What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

June temperatures have been warm but not hot, and a perfect time to enjoy a meal on the veranda. When Rita at Panoply asked me to be a part of her Summer Tablescapes blog hop, I thought it was a good time to pull out a few things I still have and put together a table for six outside. So come along, as I set a table for a Summer Garden Party.

My color scheme is based on the pattern in the salad plates, light pink with spring green and yellow.

Spring green chargers are set on white nylon placemats ...

Good morning. Let’s start off the day with a nice photo of the pear tree in bloom. I went out when the sun came out earlier in the week to get a better shot of the lovely white flowers with the mountain background. It is something to help your mood this morning as we all deal with the time change. Ugh, I hate this switching to daylight saving time.

I really like this one, and it may be an entry in next year’s state fair photography contest.

I’ve been clearing out a lot of my tablescaping stuff ...

As usual, I am close to running out of time, and posting this on the day of Mardi Gras instead of in advance. But, that is how it goes sometimes! Still, you may be able to shop your house for enough gold, green and purple to pull it off. Often I do this at the last minute, LOL!! Since I have done a clean out of my tablescaping stuff, much of what I’ve used in the past is now a memory, so it might be harder to get it together. But I can still bring out some of my ...

Since I have been working on donating and clearing out my tablescaping and crafting areas, I have taken at least 8 boxes to the thrift store. And, I resisted going inside! I donated most of my Valentine stuff, like red candleholders with little heart cutouts, and more, and I had just decided not to put up anything for Valentine this year. But, I just couldn’t help myself when we invited friends over for a day of fun this past weekend. The guys planned to work on his car for several hours, while us ladies had a sew day together ...

Christmas is a wonderful time to set a pretty table, celebrating the season all month long. For several years, I have been slowly adding to this collection of Christmas stoneware. It is a Certified International set designed by Susan Winget (just love her stuff!) called Vintage Christmas. I do not remember where the plates came from, maybe ebay, and maybe a thrift store, but I’ve had them since sometime in 2015. I usually put great finds like that on my blog, but I cannot find any reference to buying the plates. No matter, but in 2018 I found a ...

This really is my favorite time of the year. I love the rich colors of Autumn, the gold and burgundy with rust and deep evergreen speak to me. This week, the color at our home reached its peak, with glorious golds and orange, rust and a little bit of deep red. The oaks and maples are showing brilliant red and orange, while the tulip poplars are right behind with a bright yellow gold.

Then, this stunning sweetgum in the back a little way up the mountain burst into brilliant orange in the morning sunlight a few days later. I’ll ...

Are you ready to Welcome Fall? Get a fresh cup of coffee, or tea, or other wake-up you have in the mornings, and settle in for a long post with a fun blog hop. We are in September now, and it is time to turn our thoughts to enjoying cooler days in the northern hemisphere, getting out the light sweaters and looking forward to crisp evenings with good food on the table. I like to make the transition from late summer into fall with an apple filled table, with apple based food.

One of my challenges to myself is to ...

Oliver has been getting a bit bolder, coming up to sit on the front mat that says Wipe Your Paws to look into the sliding glass door. Alms for a hungry squirrel? Please, nice lady, is there perhaps a peanut butter sandwich nearby? Now, I ask you, could you resist this face?

Well, neither could I. Little beggar. I made him get off the veranda, then he got his sandwich. Bad enough he has learned where to come beg, but I have no desire to have his fleas (if he has any). He has also been on the outside kitchen ...

We had a rare day where the temps were lower last week. Waking up early, it was interesting to see the fog in the valley. The mornings have been cool, but humid lately.

In the garden, my one squash is still growing, for now. But it doesn’t seem to be getting ripe.

Same for the tomatoes, lots of green ones. All the grape tomato clusters are still mostly green, but showing signs of maybe ripening this week.

But, one Early Girl did ripen this week, and we will have it on a salad today. It wasn’t really early ...

It’s a hot weekend here to celebrate the 4th of July, but an anticipated short afternoon rain may cool us off for the fireworks tonight. It is expected to be in the mid-70s later. We haven’t decided if we will go downtown to the Music on Main concert before the show like we did last year, or watch what we can see from our veranda. The fireworks are farther away from our home, but we can see 7-8 different shows going at once across the valley. Pretty cool. My Sweet Babboo will be cooking some brats on the ...

Summer is here, and it is a good time to celebrate the sun with a yellow theme tablescape. This time I kept the color palate very simple with just yellow and white, with just a bit of green in the centerpiece.

The chargers are one’s I painted some time ago when I wasn’t able to find butter yellow ones. Spring Chargers. White stoneware dinner plates are topped with pretty yellow and white salad plates called Chloe.

I got out the good silver plate flatware for this table. Yellow napkins are held with yellow flowerpot rings.

Crystal wine goblets ...

Memorial Day weekend is coming fast, and it is time to dig out the patriotic bin and decorate with red, white and blue. Today, I’d like to show you a range of ideas to set your holiday table for a cookout, or a nice dining room for a more elegant gathering of family and friends. Tables don’t have to be expensive, these sprays came from the dollar store, and the candles are my Mason Jar candles. I change out what is in the bottom to coordinate with the color scheme of the table.

Most of my patriotic tables ...

Easter is so late this year, that it has almost gotten by me unnoticed. I was setting a table for something festive, when I realized I had used all these same things in exactly the same way before. It was this table, from 2021, and I did it without realizing it until it was finished, and it looked familiar. So I looked up some of my previous Easter tables, and there it was, right down to the exact same arrangement in the center using the same silk flowers pulled from my stash, same napkin rings, everything except the green fabric ...

Mardi Gras is Tuesday, March 1 this year, just about as late as it can possibly be. Does this mean a late spring too? Perhaps, so we need something bright and cheerful for winter days. It is a good time to do a new table with only what I have on hand. We’ll have some Mardi Gras fun today, and revisit a few past posts with more ideas. My tablescapes have become less elaborate as I concentrate on tables for two. I haven’t had a dinner party in three years, and don’t see myself doing one anytime ...

Another busy and crazy week is behind me, with meetings and presentations, pickleball to burn off some stress, and unfortunately, a memorial service for a dear friend who passed away last week after a hard battle with a terrible illness. Not covid this time but still a blow. So, once again little to no time to sew. I did get a quilt loaded on the longarm for a friend, but that will be the last one I do for others for a while. I do need to concentrate on some of my own projects, and finish up the two charity ...

This past week was spent out of town dealing with some family things. It was a tiring week and I am happy to be back home. But, I don’t have a post for you as I haven’t had any time to do anything fun or even to do any writing. So, to have something for you today, I will give you a roundup of some Valentine ideas from years past. Just click on the blue titles to open up a new tab with more information, detailed instructions or recipes.  First up, my Hearts Around Table Topper is fun ...

Today, let’s take a little trip back in time to see a variety of tablescapes for the Thanksgiving table. Starting with this one, a gold and rust theme with turkeys all over. The ecru tablecloth lightens the look. I used my largest ceramic ones for the centerpiece with honey color candles. Gold napkins are held with turkey napkin rings. Turkey plates sit on rust ruffled dinner plates on rust color chargers. Mismatched wine glasses, gold flatware and turkey place card holders complete settings.

Another year, I did only placemats, allowing the warm wood table to show. Turkey plates top ...

It has been a while since we had anyone come to stay in our home. Last week, our friends that live in Ohio had been on vacation in Florida and came to visit us on their way home. We are a good layover point, and they planned to be here for a couple of nights. It is a motivating thing to be expecting company, and My Sweet Babboo and I did a lot of cleaning before they arrived. The floors haven’t gleamed this much since before covid, LOL!! Of course, I had to set a nice table, even though ...

Because this is my favorite season of all, I have a lot of autumn inspired things to use in the kitchen and on the table. I adore these salad plates with the leaves, purchased some years ago when Pier 1 still had stores. The pumpkin bowls are also years old, and I get them out every fall for cereal in the mornings, and soup on chilly days. For this season, once again I challenge myself to create a new table using only what I already have. I wanted more color, so the burgundy tablecloth came out, topped with a little ...

It has cooled off for a few days, with gloriously crisp mornings putting me in the mood for Autumn days ahead. The Apple Festival is this weekend, with most of the festival restored after last year’s cancellations. Time for an apple recipe, a look at some of the festival fun and an apple tablescape or two! Each year for several years now, I’ve posted about a different aspect of the Apple Festival, the biggest event in our small town of the year. From 2014, I posted about the wide variety of apples offered by orchards here.

All kinds ...