RJ Treleaven

Showing posts with label Vintage Decor. Show all posts

Happy Tuesday, Friends! How is your summer going so far? I hope that you are enjoying sunny weather somewhere with your family and friends.

Today I'm sharing my Tablescape for America 250 as part of a summer tablescape blog hop party with fifteen other bloggers hosted by Sweet Rita from the Panoply blog.

But before I get started, I must announce the winner of the darling MacKenzie-Childs tote bag giveaway from our most recent Tales of the Traveling Tote blog party held on May 15th:

Congratulations to Kim from the Exquisitely Unremarkable Blog! You're our winner!

Thank-you, Rita, for hosting! You always do such a wonderful job with these hops!

I created a table that's All-American as apple pie. Literally! Our breakfast room table is set for dessert featuring pie dessert plates, Americana elements, and MacKenzie-Childs collectibles. I chose this theme because I am so thankful to be an American, and as we celebrate 250 years of the greatest experiment in human history, I pray that we can save and strengthen our Constitutional Republic.

For those of you who are following me, we recently had our kitchen remodeled, and we have definitely pared-down a lot of stuff, including many sets of china and dinnerware. I have not let go of any of our MacKenzie-Childs or table linens: I have collected both for almost forty years. I will continue to collect both, so don't be disappointed if you see the same MacKenzie-Childs elements on my tablescapes because I will bring in new and different via linens, floral/plant arrangements, and new MacKenzie-Childs pretties.

I hung these little garlands in our window. I purchased the ribbon one on Etsy from @KathyJacobson.

Americana elements are featured on the table in the linens and the baseball.

The napkin rings, another Etsy find, are made from a favorite American invention, old blue jeans.

The vintage wine cups are from France. I wanted one element on the table to be French, to honor their help in our War for Independence.

I like the MacKenzie-Childs collectors' mugs from last year, and June's patriotic mug is one of my favorites. I have featured four of the collectors' mugs on this tablescape.

Platestack

Here are the four dessert pie plates.

I matched them to flat-rimmed MacKenzie-Childs dinner plates; I used them as chargers.

Our dessert will include apple pie, of course, as well as coffee, tea, and dessert wine.

This vase is my latest MacKenzie-Childs acquisition.

This year MacKenzie-Childs is offering collectible vases monthly, and the stars vase is June's vase.

I had to add the pretty sunflowers to enhance the yellow stars on the vase.

Resources:

Placemats: Williamstown Home

All other table linens and scatter stars: Pier1

Ribbon banner and napkin rings: Etsy

Pie dessert plates: Mary Lake-Thompson

Wine cups: Vintage

All other ceramics on table: MacKenzie-Childs

Flatware: Horchow

Flowers: Trader Joe's

Panoply - Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Home is Where the Boat Is - Oh My Stars & Stripes

Hyacinths for the Soul - Celebrate With a Patriotic Heart

Olla-Podrida - Night of the Iguana Tablescape

Everyday Living - America is 250: Let's Celebrate!

Me and My Captain - Belmont Stakes, The Last Race of Triple Crown

The Cats Whiskerz - A Gardener's Tablescape

Pandora's Box - Summer Patriotic Tablescape and Kitchen Cart

Life and Linda - A Whimsical Elegant Pastel Summer Table

The Bookish Dilettante - Tablescape for America 250

My Thrift Store Addiction - Summer Serenity in the Garden: Elegant Breakfast For One

Corner of Plaid and Paisley - Celebrating America's Favorite Pastime

Thrifting Wonderland - Searching for Summer: A Thrifted Tablescape

Red Cottage Chronicles - From Antiquing to Dinner: A Simple Summer Gathering with Friends

Dinner at Eight - A Casual Summer Table Inspired by Island Daydreams

Mantel and Table - Blue and White Tablescape - How to Enjoy a Beautiful Summer

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

Tablescape for America 250

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

The pink eye peas were our favorite item in our Week Five CSA subscription box.

Happy Tuesday, My Lovelies! Today I'll be sharing our Week Five CSA subscription box, a recipe, and a few things that inspired me this past week. Our subscription only lasts for ten weeks, so we're halfway through! Below are photos of the veggies and things from last week's box.

Garden Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Blueberries, Endive, Onions, Chive & Basil Bundles, Rainbow Eggs, Cucumbers , Green & Purple String Beans , Chabata from Hinkle’s Bakery, Pink Eye Peas, Butter Beans, Green Tomatoes, and

Fried Green Tomato Batter (Whistle Stop Cafe)

Each week we receive pretty herb bundles, and this week's chives and basil were put to good use in an egg dish (chives) and Ina Garten's Summer Garden Pasta recipe (basil).

I mostly just cooked the peas and beans, and made a salad with the rest. I also cooked the fried green tomatoes using the mix, and we used them to make BLT sandwiches. This is what I put into BLT's:

Ingredients:

Friend Green Tomatoes

Applewood Smoked Bacon

Red Leaf Lettuce

Pimento and Cheese

Sourdough Bread

Directions:

Slice and toast your sourdough bread. Spread pimento cheese on one side of each bread as if it were mayonnaise. Then add the bacon, lettuce, and fried green tomatoes. This sandwich is very good grilled. Just skip the toasting step and grill it like a grilled cheese.

This is my family's favorite way to make BLT's! However if you're not a fan of pimento cheese, substitute Duke's Mayonnaise.

One recipe I made this past week was utilizing the blueberries: I made a family favorite, "Blueberry Fool."

Blueberry Fool

Serves 5

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh blueberries, divided

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch of salt

zest of a small lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/3 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure:

First, make the blueberry sauce. Heat 1 1/2 cups blueberries, 1/3 cup sugar and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbling. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries are soft, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest and juice; remove from the heat. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup blueberries and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Do not rush this step! You might want to place them in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Next, beat the heavy cream in a bowl with a mixer or whisk until soft peaks just begin to form. Beat in the vanilla and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Gently fold all but 1/3 cup of the blueberry sauce into the whipped cream. You can either blend it until the whipped cream is a purple color, or you can make the dessert look "swirled." Divide among glasses and top with the remaining blueberry sauce. Serve immediately, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to three days.

COOK'S NOTE: This recipe presents better in clear glass. I used 8 ounce French café glasses I purchased from Williams-Sonoma. I know that the five servings is a bit awkward, so you can use smaller compotes or jars if you have them.

I'm looking forward to this afternoon for Box #6!

Below are a few inspiring things (and people) from last week.

Y'all might have heard about the shark attacks on the Florida panhandle a couple of weeks ago. One of the young victims is named Lulu, and she lives in Birmingham. She is a warrior, and the community has truly lifted her up in prayer and financially through fundraisers. I am so humbled by her courage, and I'm definitely inspired by the generosity of so many people. You'll see purple ribbons all over Birmingham in support of Lulu (purple is her favorite color). A local artist, Carrie Pittman, used the torn pages from a devotional (creatively torn by her puppy) and created pretty works of art. She sold these pretty pieces giving the proceeds to Lulu and her family. She is quite an amazing lady! You can follow her on Instagram @carriepittmanart.

Carrie used pinks, mauves, and purples in her cross paintings. She then framed them between two blocks of lucite.

While at the fundraiser at a local florist, we saw wedding flowers almost entirely in shades of purple and mauve. There were so many purple varieties, and the mauve tones reminded me of the 80s. Normally I'm not a purple lover, but these florals were absolutely stunning and inspiring.

Upcycling is another thing that inspired me this past week.

I'd like to feature two inspiring companies in this post. The first one I found by accident on Anthropologie's website. They also sell through their own website, too. The name of the company is Old Flame Candle Company. They specialize in taking old, vintage vessels, especially from the Mid Twentieth Century, and making them into candles. The neat thing is that once the candle is used-up, the vessel can still be used for its original purpose or for something else. Another neat service is that you can return the vessel and have it refilled, or you can send them your own vessel, and they will fill it with a candle. I think it's such a neat idea! They also sell other vintage items that aren't candles. I think Anthropologie has a really neat curated collection of their items. Just hop over to their site and type Old Flame Candle Company in their search engine.

In the graphic above, the green hobnail milk glass holds a candle. Her name is Pearl. All of their candles are named.

I think that this candle is pretty, too.

Another upcycling company inspiring me is an Etsy shop called Pretty Old Books. The owner Jess Dollar also has her own site. Jess is from North Alabama, and she sells the prettiest vintage books. She specializes in vintage books for decor, and decorators from all over the country purchase her curated book stacks. If you're looking for a specific theme or color, she can probably find what you want. I tend to purchase titles from her because the books interest me. Below are two books I recently purchased from her, and the one on the left is a history book about my home county.

This is a teal green and blue stack. It reminds me of sea glass!

I'm noticing a pattern here. Clearly blues, teals, and greens are also inspiring me. I need to spend some time in my art studio this week exploring these colors!

Speaking of books...come back Friday for my review of All The Light We Cannot See.

What's inspiring you today?

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

CSA Week Five, Inspirations, and a Recipe

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Mirabell Garden

Salzburg, Austria

Happy Monday, My Lovelies! What have you been up to this spring so far? We have been traveling, gardening, and celebrating for the most part. Spring is my favorite season, partly because we start going to the lake more often, and baseball returns.

In spring, we celebrate Easter, our anniversary, my birthday, and Mother's Day.

We celebrated Easter in Germany this year, but beforehand we attended a few Easter markets in Prague.

I will be posting about a travels in the coming weeks. Here is a little preview of what I'll be sharing:

Prague is beautiful at night. this is a scene from the Municipal House concert hall and café

Göttweig Abbey, Krems, Austria

Most of the gardening we've been doing has been the grunt work of pruning and shaping trees and shrubs; cleaning retaining walls and patios; and putting out pine straw. We also planted our containers for spring. I'll share them once the plants grow a little bit.

This is our climbing New Dawn rose outside our dining room and my art studio.

I haven't been doing much decorating indoors lately. But I have been repotting houseplants and bringing in a few blooms.

Kalanchoe and campanula

Our daughter Shelley loves to go to antique shops, vintage stores, and flea markets. Lately she's asked me to tag along with her, and look what I found in excellent condition and at a very good price:

It's a MacKenzie-Childs storage box. I use it to hold my many spools of ribbon in the art studio.

I also found this beautiful 1972 illustrated edition of Black Beauty. Isn't the cover gorgeous! It has beautiful black and white and color illustrations inside.

This book is in excellent condition. I love books with pretty covers like this!

Shelley is very good at finding beautiful things. She can enter a huge warehouse and literally find the three prettiest things in there. I'm impressed that she has such a great eye, but she gets it honestly from her grandmother who owned an antiques store in New Orleans.

We've been to Lake Martin a couple of times so far this spring. A gander was following me everywhere because I like to feed the turtles, and apparently geese love turtle food. The following weekend, he brought his entire family including his wife and eight goslings. I recently posted a reel on Instagram if you'd like to see it. Please use the link below and follow me. I will follow you back.

A gaggle of goslings

Lake Martin, Alabama

I've been involved in my regular art class this spring and a class at church.

Our class at church is based on this book: The Friendship of Women by Joan Chittister.

In my art class I finally finished the realism colored pencil book. It took me a little over a year to complete. My last drawing is featured below. I am currently painting with oil paints again. :D

I've seen beautiful art this spring, and one of the best museums we visited was the Albertina in Vienna. The painting, below, is inspiring me. I'd like to try my hand at pointillism.

Paul Signar (1863 - 1935)

"Venice, the Pink Cloud"

1909

Albertina, Vienna

I've been visiting friends and going on outings with them this spring. It's been nice getting reacquainted with childhood friends who've moved back home to Alabama. They have been blessings to me!

A friend and I enjoyed decadent slices of chocolate cake in celebration of my birthday.

The General

Birmingham, Alabama

I got a new desktop computer. My old one had issues, and my laptop completely crashed. Right now I'm not planning on replacing my laptop because I am LOVING my new desktop so, so much! Now that my computer frustrations are behind me (let's hope they stay there) I'm planning to blog more than I have been.

I've been reading a lot this year, and on Friday I will share my three favorite books of 2024 so far in my Literary Friday post. Please come back and read it because all three would make fantastic beach and/or lake reads!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Spring Shenanigans

Monday, May 6, 2024

Happy First Full Day of Spring, My Lovelies! Today is the perfect day to celebrate spring's renewal with a Spring Tablescape Blog Hop.

As usual, Sweet Rita @ Panoply is our host. Thank-you so much for organizing and hosting these blog hops, Rita. We appreciate you!

It took me several days to decide upon a theme for the spring blog hop because I love spring: It's my favorite season! I love Easter and Mother's Day, plus my birthday is in May usually during blackberry winter. It's also time to pull up the pansies and plant spring container gardens. So many choices! But I decided on a wildflower theme when I saw the following from Terrain:

Terrain has so many beautiful things for the table.

Recently, Mr. Bookish wanted to go to an estate sale for the art on offer. Once we got there, we were informed that certain pieces would be sold online at auction, so it was pretty much a burnt run for us until I saw a 12 piece set of 1970s Japanese speckleware. I loved it so much because I grew up in the seventies, and I knew someone who had this exact set. It features wildflowers, and they bloom during spring. The patterns are: Sweet Clover, Wild Pink, Buttercup, Field Daisy, Dandelion, and Violet. We purchased the set for $9, and all the pieces are in excellent condition, some of them mint condition.

This is the Dandelion pattern, and it might be my favorite pattern.

This wildflower is called a Wild Pink.

I believe this is a breakfast set because there are twelve small coffee mugs and twelve small plates. I set our breakfast room table for breakfast.

I started with a Simply Shabby Chic tablecloth and matching napkins.

I added Pier1 plates as chargers and the vintage speckleware plates. They match the roses on the table linens. The speckleware is in the Sweet Clover pattern.

I added the napkins with vintage duck napkin rings.

This plate is the Field Daisy pattern.

Violet pattern

Buttercup pattern

I needed breakfast serving pieces: I added a jam pot, honeypot, berry basket, marmalade pot, and butter bell.

Close-up of berry basket

Marmalade pot

This little bird and the ducks remind me of spring.

Jampot

Honeypot

With all the wildflowers, I needed a bee on the table.

Butter bell

I have a tray with the rest of the plates and mugs. They're ready to take outside as soon as it's warmer. I had planned to set our table on our deck, but it's been too cold and windy (unseasonably cold and windy) here in Central Alabama. Yesterday morning (March 20th) it was colder here than in New York City by a couple of degrees!

Table linens: Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic

Speckleware and napkin rings: Vintage

Salt and pepper set, jampot, honeypot, and vase set: MacKenzie-Childs

Butter bell, marmalade pot, and berry basket: Anthropologie

Glass candlestick, wooden tray, and dinner plates used as chargers: Pier1

Match striker: Farmhouse Pottery

Flatware: Horchow

Green and yellow tea light votives: Leaf 'n Petal

Thank-you so much for your visit and indulging me in my nostalgic take on a spring tablescape. Please be sure to visit the other twenty blogs participating in the hop. If you're reading the posts in order, Patti @ Pandora's Box is next. Patti is my Friend!

Panoply - Preppy Pink & Green Spring / Easter Tablescape

Home is Where the Boat Is - Cottontail Farms

Everyday Living - The Blessing of Easter

Corner of Plaid and Paisley - One Happy Bunny

Bleu Belle Interiors - Spring Brings Joy

Living With Thanksgiving - Easter Fun

Hyacinths for the Soul - Springtime Pleasures

Celebrating Everyday Life - How to Style an Elegant Easter Brunch Table

The Painted Apron - Carrots and Cottontails

The Bookish Dilettante - Tablescape Blog Hop: Wildflowers for Spring

Pandora's Box - A Dollar Tree Dessert Station

My Thrift Store Addiction - Egg-cited for Spring Breakfast Table