Our Valentines Table 2021

 Hello All! It's been a rainy wet weekend this year for Valentines.  We spent the weekend being snuggly and cozy at home working on an indoor project we have put off for three years now.  Well to be honest it was an indoor project but for one of our favorite outdoor activities. We made a custom cover for our sailboat hatch, to help keep rain from dripping in.  We already had all the supplies on hand, but just have been batting around the design,  dimensions and well the sewing.  Since we were stuck inside WE decided to tackle the project. I say we because hubby wanted to be involved in the sewing this time.  So fun watching my husband learn to use my sewing machine.  Needless to say, yesterday was a long afternoon, but fun and we finally accomplished a long put of project. So today we ran a few errands in the rain and are planning a nice dinner at home.  

Of course, I couldn't let this day pass without creating a special tablescape to celebrate the holiday. So, without further delay, here it is! I love how the overcast weather makes the perfect setting for the little lit candles.  

This years tablescape is more feminine then masculine, using more pink, gold and rose.  I really do try to rotate that from time to time.

My centerpiece was kept at a minimum since our setting is at the table in the den facing the TV.  I  used a pottery pitcher that I had already added some simple red and white heart picks from Hobby Lobby.  It was displayed in my kitchen and was just the right size to move to the table.  Well, almost the right size, just needed a little more height so I set it on one of my Tyler candle holders.   The candle holder and the X and O added a little more gold to match the plates. My small votive candles are red candles inside of pink mercury glass holders with white pearls attached to the outside.  So sweet!

I decided last week to embroider new dinner napkins for my husband and myself for the occassion.  The white napkins were just an inexpensive set of two that I picked up at Walmart and added both the gold border and the monogram in the heart frame.  I had already picked out the plates I was going to use so I made sure to match the colorings in my dinnerware.

My plate selections this year include some new dinner plates purchased last year at an Estate Sale, My grandmothers china, and a Pampered Chef heart ramkin.

The dinner plate is actually a Christmas pattern I believe. I found 8 of them at the sale and knew at the time I would be using them for Valentines but thought they would be great backup plates if I needed them for Christmas as well.  I love how they are more of a rose color then red.  The pattern is Old Country Roses from Royal Albert.

The salad plate is from my inherited Grandmothers collection.  It is from Meito China, made in Japan.  I believe the pattern is called Chace. I thought the roses and the greens complemented the dinner plate well and both had a beautiful gold trim.

Topping off the stack I decided to place my pink heart shaped ramekins from Pampered Chef.  They will make a great dessert dish. 

I brought out my pink wine glasses and my gold trimmed glassware inherited from my other grandmother. 

I also used some beautiful sterling silverware from Grandmothers collection as well.  The knife blade is showing stainless but this set is sterling and marked as so on the handles.   This makes me wonder if just the blades were made as stainless and the handle is sterling or if the whole knives were stainless.  Also makes me wonder if that is always the way sterling is made or was this just done during this time period these were made.  Interesting isn't it?  

Well, it's time to get busy helping my husband cook tonight so I've got to cut this short.  I hope you too have had a wonderful day enjoying all that you love and those you hold near and dear.  

Thank you so much for stopping buy and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  

Happy Valentines Day Y'all!

Take care,

Mary

 

Seven Embroidered Dishtowels full of Love

 Good Morning! This Monday has me feeling well rested after the weekend and thinking ahead to the coming weekend.  It's almost here y'all!  Valentines is Sunday!  Are you ready?  Do you have all your treats for your sweets in order?  Are you even celebrating? 

Today I am thinking of all I need to get in order to make the day special. Admittedly I'm not quite ready.  I am inspired but not quite sure how I'm going to pull it all together yet make it special.  I was thinking about the years past and all the different ways I've decorated to make it special.  It occurred to me it might be kinda fun to showcase some of the beautiful and fun dishtowels I've embroidered for my home over the last few years.  Please keep in mind I do not pull every towel out each year and most likely would not use these in every setting shown.  One things for sure though, no matter how many I have I will likely embroider more.

My first picture is proof, that I love creating beautiful embroidery.  I made this towel just this year after digitizing the design myself.  I'm trying very hard to get my weight back under control so having lots of real cookies around just isn't a great idea.  There was a time when I enjoyed baking and decorating beautiful sugar cookies.  This year I decided I wanted to decorate some again, only these are so much more Keto friendly, don't you think?

Even though this is an older towel, it is one of my favorites.  I made this one by painstakingly moving each letter around to create the heart.  This was on a sign I saw in a store one day and just knew I had to duplicate it on a towel.  I just love the sentiment of this towel!

This is another favorite.  I don't use the Roosters for decorating in my kitchen as often as I used to but I do still pull them out from time to time.  I made this towel to complement my roosters that year.  I came up with the idea for the wording on this one.  I have a few items in my kitchen that also have the diamond pattern shown on the rooster.  I think the diamond pattern especially in black and white is so classic.  When I saw this design I knew it was going to show up in my kitchen eventually, and it did!

Is there anything more Valentines-ish then this little cutie?  There is just something so enjoyable about nostalgic decor for Valentines.  I loved everything about this design when I saw it and knew she had to find a way into my home even it was seasonally.   

I confess the year I made this towel and a for a few after, I have taken lots of beautiful pictures with it. I just love every single detail on this one from the beautiful flowers in the wine glass to the border fabrics I used to line the towel.  This is definitely a towel worthy of decorating with.  Just look how easily it pulled together this little wine vinette?  So inviting!

Along those same lines, this is yet another beautiful towel worthy of decorating.  Makes you just want to slow down and serve up a nice cup of joe with a friend, doesn't it?   I created this one as a hanging flour sack towel because I absolutely cannot get enough of those.  I'm a bit obsessed with flour sack towels y'all!  Anyway, looking at it here it really should be on a tea towel too.  It's way past time to bring back tea towels and teal time with friends!

Last but certainly not least is this dish towel I made a few years ago.  I created the design layout of this towel all on my own using purchased fonts I own as well as design elements I own from other designers.  One morning I had vision of what I wanted this verse to look like so that's when I opened up my software and began to pull it all together moving everything around until I found the look I wanted.  I love, love, love this towel!  I think this will be the years that I stitch this out to go in a frame.  After last year, this is just the encouragement I think I would like to see on my wall year round.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  I'd love to hear which one is your favorite, because I certainly cannot just pick one.  LOL!  I hope to share a little more LOVE again if I can pull it all together by next weekend.  It's always fun to share my work and maybe some of my ideas too.   I hope you'll come again soon, have a great week! 

Mary