Turquoise!

Turquoise is one of my favorite Fiesta colors.

I found this metal dragonfly at a local drug store/gift shop a year or two ago, and it's been on my wall ever since.

Every time I looked at it, I thought how nice it would look with my turquoise Fiesta.

                           I was right!  :-)

Colors of the Caribbean

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This is a special one to me.  Created by my mom and myself in the late 90s for the Tour of Tables fundraiser,  the tablescape featured my first set of Fiesta dishes - four place settings each in periwinkle blue, seamist green, and turquoise.  We used napkins and placemats in shades of blue and green and my mom's blue goblets.

  

Bouillon cups  placed on the table contained Jelly Belly jelly beans in the table's color scheme.
There were many natural sea shells which served  as decoration and as holders for short candles.  The table also featured many other nautical-themed items.

The place cards were made by hot gluing real sand dollars onto plain white place cards after tying ribbons through holes in the sand dollars and coloring the flower design on the sand dollars with markers.

These little notes were rolled up, tied with a blue ribbon and placed beside each place setting.

Dinner Time!

 Inspiration can be found anywhere.  In looking through my jewelry box recently, I found a bag of wrist watches which were not longer functional and decided that "time" would be my next table theme.

A turquoise Fiesta vase with greens from my backyard completes the clock centerpiece.

Watch bands are just the right size to be napkin rings.

The place settings and table accessories are Fiesta in turquoise, seamist green and periwinkle blue.  This was the first Fiesta I purchased, and I refer to it as my summer set.  The piece right in front of the clock is vintage, and the rest of pieces on the table are post-86 Fiesta.

The table always looks its best when it has food on it.  We had french bread with jam or oil and vinegar, cantaloupe, watermelon, creamy coleslaw, a salad of romaine lettuce, radishes and green peppers, and lasagna.

Tablecloth Tip

Sorry about this blurry picture!  (The photo was taken at least 15 years ago.)
This is a simple holiday tablescape in which I used a plain red tablecloth as a base but "dressed up" the tablecloth by laying two strips of red and green plaid ribbon across the width of the table and two strips across the length.
I pinned the ribbon from the underside of the tablecloth to keep it in place, but double-sided tape could be used to secure the ribbon as well.
This is a easy way to make any plain tablecloth more festive.

The Christmas That Almost Wasn't

The winter of 2010 was one for the record books.  It snowed early and often that year.
One of the many snowstorms of the winter began early in the morning on December 24th.
I had baked and decorated sugar cookies to resemble gift tags for each of our Christmas Eve guests.
I planned to place a cookie on the plate at each place setting in lieu of place cards. 
It was not to be, however.  As the snow continued through the day, we could see that we would be having a quiet Christmas Eve without our out of town guests.
Once we got over our initial disappointment, we enjoyed a quiet celebration followed by lots of leftovers on Christmas Day!

Rah, Rah, Rah for Ski-U-Mah! (Rah for the U of M!)

With one son currently attending the University of Minnesota and another one planning to apply this fall, a University of Minnesota table was inevitable.

Hosta leaves and marigold blooms from my yard create a maroon and gold centerpiece.

An extra large fleece blanket featuring U of MN logos was pressed into service as a tablecloth.

 Goldie Gopher stickers continue the U of MN theme on the napkins.

My son's chemistry book, safety goggles, and folders were placed under the floral arrangement.

The boys' t-shirts were put on the chair backs.

 I used cinnabar, marigold, ivory, and sunflower Fiesta pieces.

Sam just completed his freshman year in biomedical engineering.  J.T. is also contemplating applying to the College of Science and Engineering with a major in computer engineering.

No fan table is complete without a foam finger!

SUNFLOWERS...This one's for you, Sue!

 My sister, Sue loves all things "sunflower", and this table is dedicated to her.

I got sunflowers from the local farmers market and placed them in a juniper Fiesta disk pitcher.  In addition to juniper Fiesta dishes and accessories, I used tangerine, lemongrass, paprika, shamrock, sunflower and marigold pieces.

 I printed sunflowers from Google Images and placed them on a folded napkin by each place setting along with a dessert spoon and a mini banana cream pie.

Right and below:

Juniper dinner plate, marigold luncheon plate, juniper bread and butter plate, and sunflower berry dish

BLUE AND YELLOW

It's a brutally hot summer day here in the Midwest, but you know what they say - "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Maybe I took that saying a little too literally in creating this cool blue tablescape with yellow accents, but I love the results.

I used Fiesta plates, bowls and accessory pieces in cobalt, sunflower, marigold and ivory.  I got the blue goblets from my mom.  
I have had the glass cobalt luncheon (or bread and butter) plates for several years, and I'm not sure where I got them.  They remind me of depression glass.

 Each place setting featured a yellow wildflower tucked into the napkin ring.  

I saw a pretty blue and yellow tablescape featuring a lemon centerpiece years ago at a Tour of Tables event and have wanted to create my own version ever since.

Cold lemonade - so refreshing!

The table decorations included two glass bluebirds of happiness which were received from guests at our wedding twenty years ago next month.

Wild Things!

 

My husband brought home this bouquet of wild flowers from the farm where he keeps his bee hives.  

 Scarlet Fiesta dinner plate, tangerine luncheon plate and paprika gusto bowl

 Note the large platter in the center of the table with the sunflower design.  My mother-in-law gave me the platter a few years ago for my birthday.

Picture below shows the kitchen/dining area in my home

A Table of Many Colors

Quite by accident, I came across these multi-colored napkins from Martha Stewart's Every Day line at K-Mart, and I just knew I had to have them.  I didn't know why I needed them...I just did.

That was seven or eight years ago, and I used them today for the first time.

I was pleased to discover that I had Fiesta dinner plates that were almost an exact match for each napkin.

The napkins are very large and made of a substantial fabric so I decided to fold them in half and use them as placemats.

After matching the dinner plates to the napkins, I layered luncheon plates and bowls in different colors.

Peacock, sunflower and periwinkle

Shamrock, cobalt and turquoise

Scarlet, marigold and peacock

Cobalt, shamrock and sunflower (bee pattern)