It was pretty wet and chilly, that March spring break in Austria eleven years ago — my first trip to Europe. That doesn’t keep me from thinking about Vienna and Salzburg when I think spring. The pansies were profusely blooming and there were flowers and trees making their homage to spring everywhere, despite the weather. Nature is like that.
Mirabell Palace and Gardens in Salzburg was one of the shooting locations for the Sound of Music.
Those pansies kept coming back to tantalize me when I started planning this week’s tablescape. I knew I wanted to incorporate the beautiful faux pansies I had seen at Joann’s, since it has still been too cold to have plants outside. I remembered the intricate embroidered cloths that I bought in Austria and voila! I had my inspiration for the week.
I love the delicate embroidery and the cutwork that shows the wood underneath.
The blue and white in the cloth screamed to be friends with my everyday blue and white stoneware, so that was an easy pairing.
I added a linear element in the napkins to contrast with all of the round shapes elsewhere on the table, and stacked up blue and white with abandon.
The blue and white stoneware is not new — my husband bought it when he set up housekeeping in his first apartment in Chicago — but it’s modern compared to the English salad plate. The cobalt blue glass plate is part of a set that we bought years ago to complement the stoneware.
I have several different tea sets inherited from my mother-in-law, but this floral Delft set seemed perfect for the table.
My centerpiece bicycle was purchased at Joann’s, and I even bought a brand new clay pot for it. Looking at these photos, it seems too stark, and I guess I should have painted it. I’ve never done that — what kind of paint do I use?
I’m glad to still be celebrating spring in my house, because it’s sure not summer here in Chicagoland!
I’m linking up today with the creative bloggers at History and Home Link Party at We Call It Junkin’, Cuisine Kathleen’s Let’s Dish party, Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch, and Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper. Be sure to stop by and say, “Hello!”
Love this! So beautiful.
Thank you, Donna. Someday I’m going to do a tablescape at your house and feature it on my website!
I love the blue and white! Your floral plates are my favorite, but the combo of your stack pieces looks gorgeous. The table cloth was the perfect beginning of your beautiful table. I love that intricate needle work!
Thanks for visiting, Kim. I’m a blue and white girl who gets waylaid by other enticing colors every now and then. My house is basically blue…
You just can’t beat blue and white for a beautiful table. Love the salad plates. Lovely linens, too.
Have a wonderful week.
Marigene, I just love those embroidered tablecloths — I bought one in white and one in beige. I think my plan was to give one away, but just couldn’t bear to do it. Eleven years later, here I am with two. Thanks for commenting!
Bravo on your lovely Spring table Jennie. Blue and white is definitely classic! I love the way you layered the stoneware with the floral china and cobalt glass plates. I wish I had your beautiful linens, the embroidered pansy pattern is exquisite!!
Candy, I can’t believe that you don’t have linens like this — you have everything else! Thanks for commenting and I loved your Easter bunny tablescape.
How beautiful! I love this post as is the kind I love to see mostly, where beautiful dishes, flatware and glasses are involved for gorgeous settings!
Have a lovely week ahead.
FABBY
Thanks for your kind words. It’s really fun to exercise my creativity and do a little storytelling each week.
I wanted to follow your lovely blog but couldn’t find where! Please let me know!
FABBY
I love pansies and your tablecloth makes me want to drool and cry at the same time because of its beauty. thank you for such a wonderful table. I will never be able to travel so I love looking at places people have gone.Susie
Thanks for visiting, Susie. I do love to travel, and doing these tablescapes allows me to relive some of my adventures.
Oh, how lovely are the layers of blue.
Thanks for sharing your post with Seasonal Sundays.
– Alma, The Tablescaper
Alma, I pretty much never met a blue dish I didn’t like. Or blue clothing. Or blue linens. Thanks for visiting!
So beautiful…love it all…your dishes and napkins are gorgeous.
Thanks for visiting, Bev. You just can’t beat blue…
Hi, Jennie! It ain’t summer here in the Kansas City area, either!!! Ramon and I just got back late last night from San Antonio, and what a difference! In the 90s down there every single day (Sunday – Wednesday), and when we stepped out of the airport for the shuttle back to our car here in KC, it was c-o-l-d!!! I was wearing sandals, and my feet just about froze off!!! I hear we had some pretty nasty weather here while we were gone, too, including tornado warnings. I hadn’t gotten on the computer or looked at the TV in 4 days, so I had no idea. Glad to see our house still in one piece when we arrived home!
I’m glad you have such fond memories of Austria! I imagine it’s a beautiful place to visit, even if the weather isn’t quite cooperating. When your title mentioned Austria, the colors of blue & white immediately came to mind, and you didn’t fail to deliver! This is really pretty, and it takes on a very strong tone especially with the Delft tea set!
I have painted clay pots before. I made sure to prime them first. They’re so doggoned porous!!! Prime, then paint with either spray paint or paint by hand. It usually takes 2-3 coats. If you wanna rough it up a little bit. make the 1st coat kind of dark, then paint on top with the final color you want. Use whatever you want for the effect you want (leaves, brush, stick, a cloth, crunched up newspaper, etc.) to rough up portions of the top coat before it completely dries so the darker coat comes through in spots.
Very pretty, my dear! Have a gorgeous weekend!
Alycia, you came through for me with the directions for the clay pot painting. I’m assuming that I use a craft paint or can I use regular latex paint?