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

 

Tea Anyone???

 Happy Monday!  Today is the first day of February and even though its still technically winter I'm so ready to freshen up the décor from Winter to something more Springy.  What about you? It's too soon I know!  Luckily. we have Valentines just around the corner so we can get away with bringing in a few flowers, right?

I hadn't intended to post again today, but I just couldn't help myself after getting a little inspiration from some recent home décor books I purchased.  I was going through them this morning oouing and ahhing, and wishing once again that I had a small table for my kitchen sitting area.  I love having my black cabinet in the kitchen and really want to keep it there.  However, I feel like even with the two chairs it needs just a bit more something. I do have a smaller round dining table but it is 40 inches and just too large to have in here along with the cabinet.  I have been dreaming about getting a smaller 30 inch round tall bar table so I can pull out my beautiful French barstools that are in the attic.  I wanted to use those instead of the chairs I have.  I almost purchased a bar table online this Christmas.  Well anyway, as I was thinking about all this again I remembered I had this little round table in the attic.  This was an inherited table that I have had a love, hate relationship with from day one.  I am not a fan of the laminate top but love the bottom with the wicker.  The size works sometimes and sometimes not.  I had it on the screen porch but finally moved it to the attic after worrying it was getting to weather worn outside.   

I brought it out thinking it's probably not going to work, but WOW! What a surprise it actually fits the space very well.  

It is 27 inches around, which makes me wonder if a 30" tall table will work.  Maybe, maybe not.  Anyway, I am really loving this so much right now.  I need to give it a little touch up paint on the legs and I am thinking if I can find a glass round to sit over the laminate it might look a whole lot better.  We will see.  I was standing there looking at trying to decide what to put on it when I looked over at the cabinet and saw the Pioneer Woman cream and sugar bowls I already had out.  So, I moved them over and started playing.

I first added several other knick knacks, trays and faux plants.  I was almost settled on one arrangement when I remembered I already had this sweet little rose tea pot that I've used for Valentines décor for many, many years.  I always forget about it because I don't keep it with all the other Valentines décor I keep it with my floral arrangements in the attic.  Soooo, glad I remembered it!  

I finally settled for now on this little melamine tray that I had after playing with multiple other platters, plates and baskets.   I like the size of this tray the best for this table.  I have to confess I am now dreaming of finding the perfect sized wooden tray for this table.  I'm thinking it's going to be so fun rotating my other cream and sugar bowls here with the seasons.  

I still see more tweaking I can do in here, but for now I'm lovin it!  

I especially love when you already have what you been looking for right under your own roof, don't you?  How awesome is that?  

Well, thanks for popping by y'all.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday too!

Take care!

Mary

Will you be my Gnomie for Valentines?

 Hi friends!  I can't believe I'm doing this again, but here I am!  After last year life has shown me not to neglect doing the things that I love.  I am absolutely sure 2020 has shown many of us that life is so short but more importantly so precious.  I am blessed to have many hobbies which helped ease the transition of social distancing.  I don't know what I'd have done if I didn't have hobbies to keep me occupied.  Blogging is one those hobbies I have missed, so here I am, once again.

Last year I found myself combing through many blogs I used to follow.  With everything going on in our world I wanted to find things that were pleasing to look at as well as inspirational.  I realized I am very fortunate that I am able to daily create a beautiful environment for myself, my family, and my friends to enjoy.  So it was with that focus that I decided to share my home, my embroidery, my tablescapes, my seasonal decor, crafts, gardening and all the enjoyable things in my world with others once again.   I don't have an endless budget, or a designer home but I do have a desire to create something enjoyable to see.  So with that said, I hope you will enjoy coming here again if you are an old follower or consider following along if your new to my blog. 

 Welcome everyone, to The Decorative Dreamer!

I love seasonal decorating!  Do you?  If you do, will you be my Gnomie?  LOL!  

I made this little dishtowel last year.  I am especially proud of this design as it is one of my very own.  I personally digitized the gnome design with the heart balloons, ect.  Every bit of that is design is my own work, with the exception of the font. The lettering is a purchased font I own.  Digitizing is another one of my favorite passions now as it has allowed me to be creative in a whole new way. 

Have you noticed a trend with decorating with Gnomes for Valentines?  I sure have! 

I got on board with the gnome trend last year when I found the kissing gnomes applique design and knew it would be perfect for a sweet little pillow.  I added the wording to make it even more fun.  This year, I added to my gnomes after finding this design for a stuffed gnome. She was fun to make but not so fun to stuff with those skinny legs.

She is sitting here on the shelves in my kitchen.  I have pretty much limited my Valentines decor to the kitchen.  Its one of those holidays I tend to do more groupings with either one location, or only a few items here and there.  This year I focused on the kitchen sitting area.  It's so fun to see this every morning and brings a smile to my heart. 

When I first set up my shelves I just had the hearts hanging there without anything on them.  One morning I looked at the shelves and thought now wouldn't that be cute to have mine and my husbands initials on them with arrows pointing at each other.  Sooo, I made some decals with my silhouette machine and put them on there.  Isn't that so sweet?  I think so!

 

Can you tell how much I love personalized decorating?  I made sure they were placed centerstage to the rest of the valentines decor on my shelves.   Also centerstage are the cute little Pioneer Woman salt and pepper shakers that remind me of my dogs.  Even though these are meant to be labs they really, really, look like my two Cavachons to me.

Speaking of Pioneer Woman products.  I decided to pull out the first pattern of dishware that I bought of hers and the matching accessories pieces.  I thought they had enough red on them to to work well for Valentines decor.  

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen sitting are all decked out for Valentines.  I'm so glad to be back sharing and recording the pretties in my life.  If you enjoyed your visit please feel free to drop me a comment if you wish.  I'd love to hear about what you are doing for Valentines as well. Otherwise, thank you for stopping by, please drop in again sometime.  

Have a beautiful day!

Mary

I am joining these fun and beautiful beautiful blog parties;

Sundays on Silverado

My Very first Homemade Doll

 Hi friends!  This post is to share my very first doll that I made for a very special little girl.   What makes this little girl so special to me is that she is the grand daughter of my late best friend who was born just after my friend passed away in 2019.  I feel very blessed to be able to still connect with her even though it's been far too limited in 2020 due to this horrible pandemic.  I finished this doll just in the nick of time for her very 1st birthday.  What a joy to be able to deliver this little cutie to another adorable cutie!

My doll making began when I found a pattern online that I could use to make the doll on my embroidery machine.  After searching locally I found this material at Hobby Lobby for the skin.  I liked the way it had a texture as well.  

After carefully following the instructions for a doll with sewn in limbs, (arms and legs) the doll was read for stuffing.  I got to choose the face from several designs.  I am in love with this face!  Just look at those adorable eyes!

The pattern I used had the option for a doll joint for the head that I chose to use.  I didn't realize at the time that I should have waited to stuff the body and the head after I had the doll joint in place.  I had to wait for some time for my ordered doll joints to arrive and thought I was being ahead of the game by prestuffing the head and body.  I knew not to sew it together yet so I could insert the joints but I hadn't thought so far ahead to realize I couldn't get the joints in with the stuffing inside.  So I had to unstuff them again.  Ugh, lessons learned right?

Another fun adventure on my first doll was finding different types of fur to use for the hair.  I first purchased a few different fur types from Hobby Lobby but they were shorter lengths.  After seeing how big my doll was I knew I had to get some longer fur.  I found a great little shop on Etsy after reading about them in a Facebook group.  I decided to let Mom and Dad decide the color of the baby dolls hair.  They chose blonde after deciding it might be the closest match to their daughters hair.

At long last the neck joints came in and I was able to complete the doll.  Isn't she just too cute?

I was able to find this adorable little outfit for her at Walmart.  The size of the outfit is for a newborn.  There are different sizes you can use to make the doll.  This was the next to largest size.  It might be a bit big for a one year old but its big enough for her to grow with. 

And finally I was able to deliver the doll just before her first birthday.  I received a photo tag later with these photos of her loving on her new baby.  Isn't that just the sweetest?  I think so!

This makes my heart smile!  What a joy!

I'm not so inclined at this time to start selling homemade dolls as there is so much involved with compliance laws that I would need to sort out even though I was very careful to make sure everything I used for this one was safe.  I can see making a few more gifts though, as this was such a fun and enjoyable project.  This one especially because it was the very first one made with love!

Mary

A sampling of my earliest Embroidery creations

Hi followers!   This page was updated to share one of my passions, the love of embroidery and sewing.  My blog will share tablescaping, seasonal decorating and my embroidery and sewing projects.  Much of what I do is on a more personalized, homemade and decorative style.  Here's a little sampling of some of my earlier embroidery projects, it's a peek at what you'll get to see on the embroidery side, as I reopen the blog and jump back in to share my life passions.

  My love for Embroidery has allowed my creative spirit to flourish and I cannot wait to show you what I have been up to over the last few years.