What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Thanksgiving has just been the two of us for many years now, and we like it this way. We greet the morning with hot coffee and a special breakfast to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Special finger food snacks during the football games, then a holiday meal in the early evening. Setting a pretty table for two helps make the this holiday time special.

I like to challenge myself to use what I already have in new ways, and did again this year. I began with a deep burgundy tablecloth. These turkey plates were a great find a few ...

Thanksgiving is this week, and this one will likely be much different than usual for many. This year, even if you cannot have the big gathering that is usual, it is important to make the day special. You are worth the effort, and I believe that keeping the day special will help us all get through. For us, it won’t be any different, as we have spent the holiday with just the two of us for many years now. What makes it Thanksgiving here are the turkeys on the tablescape, the parade on TV, football in the afternoon, and ...

What a month!  We did a lot of sewing and projects, ate some great food, planted bulbs, watched the wildlife, crafted, stamped and had a great time for Autumn Jubilee!  Please leave a comment today to thank all our sponsors for this event.  Most of the drawings have been held and winners notified.  Today is the final day to enter the last drawing from Friday.  And in response to requests, I’ve added a pdf of the final sashing and borders to Friday’s post.

We made a fun row quilt in our quilt along.

Used our embroidery stitches for ...

Tables for two have become the norm here this year, so for Autumn Jubilee (#AutumnJubilee2020), I have a festive fall tablescape for 2.  Without being able to have friends over, it is more important than ever that the table be a welcoming and seasonal place for a meal.  I try every year to use what I already have in new combinations, and I don’t think I’ve done this one before.  It begins with the placemats.  I made these before I began blogging.  I used a couple of yards of a lovely gold leaf printed on a plaid base ...

We are eating more meals at home now, and it is really uplifting to make a pretty table for two.  Getting out special dishes and putting what I already have on a table in a new way is refreshing and fun.  Summer means everything is green and lush, and this was my inspiration for this tablescape.

I got these salad plates at the thrift store some time ago, but I’ve not used them yet.  I originally thought they looked like a fall theme with the pumpkin and squash, but the colors were more summer-like.  I have tons of autumn ...

It is the beginning of a holiday weekend, but it just doesn’t seem like a festive time with so many events canceled.  This weekend should be a riot of gardening in our downtown area with Garden Jubilee on Saturday and Sunday, but that is now moved to the individual garden centers.  This just isn’t the same as a festival.  It is hard to be excited when this weekend will be spent just like most every other day for the past two months. While I am not in a mood for patriotic festivities, I do think changing the table ...

Staying at home means making more meals in the kitchen and on the grill.  Setting a pretty table helps raise spirits, and eating outside is a nice change as the weather gets warmer.  So, I set a lovely but simple table to enjoy a warm evening.  My Sweet Babboo grilled some pork chops and we had a delicious dinner enjoying the scenery.

Using a spring green and bright yellow theme, I put yellow napkins in clear rings, and set the table with everyday flatware.

I found these covers at the thrift store some years ago and they are great to ...

I made this suggestion last week, and put it into practice right away.  It was fun and did two things at once, supported a local family owned restaurant and made a nice connection with a good friend.  We had a nice chat, while we both enjoyed our meal.

Using a speaker phone took care of chewing in someone’s ear, and I set the phone up with a bookstand to hold it.  You can also use a video chat app if you have one.  I don’t yet, but am looking into Skype or Zoom particularly for my long distance ...

Springtime seems to be coming early this year with warm days, brighter sunshine, and early flowers blooming.  This was the inspiration for a table with sunshine and springtime flowers, and one day blog hop.  Once again, I wanted to do this table with only what I had on hand, using the elements in a new way.

Sunshine yellow napkins are held with watering can rings.  This was the perfect table for my grandmother’s silverplated flatware, a lovely pattern from King Edward called Moss Rose.  I only found out the pattern name a few months ago and was able to ...

Tuesday is Mardi Gras, and I want to show some ideas for making it fun.  So sit back and enjoy some festive tablescapes, quilting projects and good food. The photo below has to be one of my all time favorite tablescapes, with some of my collection of evening purses, coins spilling out with glittery necklaces, purple chargers and my Depression Glass Cameo Ballerina grill plates in green.  See the whole post at Mardi Gras Tablescape.

Mardi Gras food tends to be more Cajun than anything, but I cannot eat celery so it isn’t my favorite.  Still, a seafood meal ...

This year I have not been inspired by Valentine’s Day.  Usually by now I have red hearts all over the place, with my two heart table toppers displayed prominently.  This year I didn’t even get them out until this week, and even now they seem boring, just the same-old same-old.  But it was time for the snowflakes to be packed away, so I decided to get out my French themed plates and build a table just for us two for this weekend.

I haven’t used the French rooster bowls in a while, and their colors blend well ...

After the clutter of the autumn season, and Christmas, January is a time for scaling back, clearing the table, and cleaning up.  For many years now, I have decorated our home in all white for the first month of the new year.  I often say it is like a palate cleanser at the end of a rich meal, a way to take a rest from the abundant decorations of the holiday seasons.  This year, I pulled from items used in years past, setting the table with my everyday white stoneware and using the arrangement from last year in a new ...

Happy New Year!  For our first holiday table of 2020, I gathered together a variety of gold and black items with an Asian theme.  Amazingly, when it was done, I realized that almost everything came from thrift stores and estate sales.  Only the flowers were new.  The napkins were purchased new some time ago, and have been used before.  All the dishes, chargers and accessories came from secondhand sources.  I found these things at four different estate sales and three different thrift stores.  What makes this successful is that I look for items with a commonality, in this case Japanese ...

Early this month, I was the hostess for a luncheon, and wanted to do a lovely holiday table for the ladies to enjoy.  I had to ask My Sweet Babboo to add a leaf to the table to have enough space for eight place settings instead of the usual six.  I set the dining table with some of my favorite things, a mixture of elegance and whimsy.

I put a red tablecloth on the table, topped with a quilted runner I’ve had for years.  I made it long before I started blogging, it is a mix of orphan blocks ...

Last year we spent a truly delightful weekend in Lake Lure with our Mini car club.  During the gift exchange, I got this adorable cookie jar.  While I was in Greensboro last summer, I found some soup mugs with cars on them, and an idea for a tablescape formed.  I put the cookie jar on a new table topper that I just finished.

I wrapped some greenery around the base and added a couple of cute Christmas moose.

The table topper has two blocks, a tree and a bell.  The pattern for it is scheduled to publish at MadamSew next ...

With Thanksgiving just four days away, some families and friends may be having a dinner this weekend to be able to share this season with as many as possible.  I wanted to have a dinner party with this table, but alas it didn’t work out.  Still, I can see the table as I come down the stairs each day so I’ll enjoy it as holiday decor.  And we will use the turkey dishes several times this month for breakfast and lunch, as well as on Thanksgiving day.  The setting began with placemats I made some years ago that ...

November is such a great month for tables, with all the lovely colors of fall.  I like to set an everyday table for us to enjoy all month, this time featuring the two large pilgrim figures I inherited.

To begin, I wanted the table to be full of color, so I put the burgundy tablecloth down first, and topped it with my cornucopia and maple leaf quilted table topper.

I found four of these pumpkin plates at the thrift store recently and now was the perfect time to use them.  I set them on our everyday white stoneware and brown ...

Today is the last day of Autumn Jubilee, and I still haven’t been able to show all the things in my head. Plus, there are some great deals and specials going with the Autumn Jubilee sponsors, check out the list at the bottom.  Halloween is tomorrow, so I have just enough time to show you a Halloween tablescape to cap off this month long event.   Starting with the centerpiece, this little ceramic jack-0-lantern is really special to me.  My mother and I both had one.  We got them while shopping at a special store all decked out for fall ...

Nothing is more beautiful than Autumn in the Blue Ridge mountains.  We are so lucky to live here, and the explosion of color in the trees is wonderful, even in a year that has been too warm for too long.  Finally, we are seeing some of the Autumn glory, now that the temperatures are getting cooler at night.  It is the ideal time to showcase a pretty table of Autumn leaves. Now, here is the fun surprise, another free pattern to come! Bernie from Needle and Foot sent me some fabrics she will have in a bundle, and I have ...