A Traditional Thanksgiving Table

Hi! You caught me setting up my Thanksgiving table for Tablescape Thursday over at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ . When it comes to Thanksgiving I'm a
traditionalist. Warn fall colors, vintage tableware, family hand-me-downs, and lots of old-fashioned comfort food. The turkey and gravy, of course, with buttery mashed potatoes, peas with pearl onions, sweet potato casserole, roasted root veggies, jellied cranberry sauce, corn, green beans flavored with ham hock (done the night before and refrigerated to be reheated. It always tastes better the next day) and top it all off with pumpkin pie. Yummmmm! Okay, we're getting sleepy thinking of all that food, back to the tablescape.







I hate to cover the natural wood of our cherry farm table. I layer with a woven table runner topped by my vintage mirror and add 1960-70 Town and Country Living placemats. The little hot pads were hand-knitted by my Mom.





I then took my aluminum lazy-susan and placed my turkey platter( new from Cracker Barrel..great vintage look) on top of it. When turkey is on the platter the lazy-susan makes it easy to turn to the piece you want.















My Amber Glass chargers go on next. They were a great find at the Longest Yard Sale. The vendor was very honest....these are reproductions of an 1800's pattern......she had catalogs to order any pattern available. They were $5 each. I couldn't pass them up, they go perfectly with the 1960's Amber Medallion Goblets given to me by my Mother-in-Law

This is how the table looked so far......

These are my Thanksgiving dishes. I found this 20 piece placesetting at an indoor flea market in Columbus, Ohio for $15.
They are from the 1930-40's. They have no mark so I've never known the name or maker. I have seen individual pieces in blue, so they must've been available in two color selections. I love the different scenes on each piece. My fav is the soup/salad bowl with the pic of the waterfall. It reminds me of a place in Cosby, Tn. (other side of Gatlinberg, Tn.) called 'Valentine's Fall'.

Add the serving pieces..................................

Yes, they are two serving pieces to go with my plascesetting

found at two different antique malls in two different states. Both were $3 each!

This 1930-40 pitcher is the only piece of this pattern I have found so far. I love the brown transferware, but it also has touches of yellow, red and blue. Almost a watercolor effect. It goes great with the turkey platter. I use it to serve the gravy.

This hand-wrought aluminum lid was a find at $1. It has a pea plant motif with a pea pod handle. I purchased an acrylic hobnail bowl at Target for $2 and it's just the right the size to serve a can of peas.

I forget where I found this salt and pepper, but it matched the dishes motif perfectly

This is a 1960-70's, pyrex I think, veggie dish.
A very colonial pattern

Blenco Amber Water Carafe

Pressed Glass Turkey,

another Cracker Barrel
find, for the cranberries

Silver is Onieda, 'Southern Garden' pattern.

Put it all together and here is the table.......................

This silk and dried centerpiece will be on the table til the real centerpiece, the turkey, appears next Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by! I am so thankful for all the new blog friends I have found this past year. Blogland would have been very lonely if not for you and I can't wait to meet the rest of you! I hope you all have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

Now, let's stop over at Susan's betweennapsontheporch.com and see what everyone else is doing.

Another whirlwind week!!!

Sorry It's been a whole week since I last posted, but you won't believe how busy it's been!

First, these are pics from my Show at the Loveland High School Arts and Craft Expo. We arrived at 6:30A, as did a lot of others as you can see. This is just one gymnasium filling up. On the other side of this wall is another. Outside the entrance is a hall leading to a cafeteria...to my amazement it was all filled up with the

most amazing assortment if arts and crafts I had seen in a long time. There were no two booths alike. I was happy to see two other vendors who used vintage finds as the basis for their designs. One was a jewelry designer, who created brooches, belt buckles, etc, and the other took found kitchen and cooking items and turned them into the cutest holiday arrangements with plush Gingerbread Men. I never did get to see the whole show. There were a lot of attendees. This was the 26Th annual show, so this is one of the oldest school events of its kind. They really have there show together. They made set-up easy and were soooo helpful. A lot of the past vendors said sales were down this year, but reassured me that it is this way all over. I did make a few sales..at least I made my show fees back...but there were a lot of requests for my brochures (I actually ran out)...asking about my custom designs...and when my next show was. I received a lot of good response to my designs.

My booth display was a hit. The folks who put together the show were really happy with the finished area. They were a little leery at first because the space was only 10x10, but as you can see there was plenty of room. They said they had a little problem with measurements so, since I was the first to arrive and the 3rd space, they used my side stanchions as a measurement point. Some vendors questioned at first that I was over the size limit, but a measuring tape solved the question. I had my computer as you can see on the left of the screen. I used it as a banner for my shop name, to process credit cards, and as a source of musical accompaniment. The vendors around me loved that. The event committee hoped other vendors would adapt the idea to their spaces next year creating little shops within the building.

Next weekend..Nov 21st...is the Sycamore High School Craft Show. This one is just as big and almost as old, so I've got my fingers crossed and I should have some other new items to display as well. Hopefully Jim will have some other display pieces completed I can use next week and I found new table skirting in a rich chocolate brown that'll go great with my brown gingham fabric I have.

Now to the second part of my post. We have been busy at the flower shop getting ready for the holidays. This weekend we begin to turn our 1850's rock-lathe house into a Christmas Cottage (we do it slowly since we still have do for Thanksgiving..and it feels so early). I love this part..it's like having a huge doll house to play with.

Over the past weeks we have also been 're-decorating' our website for the shop. http://www.sharonvillehometownflorist.com

We have revamped the whole site (all by ourselves thank you very much..that's why it took a while). Created new pages..recreated old ones... and.....yipppeeee... added a new blog!! that will replace our newsletter. It's called the Flower Press From A&J's...all the budding news for you to use... We are sooo excited. There is a link to the blog on my list to the left of the screen. We hope you can stop by very soon. Don't forget to sign the Guest Book on the home page and leave us a comment on the blog posts.

Well, Id' better close for now. Santa's Elves come by the shop to help us with the holiday cheer-up and are they pushy little guys.

It's November..that must mean craft shows!

Just wanted to pop in to see how everyone is and to invite those of you that may be around the Cincinnati area to the 26th Loveland HS Arts and Craft Expo this Saurday (11/7) from 10a-4p at the Loveland High School at 1 Tiger Trail in Loveland, Ohio. I'm putting the finishing touches on some of my newest creations and loading up the van with display peices. It's gonna be an early morning Saturday getting there to set up, but that's the fun part to me....display. There will be over 200 other vendors at this expo, so, it should be exciting and the items available very diverse. I've decided that I will use my canopy inside since they will put me in the auditorium,
it's a 10x10 square..that really is plenty of room to fill. Jim's fixed me a new center light to use in the ceiling of the canopy to add a little light to the subjects and with the electricity available I may even be able to have some soft music wafting through the display. It seems by creating a little room within the show, shoppers come in rather than walk by looking and they may stay longer to browse and I'll be doing some embroidery too, that always draws people to stop and look. Holy Cow! I'm getting nervous thinking about everything to do between then and now. I better get back to my work. I'll post pics of the show when I get back.
Hope to see ya there....seein a friendly face will help the nerves.

Hope Your'e Having A Spooktacular day!

October Theme Tablescape

It's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch!

Okay I know I'm a day early, but I didn't want miss it.

Since it's Halloween week I thought I'd do a tablescape for my second favorite holiday. I have been known to go a little over the top with party decorations and menu. I've served Diablo Bat Wings....Heavenly Angel Wings.....Moldy Roasted Roots....Ghostwiches......and Zombie Delight. My decorations have ocassionally been found at the specialty meat counter, to the fright of my guests. Party games are always fun. Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest, Bobbing for Apples..of course., What Is It is a fun game where you put things in plastic bags that are covered by brown paper bags and the participants have to reach inside the bag and guess what it is they feel. You should see the faces when they reach into a bag of gummy worms, faux fur, or Press-on Nails.
This year Halloween falls on a weekend where we'll be celebrating my Mom-In-Laws B'day and a Nieces graduation, so, no party at our house. I've planned a quiet soup supper for 2 after all the Trick or Treators have come and gone. My theme is Haunted House.
These are the components I'll be using.


This 1940-50 aluminum cake plate cover is used year round. I love the acorn motif stamped around the top and the carved wooden acorn knob.

I found this vintage beveled, etched mirror with it's original felt still on the back several years ago in Covington, Ky at the Mainstrasse Antique Market. I use it in the center of our dining table year round.

This Mochaware is of the 60's and 70's. I began collecting it when Jim's Mom gave me her 16 McCoy cups she used as soup cups for all the kids
I try to find McCoy, but some of the peices are other makers too, but they all seem to match.

These cups and dessert plates were also given to me by Jim's Mom. They are marked BLANKEY.

She was given them years ago, but she isn't sure thier exact age. I love the etheral effect of the farmhouse scenes. They were the inspiration of my haunted house theme.

The following photos are of the completed tablescape..........................................

We didn't need a large centerpeice for just the two of us, so I wove ivy and leaves throughout and tucked fresh mums for color.

You saw my Apple Pie server in my September tablescape. This is my Pumpkin Pie server puchased at the same time. I really don't always use it for pie. It works fine for cake too.

This is the view out our Dining Room window.








This is a close-up of one of the 3 plaster 1960-70 houses I've included on the table. I have many others in the collection, but these seemed more haunted than the others.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Hope you have a frightfully fun Halloween. Now I can't wait to see everyone else's tablescapes. Hope you can stop by Susan's at http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com to see all the hauntingly boo-tiful ideas from all the other participants.

One Busy Designing Woman!

Holy Cow! I cannot believe it's only two weeks till my first big craft show at Loveland High School. Where has October gone! I'm getting a little nervous, there are 200 vendors at this show! I didn't think the building was that large. I haven't been able to post as much as I like,It seems I have lost my WiFi hotspots in town, so during the day my laptop doesn't get out. This is what has been occupying my night time..........


















This tablerunner was a 1950-60's linen dishtowel. As you can see I hand-embroidered the the flowers and foliage as well as the clock. I added new fringe in the same brown tone as found in the print. It seems to tone down the pinks.















This little pink gingham apron is from the 1940-50's. I refurbished it a bit, completed the cross-stitch and added the sparle pink flowers and whimsical Panda Ballerina. This makes the perfect apron for a new mom! I'll be adding a little bib that can embroidered with the baby's name later and a pacifier.

I found this apron at the same time. I love the bottom border. Strands of fabric have been carefully removed to create a flying geese pattern usually found in quilts. I completed the Cross-stitch, embellished the pocket with a 1940-50's Christmas holly and poinsettia hankie that I hand-embroidered, and added a gold-tone poinsettia charm with red Austrian Crystals on some of the berries. I wish you could see the sparkle!

These are just a few of some of the new creations I've been working on. I haven't been able to get pics. It's been getting dark earlier and harder to catch the light. I hope to show more in the coming days.
It's going on 8:30p I'd better get back to my work before we have to put the kittens to bed........
didn't I tell you we had new fur kids! And yes Shadow is so happy. That is for a future post.

It has been............

.........a whirlwind month so far!!! I wanted to take a quick minute to say hi. As you probably noticed I haven't posted in a while. We have been busy at the flower shop with homecoming corsages, anniversaries flowers....a lot of couples got married in 59'.....small weddings....processing orders,....sending orders out of town....and this Saturday is Sweetest Day. For those in other parts of the country, Sweetest Day, was created in the early 70's by a nurse in Akron, Ohio who hated to see the lonely patients on her geriatric floor that had no one to share other recognized holidays with. By the time she got to Congress the holiday was to include not only the hospitalzed, but institutionalized, homebound, and healthcare facility residents. With the help of Ohio based chocolatier, Ester Price Candies and local florist's it was a sweet holiday for those lonely folks. Over the years it seems to have become a mini Valentines Day with the help of large food chains, flower by wire companies, and card companies. By the time I get home, my fingers can't type another letter , my eyes won't focus, I can't compose an intelligent sentence, so I spare you any post I may have toi apologize for later......see (sigh)
In between all of this I'm trying to finish up last minute designs for my 3 upcoming craft shows. They've all been finalized!!! yippeee!
Loveland High School Craft Expo - Saturday Nov. 7th 10a-4p...there are 200 vendors!!!
Sycamore High School Craft Show- Saturday Nov 22nd 10a-4p....................and........................
Sharonville Arts and Craft Emporium - Saturday Nov 28th 10a-4p
So, please bear with me. I miss stopping by your blogs and I miss hearing from you all. I hope to show you some of the things I've been working on tomorrow, but if I don't get back to my embroidery hoop I won't have anything to show you.
It's gonna ba a long night....................
Melody