Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!  We will be just three around the table this year, as our children are celebrating with in-laws, but a lovely relaxed day is one of my favorite things.  My table features my Grandma Rachel's wedding china, Heinrich H&C's Admiral with colors perfect for the season.  Bronze and burgundy mums add a late fall touch before our thoughts turn to Christmas decorating.

On the menu:  stuffed turkey rolls (from boned thighs), cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans, yeast rolls, and a new-to-us cranberry compote that includes BACON! (How bad can it BE?)  For dessert, I've made a browned-butter pecan pie and mini chocolate chess pies, with lots of whipped cream available.

Enjoy your day and count your blessings!

Easter 2015

We had a lovely Easter this year, with both our offspring visiting with their families for the weekend.  The weather cooperated, with sunshine and comfortably cool temperatures for lots of backyard play and patio sitting.

My older granddaughter loves to cook, so we made desserts together.  One fun project was making chocolate-dipped strawberry "carrots" to garnish pots of chocolate mousse. Her younger cousin enjoyed watching the process.

The "carrots" turned out really cute! And the mousse, topped with chocolate cookie crumb "dirt," was delicious, too.

Of course, we also needed to dye some eggs for hunting!

There was also some cute cousin cuddling time on the patio.

Sunday morning the grandchildren donned their Easter outfits.

After church, four generations sat down for Easter dinner in the dining room.  The table was set with my Castleton Gloria china, and each plate was topped with gingham napkins from Pier 1 last year and Lindt chocolate carrots.  Yellow tulips and silver dishes filled with candy eggs were the centerpiece.

Our menu was traditional -- ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls -- but we tried a new dessert, Emeril's banana cream pie. It was spectacular!

Learning to Sew

Do you remember when you learned to sew?  I think the first time I was allowed to use a sewing machine was when I was about seven and visiting my grandmother for a week.  She "helped" me sew a dress from white cotton printed with red and blue stars.  I'm sure I only sewed the long, straight seams and Grandma did everything else, but I was still proud of that dress! 

As I mentioned in my last post, I brought home quite a few old dress patterns that I found at my mother's house last year.  One pattern I didn't find, but sought out with the help of Google, was the one I used to sew a dress for my eighth grade home economics course.  As I recall, we girls (only girls -- the boys took "shop") were instructed to purchase a How-to-Sew pattern chosen from a short list of teacher-approved patterns, along with the fabric of our choice and required notions.  I chose this pattern, the sleeveless version, and I selected a cotton pique printed with flowers and strawberries.

It took us most of the semester to finish our dresses to Miss Blodgett's satisfaction.  I still remember having to rip out my offending armhole facings more than once and re-sew them properly.  Finally, we all finished our dresses, but part of our grade depended on actually wearing the dresses to school and modeling them in a fashion show!  By that point, most of us were sick of our dresses, but we had to comply.  I think that was the only time I ever wore mine! 

Looking back, now I wonder how on earth Miss Blodgett maintained her sanity while helping more than two dozen thirteen-year-old girls learn to sew! 

In Your Easter Bonnet

Will you have a new outfit for Easter this year? Was a new outfit an exciting part of your childhood Easters?

While visiting my parents last year, I found a treasure trove of patterns (now vintage!) that my mother had saved after sewing clothes for me throughout my childhood. One of my all-time favorites was this dress with coordinating coat, which I wore for Easter when I was 12 or 13. Mama made the coat in a pink and white floral, and the dress and coat collar in solid pink, both from linen-like fabric. The coat had covered buttons with fabric loops, which must have required a lot of extra time!  I wore it with pink slingback flats (and possibly white gloves -- were we still wearing gloves in the mid-1960s?) and felt very special and elegant.

To go WAY back, here I am in my Easter finery at age three and a half. Mama didn't make this dress -- my baby sister was 11 days old that Easter, so she was a little busy!  I have to wonder how much attention I paid in Sunday School, wearing that stiff petticoat, hat, gloves, and no-doubt-new shoes.

I continued the tradition, sewing for my children, especially their Sunday and special occasion outfits.  I was into smocking back then, and here are their Easter outfits in the late 1980s.  Our son looked adorable in smocked outfits until he was four, when he insisted he wanted to wear a suit for Easter!

And now there's another generation to sew for! Here's an Easter dress I made for my oldest grandchild a few years ago. I have sewed a few things for her and my grandson, but I haven't yet sewn anything for my youngest grandchild.  I HAVE knitted her a few things, but she's two now, so I need to get back to my sewing machine!

Books Read in 2014

After reading several bloggers' lists of books read in 2014, I decided to add my list.  Since most of my reading is done on my iPad with the Kindle app, it was easy to reconstruct the list.  Also, in 2014 I finally learned to use the Overdrive app to borrow e-books from our local library.  Easy, and best of all, free!

Here's my list.  You'll notice that when I find an author I like, I read as many of his/hers as I can get my hands on!  The titles in blue text were probably my favorites last year.  Which of these books have you read and liked/disliked? 

Simple Genius (King & Maxwell)	David Baldacci
First Family (King & Maxwell)	David Baldacci
Two Mrs. Abbotts (Miss Buncle)	D.E. Stevenson
Six Years	Harlen Coben
Still Life with Bread Crumbs	Anna Quindlen
Why Shoot a Butler?	Georgette Heyer
Bruno, Chief of Police	Martin Walker
The House on First Street	Julia Reed
Death of an Old Git (Falconer Files 1)	Andrea Frazer
The Wives of Los Alamos	TaraShea Nesbit
While We Were Watching Downton Abbey	Wendy Wax
The Back Door Man	Dave Buschi
Ten Beach Road	Wendy Wax
Ocean Beach	Wendy Wax
Magnolia Wednesdays	Wendy Wax
Christmas at the Beach	Wendy Wax
The Dressmaker	Kate Alcott
Circle of Three	Patricia Gaffney
The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen
Ice Cold (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen
Presumed Guilty	Tess Gerritsen
The Silent Girl	Tess Gerritsen
Absolute Power	David Baldacci
The Camel Club	David Baldacci
Ten Tales Told (short stories)	E.L. Smith
The Collectors	David Baldacci
Stone Cold (Camel Club)	David Baldacci
Divine Justice (Camel Club)	David Baldacci
The Whole Truth	David Baldacci
Last Man Standing	David Baldacci
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth (Isabel Dalhousie)	Alex McCall Smith
The Weird Sisters	Eleanor Brown
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake	Aimee Bender
The Cookbook Collector: A Novel	Allegra Goodman
Orphan Train: A Novel	Christina Baker Kline
Heading Out to Wonderful	Robert Goolrick
The Cornish Coast Murder	John Bude
The Pieces We Keep	Kristina McMorris
A Partial History of Lost Causes	Jennifer Dubois
Desert Heat (Joanna Brady series)	J. A. Jance
The Husband's Secret	Liane Moriarty
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet	David Mitchen
A Brewing Storm	Richard Castle
Keeper of the Bride	Tess Gerritsen
The Rosie Project	Graeme Simsion
Started Early, Took My Dog	Kate Atkinson
The Red House	Mark Haddon
I Am Pilgrim	Terry Hayes
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry	Rachel Joyce
The Hit	David Baldacci
The Innocent	David Baldacci
The Target	David Baldacci
Looking for Me	Beth Hoffman
Heat Wave	Richard Castle
The Kashmir Shawl	Rosie Thomas
Heat Rises	Richard Castle
Naked Heat	Richard Castle
Frozen Heat	Richard Castle
31 Days to a Staged Home	Leslie Hoyt
1Q84	Haruki Murakami
Deadly Heat	Richard Castle
Three Wishes	Liane Moriarty
The Long Way Home	Louise Penny
A Year of Biblical Womanhood	Rachel Held Evans
Grandma Gatewood's Walk	Ben Montgomery
The Ladies' Room	Carolyn Brown
The Land of Mango Sunsets	Dorothea Benton Frank
Small Blessings	Martha Woodroof
Color Your Style	David Zyla
The Temporary Wife/Promise of Spring	Mary Balogh
Some Luck	Jane Smiley
A Christmas Bride/Beau	Mary Balogh
To Dwell in Darkness	Deborah Crombie
You Should Have Known	Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Mephisto Club	Tess Gerritsen
Vanish	Tess Gerritsen
The Keepsake	Tess Gerritsen
The Sinner	Tess Gerritsen
The Paying Guests	Sarah Waters
Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up	Marie Kondo
Reign of Error	Diane Ravitch
Life Support	Tess Gerritsen
The Midwife	Jolina Petersheim
The Outcast	Jolina Petersheim
The Tidewater Sisters	Lisa Wingate
Everything I Never Told You	Celeste Ng
Gray Mountain	John Grisham
Helen's Babies	John Habberton
Faithful Place	Tana French
Broken Harbor	Tana French
Last to Die	Tess Gerritsen
Girl Missing	Tess Gerritsen
In Their Footsteps	Tess Gerritsen
Where'd You Go, Bernadette	Maria Semple
Station Eleven	Emily St. John Mandel
Big Little Lies	Liane Moriarty
Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen

Forget-Me-Not Blue

These pretty hydrangea-print napkins and table runner caught my eye in a Sur la Table store, so when they went on sale, I ordered them.  (They also carry melamine dinnerware in this print, in both blue and green, if you're interested!)

When the order arrived, I decided the linens would be pretty with my Sophie Conran dishes in forget-me-not blue.  Villeroy and Boch's My Garden glasses added more blue, and the delphiniums my husband brought home from HEB last week were the perfect blue, even a few days past their prime.

 A diner's view. . .

 Closeup of one of the Arthur Court grape candlesticks, a long-ago gift from my in-laws

Closeup of the etched vase that my mother gave me from her collection.  Mama also has a tall pitcher in this pattern.  Please let me know if you know the name of the pattern!

View from the entryway

Delphiniums!

A simple summer table, but I do love the colors!

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be linking to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

Wedding China

I've been looking forward to seeing all the links at Cuisine Kathleen this week, because she challenged us to show our wedding china.  I decided to show you ALL the wedding china chosen or inherited by my grandmothers, mother, mother-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law -- and, of course, MY wedding china! 

My very first tablescape post four years ago featured my Grandma Rachel's wedding china, Heinrich H&C's Admiral pattern, which I have inherited.  Grandma married in 1927 and was given 24 placesettings of this pretty pattern by her family and friends.  I treasure her handwritten list of all the pieces she owned and keep it in a locked box along with our marriage certificate and birth certificates.  Here's a closeup of the pattern from my recent Touch of Pink post.  I have found this pattern to be very versatile, using it with greens and golds, as well as pink.

My maternal grandmother did not have wedding china, to my knowledge.  She and my grandfather eloped!  I do remember her colorful everyday Fiestaware and wish I had inherited some of it.  I have fond memories of hearty breakfasts served on those dishes at her kitchen table.

My mother, who married in 1951 (and who with my dad will celebrate their 63rd anniversary this month!) has two pretty wedding china patterns, both from Castleton.  I've had fun playing with her dishes when I visit, going so far as to bring table linens with me on the plane!  I think both of her patterns look very fresh and modern.  Here is her Ma Lin pattern:

 And here is her Mayfair pattern:

My mother-in-law chose Haviland's Rosalinde as her wedding china, and now our daughter has inherited it.  We have enjoyed setting modern tables with this beautiful traditional pattern.

I married in 1972, and I chose a "good" china pattern, Lenox Windsong, along with crystal (Lenox Moonspun) and silver (Lunt Belvedere).  I still love this pattern and set my Easter table with it this year.  Below is an earlier table set with my wedding china, crystal, and silver.

I also chose an everyday pattern, Royal Doulton Fireglow.  I still own these dishes, but we no longer use them every day.  I do enjoy pulling them out occasionally, though!

As I mentioned earlier, our daughter inherited her grandmother's Rosalinde, but she chose an everyday pattern when she married in 2000.  I really love her Villeroy and Boch Switch 3 pattern.

Our daughter-in-law, who married our son in 2010, inherited a large collection of Johnson Brothers' Friendly Village from her grandmother.  When I went to help out after our granddaughter's birth, I enjoyed setting a Christmas table with this delightful pattern.

And there you have it -- four generations of wedding china!  It will be fun to see the china patterns my young granddaughters choose when they grow up!