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Mosaic Monday: What I Did This Weekend

Welcome to another Mosaic Monday.  ;)

I don't know about you all, but I find that if I don't get Monday's post done on Friday, it just doesn't get done.  Weekends are busy around here.  Not "fun busy," just "busy busy."  

I spent most of Friday doing laundry, running errands, and moving the entire contents of our master bedroom to my son's room in preparation for the painter.  My pathetic attempt to

 strip the wallpaper was spectacularly unsuccessful.  Turns out he will have to use the belt sander to rough up the wallpaper enough to remove it.  Oh boy, I'll be vacuuming dust for weeks.  :)

I honestly don't remember much of Saturday.  It was gone in a blur.  Sunday afternoon was spent removing the entire contents of the pantry so that it can also be painted this week.  I'll be spending this morning bringing a few bags of canned goods to the food pantry and a bag of clothes to the thrift store.  

And you know what happens when I go to the thrift store.  ;)

I had planned on doing the master bedroom in creams and browns -- remember the

 brown and white toile I was considering?  Well, I may be going in a different direction, as they say.  I am so conflicted!  lol  More on that tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Tablescape Thursday: Pink Breakfast

The sun is shining, it is finally beginning to feel like spring, and we are having a pink breakfast in the dining room.  Will you join me?  I couldn't resist these pink and white lisianthus which were on sale at the supermarket.  Don't they look pretty in my milk glass urn?  It was a rummage sale find, one of my favorites.

These rather large cereal bowls are Global Design Connections by Kate Williams.  I love the pattern, with it's twining strawberry plants and pretty edging.

The pink and white napkins echo the winding pattern.  The flatware is my usual motley collection of silverplate and German silver; the water goblet is Donegal, by Waterford.

Here is your place.  Won't you sit down?

Corn muffins are nestled in a white creamware serving dish, lined with a matching napkin.

The remaining plates are  Baroque by American Atelier at Home.  They rest on linen placemats which carry on the cream and pink theme.

OK, we're probably not going to need salt and pepper, but I couldn't resist these shakers.  Mr. and Mrs. Pigglesworth came from my favorite thrift store.  Aren't they adorable?

Will you have strawberries on your cereal?  Cream?  The cow creamer is Staffordshire, and the strawberries are nestled in a Johnson Bros. sugar bowl, Old Britain Castles pattern.  You don't mind using heirloom silver sugar tongs for the strawberries, do you?  They belonged to my mother, and I just love them.

Here is a close-up of the Old British Castles pattern on this tag sale sugar bowl that has lost it's lid.  For $1.50 it was a steal.  :)

Fresh-baked corn muffins.  Yum!

Thanks so much to our Tablescape Thursday hostess, Susan.  For more wonderful tablescapes, visit Susan's blog:  Between Naps on the Porch.  :)

Library Table

First of all, thank you so much for your supportive comments yesterday.  You guys are the best!  I'm pretty sure you will be seeing more Mosaic Mondays.  ;)

I'm showing you a little side table in my library today.  Nothing much.  Just a pretty plate or two and some faux roses.

You may remember the green Wedgwood dish that I found at the thrift store from an earlier post.  There is also a bone dish here that I've filled with green reindeer moss.  I just love that stuff.

Here is a close-up of the faux roses.  Love the gold urn.  :)

Finally, would I ever do a side table without a pretty plate?  This one is Godinger, from TJMaxx.  It's twin is on the mantel.  

Well, that's all right now.  I've got to go watch Jack Bauer save the world.  ;)

Mosaic Monday

It's 8:00pm Sunday night as I'm writing this.  The kitchen is finally cleaned up after dinner, the cat is snoring gently in her kitty bed, and my husband is watching The Simpsons.  My daughter is frantically trying to find replacement ink cartridges for the printer.  I know we bought an extra set when we got the printer, but do you think I can find them now?  Of course not.  Sound familiar?

And, of course, I have nothing to post about!!!

So I am calling this "Mosaic Monday."  In the meantime, I need ideas.  Seriously.  :)

Tablescape Thursday: Violet Tea

Do you love violets?  I do.  It's still early for violets here in New Jersey, but I thought I would anticipate the season a little with some china ones.  

And some embroidered ones.  :)

The tea cup was made in Japan, and belonged to my mother.  I found the handkerchief in the thrift store.  It is embroidered by hand, and the lace edging is sewn on by hand also.  I decided to show it as a napkin here, although to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I could bear to actually use it.

I raised the tea cup up on an antique book. Can you see a bit of the beautiful gilded cover?

I used a white embroidered linen napkin to line the basket tray. The tray itself came from Target.

A purple primrose is placed in a pierced creamware basket.

The tarnished silver tea pot was another thrift store find.  I think I paid $7. for it.  The silver creamer also came from the thrift store.  

Please visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for lots of wonderful Tablescape Thursday posts.

Spring Fluffing Party

Welcome to Little Red House.  In honor of spring, we have made a little basket of faux flowers to hang on the front door.  Come on in and see the little bits of spring that have sprung up in the library.

 This faux arrangement sits in one corner of our library mantel.  The urn came from the sale's rack at Michael's last year, and I just got the bird's nest with eggs and the silk flowers and foliage yesterday.  The little plate is Godinger's, from TJMaxx.  Our library is done in golds and greens and cranberries, so traditional spring pastels don't work here.  But I love the fresh greens of the hydrangea and the speckled bird's eggs.  I seem to have included a lot of bird-themed decorations this spring.

Let's move onto the kitchen.  Here is an arrangement I got several years ago in HomeGoods.  It sits on the antique library table that serves as our kitchen island.  The little carved cat was brought back from a trip to Vermont.

We have a bit of old architectural salvage that  we use as a shelf in the kitchen, and that's where you will find this old tin, with it's image of a duck, and another bird's nest with berries, also from Michael's.

I made this arrangement, also in the kitchen, a few years ago.  The silk flowers and the trellis box both came from HomeGoods.  I just put them together with a little Spanish moss.

Finally, in keeping with the bird theme, here are two little ceramic birds from Michael's.  They were a steal at 40% off.  Don't you love Michael's?  :)

Be sure to visit Rhoda's Spring Fluffing Party, at Southern Hospitality. Happy Spring!   :)

Shamrocks

Wishing you a blessed St. Patrick's Day!

Waiting Patiently

It's coming; I can feel it.  It's almost here -- my favorite season!  And I think I've been pretty good this year about waiting patiently.  I haven't whined too much, right?  

Don't answer that.

Anyway, here is a mosaic of some of my favorite spring things.  To make your own mosaic, go to Big Huge Labs.   Happy Monday, dear bloggers.  :)

Tablescape Thursday: A Spring Celebration

It's been so dreary outside lately, I thought I would set the dining room table for a spring luncheon.  Yes, I know it's not officially spring yet, but humor me.  Please.  

I've been saying that a lot lately, haven't I?

The dinner plates are part of a set that used to belong to my aunt.  They are called Rose China, and were made in Japan.  The salad plates are Noritake.  I don't know the pattern name.  I only have six of them.   They belonged to my mother.

As you probably know, I love to collect monogrammed flatware.  The coin silver spoon with LEA on it was made by Elias Baker of New Brunswick, NJ circa 1840.  The fork with CSH on it is Rogers Smith Co.  Both are antique or thrift store finds.

The glassware is Waterford.  I think the pattern is Donegal.  My in-laws, who are of Irish descent, gave it to us piece by piece over the first years of our marriage.

My husband gave me these salt and pepper shakers.  He has terrific taste, don't you think?  ;)

I'm afraid I used faux flowers for the centerpiece.  The white roses and apple blossoms are nestled in a crystal bowl that belonged to my mother.  The bowl is raised up on a mirrored silver platform.  I think maybe it's from a dressing table set?

Each silver-plated napkin ring (from Bed, Bath & Beyond, I think) is paired with a little bit of greenery, flowers or berries.

Every one is different.  They all came off of an old wreath that was falling apart.

The napkins themselves are a pale green linen.

Please visit Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch for a whole host of wonderful links to other Tablescape Thursday posts.

Sunshine in a Pitcher

It's been a dark and dreary couple of days here in New Jersey.  Yesterday was one of those days when you need the lights on all day long.  When you never really wake up.  Blah.

So when I saw these daffodils in the supermarket, I knew they had to come home with me.

Bright and cheerful -- a pitcher full of sunshine.  :)

Oh, and do you like the pitcher?  Milk glass by Westmoreland.  $4. at the thrift store. 

 You knew I couldn't resist telling you about that, right?  ;)

Empty

I've got absolutely nothing for you today, so I'm just going to leave you with some photos of this bowl that belonged to my mother.  Yesterday was her birthday; she would have been 91.  Instead, she died ten years ago this June, of pancreatic cancer.

I miss her.