
Daphne at Tabletop Time

Love ya,  and Happy Birthday, Rebecca !!








Thursday, March 17, 2011

W is for Wilendur

Today, I'm joining Jenny Matlock for AlphabeThursday one more visit with the letter W and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.   Today's Word is Wilendur (or Wilendure or Weil&Durrse) representing one of my very favorite vintage tablecloth makers.   The company made table linens for over sixty years.   One particular design, the Wilendur Lobsters is fairly hard to find, and  has special meaning for me because the hunt for that cloth was the catalyst for starting a wonderful friendship with another dish and linen collector, Daphne, and me.  We shared the search for the cloth, and she located both cloths within just  a couple of weeks of one another. Later, other collector friends shared their visions of a "lobsterscape" as well.   The story of the search, and the tablescapes we each created using our vintage Homer Laughlin dinnerware was featured in an edition of the Homer Laughlin China Collector's quarterly magazine,  The Dish.

Be sure to stop by Daphne's Tabletop Time .  Our friends  Candy,   at The Little Round Table  and Becky at Random Musings of a Deco Lady did other wonderful lobsterscapes that just shouldn't be missed, either!

Daphne and I wanted to share those tablescapes from The Dish this week with you.  In this set of photos, I used a mix of vintage and Post 86 Fiesta. The salt and pepper are vintage Cronin Sevilla and they're tucked in next to a prototype for the Fiesta jam jar. 







and here are a few more pictures with some other Homer Laughlin dinnerware.  This time I used a mix of Post86 Fiesta and vintage Fiesta in Scarlet and Gray. The glassware is Martha Stewart.  It amazes me how different a table setting can look with just a change in dinnerware.








Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wee glimpse of the fair isle

I'll be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Jenny Matlock for AlphabeThursday this week with a little vignette for St. Patrick's day...

W is Jenny's letter this week, and we'll call today's post a Wee taste of Ireland.  I didn't actually finish this tablescape, because when I set out my few Homer Laughlin Trellis plates, Teapot, and sugar bowl, along with the vintage Fiesta syrup and contemporary Fiesta utility crock serving as a vase for my oh-so-fake tulip bouquet,  it all looked so pretty I just took photos as is, with a closer peek at my shabby vintage St. Patrick's day tablecloth.  Thanks for stopping by!




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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Tablescape Thursday Modern Sea Tones

Today I'm visiting with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

I thought I'd share something simple this week, and use mostly contemporary pieces.  The placemats are from Kohls, the runner is a gift from my friend Melissa, the dinnerware, napkins and flatware are contemporary Fiesta.  I did use vintage Rhumba pitcher and glasses, because I thought the cobalt made everything else POP more!  Thanks for dropping by!






Here's a little closer view:





Wednesday, March 9, 2011

V is for Vintage

I'm joining Jenny over at Jenny Matlock for Alphabe-Thursday for the first time! I just couldn't resist joining in... After all V is for so many near and dear things to me...

V is for Virginia, my home state

V is for Vintage, which encompasses so many of my favorite treasures

vintage linens


vintage dishes





vintage photos


and we can't forget linens by Vera!

Tattoos and linens. ohmy.

I have a tattoo. Just one. It sits on the lateral side of my thigh and unless I'm wearing shorts or a swimsuit, you'd never know it was there. It was my 35th birthday gift from my husband, who passed away the next year, so there's a good bit of sentiment attached to it.

Hank had three tattoos. I had always gone with him when he got his ink, and entertained myself by looking at flash (tattoo designs), talking to the artists, and watching the people that came in for tattoos or piercings. The very first time we were at the shop, I saw a photo of a small tattoo and for some reason the design had impact for me. It was very simple, just a small black ribbon that curled into the shape of a small bird, a dove. There was no way to know who had drawn the original art, but there was something that really called to me and I never forgot the picture.

Over the course of several years, we stopped in at the shop probably a dozen times, and in all that time, I never saw another design that I liked as much and when Hank suggested a tattoo as my gift for 1999, I knew right away what I wanted to do. When we went by to talk to the artist, he remembered the picture, and drew up a variation for me, adding a small heart. A couple of weeks later, I got the tattoo, and Hank added his last tattoo: a tribal band around his upper arm.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I've been collecting dishes for a lot of years, but linens are a fairly recent hobby. I've only been actively collecting tablecloths a couple of years, and there are certain makers and artists that I look for. eBay is a favorite haunt, as is Etsy, and it's not unusual for me to key "tablecloth" and "Tammis Keefe" or "Wilendur" or "Calaprint" in hopes of finding some new treasure. I do have one Tammis Keefe tablecloth, a lovely linen with baskets of cherries in shades of aqua, heather, and rose,


I forgot to put "tablecloth" in my search a couple of weeks ago, just searching "Tammis Keefe" on eBay. She was a fairly prolific textile design artist in the 1940's and 1950's. She was probably best known for her handkerchiefs, with wonderfully whimsical designs, but her work appears on a variety of linens. I don't collect hankies, so it was odd when a lot showing an angel caught my eye. There was something familiar about the angel.

An odd thought occurred to me, and I thought to myself, "oh, no way...", but I couldn't resist looking, just in case. I went to Google Images,and pecked " Tammis Keefe dove" into the search engine. The first two images confirmed my suspicion: the inspiration for MY TATTOO had to have been Tammis Keefe lovebirds. How ironic is it that the design that grabbed me all those years ago turned out to be based on a drawing by a textile design artist, fifty or more years ago!

I shared this story on the message board for The Vintage Tablecloth Lovers Club and asked for their help in locating one of those Tammis Keefe hankies to purchase. That same night, I received a note from one of the ladies, asking for my mailing address. That sweet lady HAD the hanky, loved the story, and wanted to send it to me, as a gift. I was completely blown away.
It arrived in the mail yesterday, and I am so thrilled to have it. Thank you, Hankie Fairy!




Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Wilendur PA Dutch tablescape

Recently, the Vintage Tablecloth Lovers Club held a tablescape contest and I thought I'd share my entry. The tablescapes had to have something pink in them, and I ended up with several rosy elements.

The tablecloth is Wilendur, and comes in several different colorways. The glassware is vintage depression glass, no idea what the pattern name is, though. The napkins were a yard sale find, and the flatware was a gift from a Dish Fairy friend. The dinnerware is a mix of vintage and post 86 Fiesta in rose, ivory, chartreuse, and sapphire

The whole table was fairly simple, but I thought all the colors worked very well together.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Songbird at 21

When I started writing this morning, I had a different sort of post in mind... and I'll get around to sharing my latest auction treasures soon. I usually have music in the background, and today I had opened the new CD from the very young (to me, 22 is very young, anyway) Adele Adkins.

I had been looking very forward to this release. It always seems a bit of a tease, waiting on a performer's second CD, especially after the first one was so well received.(ok, so maybe I understated a bit, but two GRAMMY awards qualifies as well received, right??) I had pretty high hopes for this release, especially after I caught a bit of her on Letterman the other night. If you haven't heard her, Adele is worth a listen.
Click HERE to hear a bit of that performance on Letterman via youtube.