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Friday, October 31, 2008

Friday Show and Tell – Thrifted Tureen

Show and Tell
Show and Tell Friday is hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home

I will just squeeze in a bit of time to make a post today. My item is an off-white soup tureen and ladle which I got yesterday. I was walking back to the car with my mother when I glanced in at the thrift store. I saw the tureen and asked mother to wait while I ran in to see how much it cost. I looked at the label, which read $3.00. I checked and one handle had a barely noticeable chip. So I decided to get it.

Here it is all freshly clean on the kitchen counter:


It has a very nice ribbed design and a pretty knob on the lid.

The little nick is on this handle.

It has some crazing inside, but is all smooth. The matching ladle has a few small nicks.


It fits in well with my other off-white dishes and things.

Well, I must stop now, as company is coming within the hour and I have a few preparations still to do.


Thanks for stopping by, and do visit Kelli more Show and Tell posts.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

ABCs of the Word - O

Pam at Grey Like Snuffie hosts ABC’s of the Word to focus on a scripture in which the week’s letter is highlighted.

This week’s letter is O


O Lord, listen!
O Lord, forgive!
O Lord, hear and act!
Daniel 9:19


In this prayer the prophet Daniel first admits that his people have gone astray from God.


We do not make requests of you
because we are righteous,
but because of your great mercy.
Daniel 9:18


When we consider our country and the other nations, indeed the whole world, we have all drifted far from the path God wishes us to follow. But we can be confident that He is willing and ready to show us mercy. He is willing and able to restore us. Let us accept this gift so freely offered to each person.

For more ABC’s of the Word visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Word-Filled Wednesday – Proverbs 4:7-9


Sponsored by Amydeanne at The 160-Acre Woods, the "purpose of Word-filled Wednesday is to share God’s word through photo’s & a verse.



Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, get understanding.


Esteem her, and she will exalt you;

embrace her, and she will honor you.


She will set a garland of grace on your head

and present you with a crown of splendor."

Proverbs 4:7-9


For more Word-Filled Wednesday please visit Amydeanne.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tablescape Tuesday - Table for Four

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

Today's tablescape is set for four and has a fall motif. The table is covered first in a white cloth over which is a square vintage tablecloth printed with fruit. It is placed at a diagonal.


The centerpiece consists of a large ceramic which was made for me by my secretary’s mother back in the early 90’s. Inside it is a spray of variegated green leaves and russet floral bouquets from Michael’s after season sale in 2007. All around are other ceramic fruit or vegetables. Scattered about are silk autumn leaves from CVS end of season sale last fall.
The dishes are my Royal Worcester “Evesham.” The large water glasses are in the Evesham pattern, with each glass having a different fruit – cherries, blueberries, pears, peaches.
The napkins are in light green fabric. The four napkin rings are each a different fruit – peach, lemon, banana, apple. A couple autumn leaves are tucked into each ring.

At each place setting is a different set of salt and pepper shakers. This one is a pair of acorns from Fitz anf Floyd.


Next is Vintage Inarco salt and pepper


A small pumpkin and a small gourd from the Hannaford grocery at $1.50 each.


A halved pear


With its motif of colorful leaves, fruit, and vegetables on the cloth, dishes, glassware, and accessories, the tablescape has a sense of the autumn outdoors.

Thank you for stopping by today. Do leave a comment. For more table settings please see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Travel Souvenir Collections 3 - Shelias Houses

Show and Tell

Show and Tell Friday is hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home

This post features a set from the Nativity Scenes Collection. As I considered various travel souvenirs I realized that another collection based on where I have traveled is part of my Shelia’s nativity display.

Shelias is a company which produces wood cutouts of historic America. As a nativity collector I was happy to find the "Town Square Nativity" from Shelia's Collectibles "Old Fashioned Christmas" series. It is a 1997 Limited Edition, signed and numbered, and Made in U.S.A.

I really enjoy the beautiful hand painted design of the main piece called "Just Born"
It is a one-piece wood cutout, Victorian gingerbread style gazebo with Joseph, Baby Jesus, Mary and two trumpeting angels & star above.
This is the town's living nativity with various members of the community forming the nativity tableau.

I also purchased the three related pieces to make up the living nativity scene:
Heartsville’s Lil Angels [children as angels]
Michael Keeping Watch [shepherd]
Borrowed Eli [camel]


Two more town pieces and a Christmas tree came next:
Heartsville Town Square
Heartsville Carolers
Evergreen Christmas Tree

Then, to personalize the set even more, I added Shelias historic houses of New England to provide a range of additional buildings as a backdrop.

I chose only New England sites that I have visited personally. Here are the historic houses and buildings:
The Old Manse, Concord, MA
Orchard House, Concord, MA


Old State House, Boston, MA
Old North Church II, Boston, MA
Old South Meeting House, Boston, MA

Paul Revere House, Boston,MA
Munroe Tavern, Lexington, MA
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House, Cambridge, MA

The Kingscote mansion in Newport, RI completes my travel souvenir additions.

The added Shelias accessories are wood cutouts of Snow Covered Evergreen, Evergreen Trees and one Oak Tree (for Oak Rise Cottage!)

Thank you for reading about this special set in my nativity scenes collection. For more about the nativity scenes collection please check out my new blog Carola Nativity Gallery.

To see more personal treasures, visit Kelli for a list of participating posts.

Hopeful Friday – Autumn’s Colors


Cielo at The House in the Roses is sponsoring Hopeful Friday to give blogger friends another opportunity to " celebrate God, to celebrate His mercy and unconditional love, but also a day to celebrate positive thoughts. We need hope to replace our restlessness, we need courage to replace our fear, and we need faith to replace our doubt."




Masterworks
"In Autumn when the leaves turn brown
And red and gold, the all fall down
To paint a picture, oh so rare!
I know that God is there…
To mastermind His ebb and flow;
To stage His wondrous Autumn show,
To brush His Skies with molten gods;
I watch his art unfold."
Henry W. Gurley

Here in the northeast the beauty of autumn with its colorful leaves inspires us to consider the Creator who devised such loveliness.

To see more of today’s "chain of positive thoughts and inspirational messages" please go here for Cielo’s list.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Thankful Thursday – Our Lord is Faithful



During the past coouple of weeks I’ve been filled with amazement on how God has been providing for my financial needs. This year, though happily grateful that the monthly bills are covered by my income, there have been times when I have been distressed over a bill I had not counted on. That’s when texts such as these help me to rest in confidence that my needs will continue be met:

"God who has called you into fellowship
with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
is faithful."
1 Cor. 1:9

"I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread."
Psalm 37:25

Read more expressions of gratitude for God’s blessings in the lives of His children at Iris’s blog.

ABCs of the Word - N




Pam at Grey Like Snuffie hosts ABC’s of the Word to focus on a scripture in which the week’s letter is highlighted.

This week’s letter is N

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

For more ABC’s of the Word visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Word-Filled Wednesday – Hebrews 11:32-34


Sponsored by Amydeanne at The 160-Acre Woods, the "purpose of Word-filled Wednesday is to share God’s word through photo’s & a verse.



And what more shall I say?
I do not have time to tell about Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David,
Samuel and the prophets,
who through faith conquered kingdoms,
administered justice, and gained what was promised;
who shut the mouths of lions,
quenched the fury of the flames,
and escaped the edge of the sword;
whose weakness was turned to strength;
and who became powerful in battle
and routed foreign armies.
Hebrews 11:32-34

In Hebrews 11 the apostle Paul presents a long line of heroes of the faith – they all considered God’s word substantial enough to act upon it. Therefore, they are our examples to follow.

For more Word-Filled Wednesday please visit Amydeanne.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tablescape Tuesday – Dinner for Out-of-Town Guests

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

Today I thought I’d share photos of a tablesetting used when mmy sister and brother-in-law were my weekend guests in early spring. I had planned to use different dishes, but decided that since she lived all the way in Florida, and I never got to set the table for her with this bone china set, I would use my Spode "Consul Cobalt" dishes instead. I bought the tea set and some other dishes in 1979 while vacationing in London. I later sent for additional pieces after I returned home.
I like the simplicity of the cream and narrow cobalt blue band. I used a cream damask tablecloth with cream cloth napkins. The centerpiece was a pair of silverplated candlesticks by Oneida and a cobalt blue ginger jar with faux gardenias, set on a doily in one of the salad plates.

Dinner plates – Spode "Consul Cobalt" on brass chargers. For variety I use different pattern dessert plates – Mikasa "Crown Jewels," which has a wider cobalt blue band with gilt embellishment around a cream center.

The glasses are Lenox "Autumn" goblets and the flatware is gilt and cobalt enamel by Yamasaki.

The individual salt and pepper shakers are of pierced silverplate over cobalt glass

These photos were taken the evening before when I finished setting the table. As I looked at the photos the tablescape seems kind of skimpy. The dining table is very large scale – 48 inches wide by 70 inches long, without the two 22 inch leaves -- so it takes a lot of stuff to fill it out. The cream napkins needed the color of a napkin ring of some sort.

I had only four of the napkin rings that I wanted to use – gilt rings with a floral design and embedded with pearl studs in the center of each flower.




So, even though the photos do not show it, at the last minute I put them on the napkins for my mother, my visiting sister, my sister-in-law and my other sister.


At any rate, with lots of talk and laughter, we all enjoyed our meal together.

It's been great having you visit today. For more table settings please see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.