Nancy's Daily Dish: 9/12/10

Friday, September 17, 2010

My Favorite Cloche Plus Two

hHave you ever had an idea and thought you were the first to think of it? Well, that's what happened to me with this one. I had this great idea of displaying some wine corks in a pretty Towle cloche / dessert stand I have. I made a little vignette around it with a bottle of wine, wine glasses and cocktail napkins. A few days later I was thumbing through a Charles Faudree book and saw a large glass jar filled with wine corks in his kitchen! Oh well! I guess it can't be that bad of an idea since he came up with it first! ;-) I love this nonetheless. I think the wine corks are an interesting touch!

My next cloche vignette is one I filled with acorns....I'm pretty sure this isn't an original idea but I like it too. I have this one on a French commode that separates spaces between my breakfast area and the den. It's placed next to a brown transferware tureen base by Masons which holds an arrangement I did, and a little squirrel holding an acorn. They are all placed on a pheasant feather charger.

Lastly, this is my favorite cloche of all, or I should say the contents of this cloche are my favorite. And, I don't think anyone has done this yet but if they have I have a feeling one of you other bloggers will know who it was and tell me!

Guess what's under this big cloche?

Before I tell you what it is, I'll share with you a bit of history.

Shawn and I met almost 25 years ago, when I was 17. We worked together and each sat at small cubicles, along with 15-20 other employees. Shawn and I would pass notes back and forth to one another, as if we were still in school trying to keep the teacher from finding us out. We also wrote lots of mushy letters to each other. For all of these years, I have had the notes and letters stuffed into two gift bags tucked away in a dresser in our bedroom...until now. A few nights ago I had a sudden thought that they would make a sweet, romantic display in our bedroom, so here they are now stuffed inside this big cloche resting on, of course, a large transferware tray.

Shawn was in the bedroom watching the news when I brought this in and set it on the dresser. Immediately he knew what I'd done with the letters and it made him cry. He's a softy.

Next to the cloche is an old book stand, covered with pewter filigree work, which holds some antique Valentines cards.

I found the two candles holders at Hobby Lobby (cloche came from there too) on clearance for $2.50 a piece! The purple pillars are from Zest Candles and have a pretty lattice design etched into them.

I'm joining Marty's Cloche party at A Stroll Thru Life
and these other weekly memes:
Brambleberry Cottage
Bargain Hunting with Laurie

Common Ground
Vignette Friday
Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Teal Transferware by Adams ~ Fairy Villas Tablescape

For over 12 generations, the Adams were Master Potters whose Staffordshire potteries can be dated back to 1650. Most often called William Adams the name incorporates some of the earliest potters of this family, such as William Adams of Greengates Pottery, Tunstall 1746-1805, later another William Adams of Cobridge and Burslem 1748-1831 and yet another William Adams of Stoke on Trent 1772-1829, although an exception was Benjamin Adams a fine potter at Greengates Pottery, Tunstall, 1787-1828. Later they traded as W Adams & Co, W Adams & Sons at Greenfields, Greengates and Newfield Potteries, Tunstall, before incorporating in 1925 as William Adams & Sons (Potters) Ltd. In 1966 Adams became part of Josiah Wedgwood Ltd. Backstamps usually include Adams in some form and Tunstall often appears from 1896.

My table this week is for one and includes a tea service in W. Adams & Co.'s Fairy Villas pattern. The mark on the pattern dates somewhere between 1891-1917. It is most often found in flow blue and very rare to find in teal. Most of these pieces can be found for sale in my online shop under Teal Transferware.

Ma Jolie Maison Fabrics and Drapes made a tablecloth for me with Schumacher's 'Les Enfants' toile fabric, which the store carries by the yard along with other designer fabrics and custom drapes and pillows. I absolutely adore each cartouche depicting children at play and the color is perfect for these Adams dishes. I chose to accent with a bit of taupe and brown which is the color of each cartouche in the fabric. I ran two strips of brown toile fabric across my table and threw in a teal colored wicker picnic basket filled with roses, vintage linens and more teal dishes to add a little whimsy and texture to my table. I think this will be a nice store display too!