A Hunting We Will Go Tablescape & Winner

First things first...winner of the $30 gift certificate to Weaves Beads, from The Great Out of Drawers Post is Cass at That Old House   Cass, Congratulations!  Please contact me via email with your information and I'll put you in touch with Joy to claim your prize!

Another giveaway starts within two days!

This week I chose to do something with a transferware pattern called Quail by Furnivals...you can buy these HERE

I draped the table...literally.  I used two drapery panels as my table cloth with a small beaded jacquard design.  I made a huge arrangement with creamy white hydrangeas, feathers, berries and lots of variegated greenery and placed a bronze pointer statue in the center.  At the back of the arrangement I added some topiary forms covered with feathers to add some additional height and dimension to my arrangement.

These are some of my all time favorite place mats.  They are hand made of real pheasant feathers.  I keep one out on a table most all of the time with an arrangement over it and always receive compliments on them.  You can purchase them on line at The Feather Store.  They have several different varieties of real feather placemats and all sorts of feather supplies...they are all stunningly beautiful!!!

Napkins are doubled up using black cloth and sheer gold organza napkins  from Always Elegant.   The gold beaded napkin rings come from Always Elegant as well.

Spode Woodland flatware was the perfect flatware for my theme.  I don't use these as much as I'd like so it was fun to pull them out and set the table.

Vintage rocks glasses filled with Rust colored pip berries from Decorators Friend and tealights serve as candle holders.  They have a large selection of not only floral supplies but gorgeous decorative items at very reasonable prices!  I love this shop!

 The glasses are vintage and the stemmed, amber colored ones are about  years old...is that vintage? ;-)  I still see these from time to time.

Linking up with Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday
Blue Cricket Design
Life in the Pitts
The Thrifty Home
The Trendy Treehouse
Creations By Kara

My Spode Abode

Spode

That pitcher there, with quaint device,
Upon the shelf, a curious bit,
I know it is a thing of price
Because I paid for it.

She calls it Spode, my loving wife;
Just what that means I cannot say;
It is a joy that lights her life;
She dusts it every day.

Like a devoted worshiper
She speaks of it in tender tones;
It is a precious boon to her,
I feel this in my bones.

'Twould be from it a pain to part;
Without it what were this abode?
I often wish with all my heart
My middle name were SPODE!

~Clinton Scollard from the New York American

Although John Sadler and Guy Green of Liverpool invented the transferware process in the mid 18th century it is, without question, Josiah Spode whose name is perpetuated in the development and perfection of underglaze printing on earthenware. In large part, Josiah Spode's advances in underglazed blue printing and the production of bone china, which rivaled that of the finest wares brought over from the Orient, are what greatly contributed to the establishment of England as the worlds foremost producer of fine dinnerware.  

The Spode brand is practically a household name.  Even those not interested in china or dinnerware know the Spode name.  Spode is to dinnerware what Porsche is to cars.

There is so much history to cover in the Spode, Spode-Copeland  wares that it will be an ongoing topic of posts on my blog.

I'm going to let you all browse around to see some of my Spode pieces I have at home.

A large, 20",  1880's platter depicting grazing cattle and a rural farm sits beside a polychrome transferware lamp at the kitchen planning desk.

 A circa 1862-80 fluted dish in blue stands on a bookcase in our upstairs tv room

 An early Spode plate with an Aesthetic pattern and polychrome accents on green transfer ware.

I'm drawn to many of the patterns that Spode produced.   One of, if not my all time favorite patterns was produced by Spode and is called Byron.  I've featured this pattern in the past HERE with some history about the artist, J C Horsley.

Here, a thin area of wall between the kitchen cupboards and the nook offer just enough space to display some of my favorite Byron pieces:

This huge platter is the piece I first saw in this pattern...I was hooked:

Mixed pieces, including Spode, on the hutch in the breakfast room

Spode Mayflower is the backdrop for a decorated perfume bottle in the Master Bath

A huge 1830's Spode platter hangs above a mirror in the bedroom

This Spode plate serves as a tray which displays vintage beaded gloves and an embroidered, beaded antique purse.

I use lots of transferware on my desk to hold office supplies.  This Circa 1880 toothbrush (left) holder contains some white roses (which hide my favorite pens)

In the powder bath I have a few Spode pieces. 

One of my favorites is this razor box, circa 1850 (front)

Antique Spode plates (top and bottom) in the powder bath:

 A grouping of plates and platters frame a Baroque portrait in the powder bath (Spode bottom and bottom right)

And soap dish with a drainer insert sits on the back of the toilet.

A French bombe' chest holds tea service in Spode Bryon (Post is HERE)

Spode Royal Jasmine Marina Table Setting

I have some of my favorite, two color transfer pieces displayed in the den.  All of the rusty red and black pieces are Spode Morocco, Beverley and May.

I display a grouping of red transfer ware plates and platters on my dining room wall.  The center three are all Spode.  I like the unusual shapes of these Aesthetic Movement pieces.

In my office I have two tables on either side of a sofa.  I dipslay Spode meat drainers on each with a collection of dog figurines.

I could post many more Spode pictures...but I won't...not now anyway.

Three or More Tuesday at The Gyps's Corner
A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Hodge Podge Friday @ It's a Hodgepodge Life
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Rednesday at It's a Very Cherry World at
Ruby Tuesday at Work of the Poet
It's so Very Cheri for Spotlight Yourslef
Suzanne at Colordolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday
Melissa at My Cottage Charm for Treasures and Trinkets Thursdays
Jessica at A Few of My Favorite Things for Favorite Things Friday
Funky Junk Interiors

Small Change Big Impact

Small changes can make a big impact.  Do you ever put something up just so you'll have something there until the perfect thing comes along for that space?  That's what I did below.  I had papered the room and had this one bare spot that I thought needed something.  I had this canvas print of  a peacock, and although I do like the picture the frame is pretty sad.  

 So I have looked around for something that would work and found an oil painting at Grace Fine Art entitled Stacking Hay.  The dealer was so sweet to work with and offers a gorgeous selection of hand painted oils, prints, lithographs and original paintings.  She has an Ebay store full of beautiful works in several genre's.   I chose this painting because I am so fond of bucolic scenery. 

 I added a plant stand that was in my home growing up and a tole planter with greenery below the painting.   To balance with the other walls in the room where I have curio cabinets to the ceiling I wanted a little more height and added a verdigris finished iron swag. 

A picture light adds the extra bit of lighting we wanted in the room and looks so beautiful at night.

If you're in the market for a painting be sure to visit Grace Fine Art...the prices are so reasonable. Grace has painting \s beginning at under $50 framed!

Robert Frost (1874-1963).
“The Exposed Nest” [extract]
from Mountain Interval (1924).

You were forever finding some new play.
So when I saw you down on hands and knees
In the meadow, busy with the new-cut hay,
Trying, I thought, to set it up on end,
I went to show you how to make it stay,
If that was your idea, against the breeze,
And, if you asked me, even help pretend
To make it root again and grow afresh.
But 'twas no make-believe with you to-day,
Nor was the grass itself your real concern,
Though I found your hand full of wilted fern,
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clover.
'Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over.

 I'm linking to these following memes.  Thank you all for hosting!

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Anything Related at All Thingz Related
Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden
Spotlight Yourself at It's So Very Cheri
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Remodelaholic's Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
Blue Monday at Smiling Sally
Modern Craftswoman Monday at Tools are for Women too!