Thanksgiving table set: check! Sneak peak and all the details.
This picture does not do it justice, it sparkles so! Love the Fostoria American glassware plates that look like little ice cubes. Both my mom and grandmother (on my dad's side) had a few pieces to which I have added more. Must admit when I was younger I didn't really like the pattern, but it has really grown on me. American is a discontinued pattern, but they starting making it in 1915 and made it until 1983. Other manufacturers made similar patterns, too. The plates have been used frequently and I was down to only three bread and butter (approx: 6 inch) and five (approx: nine inch luncheon) salad plates. And plates were getting hard to find, at least here in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to my friend Barb, I've finally filled out all the plates I think I will ever need!
The china is Lenox pattern Laurent, also discontinued. It is cream colored with a guilt edge. It has the prettiest oval veggie bowl and a graceful gravy boat. These were my mother-in-law's. Sometimes I use the china for breakfast or dinner, not just Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Stuff should be used and enjoyed.
The crystal goblets are Mikasa pattern Park Lane... guess what ...discontinued. The stainless (my everyday) flatware is Oneida pattern Maestro. Hum, discontinued, too. There seems to be a pattern here. The butter knives are sterling very old with a Greek key pattern similar to my silver-plate by Associated Silver Co. Yourex pat. DEC.17-1918 that you may see in future posts.
Salt and pepper shakers are old from when I collected salt and pepper shakers. Enough!!!
Hurricane holders (think they are vases) and holiday pillar candles from Walmart. They are still available, but at much increased prices. When I purchased the hurricanes they were only $1.50 each. The pumpkins are from the Dollar Store and they came packaged in a bag with two large pumpkins with stems and a variety of smaller pumpkins with no stems. I made some stems from modeling clay (also the Dollar Store) example: the orange and green one. Like them with stems much better! The hazelnuts I bought for a craft project and some were left over to decorate the center of the table.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Let's make a pillow and pillow cover, this one for Fall. Don't you just love those colorful silk leaves? I found some two years ago at the dollar store and bought two packages (50 leaves per package). I've used them to decorate - sticking them in wreaths and such. Time to try something different. Introducing the Falling Leaves Pillow.
First I decided on the size pillow I wanted - mine was finished size twenty by ten. Eleven inches by twenty-one inches, including half inch seam allowance, using my handy dandy pattern made from freezer paper. I love this stuff. Make the pattern, put the plastic side down on your material, iron it with your iron set to the temperature appropriate for the fabric. No pins needed, you just cut around the pattern then pull it off.
And you can use the pattern again and again! How neat is that? For the pillow form cut two front pieces from neutral fabric, I used an old sheet. Sew around the edges using a half inch seam except for a four inch opening. Stuff it with fiberfill or the inside of an old pillow and then sew it shut. No one but you will see this so don't worry about stains or finishing the edge.
Now cut the front and two backs (11 inches by 12 inches) out of the fabric you have chosen for the pillow cover. How did I decide how to place the silk leaves? I threw them on the floor! (smile)
Then used a section of that for placement on the front fabric piece. Using basting spray I placed the leaves how I wanted or you can just pin them in place before sewing.
Using my sewing machine, I zig-zaged around each. You could also sew around each leaf using a straight stitch.
Hem one side of each of the two back pieces along the short edge of the fabric. Press the edge a scant quarter of an inch, fold it over again, press again and then stitch.
Finish the cover using french seams. Put wrong sides together and pin for the first seam. From the picture below you can see how the back pieces come together with the hem in the middle of the cover.
Stitch a small seam using your presser foot window (slot where the needle goes through the foot) as a guide. Stitch straight off the fabric with your stitches. At each corner you should have stitching that makes a little square.
For crisp corners fold as below and turn entire cover to the wrong side. Press seams and then stitch all the way around again a little wider than the existing seam.
Turn using the crisp corner technique.
You are done! I added a little hand embroidery for the stems. By the way the pillow shown below has been washed in cold water twice, the first time by hand and the second in the machine on delicate cycle. I have a dog and the pillow cover is off white...need I say more?
More pillow covers and ideas to come!
