American Girl, Music, and Intarsia

So, this week all three of us are doing different things with Intarsia by Villeroy and Boch.  I need to explain my design because I was thinking of my sister and her birthday. She turned eight this month, and her birthday party was at the American Girl Doll store in Atlanta. Here are a few pictures of her birthday.

As you can see, it was a big day for her. For her birthday, she was given some American Girl musical instruments. The two of us and my brother have taken guitar lessons, and I took violin lessons. My mom plays the piano, and we just like all kinds of music in our house. The American Girl instruments are so cute! They even came with a music stand and song books! I though all of these would make a nice center piece for a table, and Intarsia is perfect!  It's black with fruit and flowers on the rim, and the salad plates have musical instruments on them. That was a surprise to me because there isn't a hint of that on the dinner plates! I think it's really pretty, though.

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My center piece has a guitar and violin like the salad plates. Plate stands helped prop up the instruments. I used black place mats and rust napkins. I added the battery candles and some pewter mini-goblets as candle holders. (I am not sure mini-goblet is a word.) The drinking glasses are simple. The champagne glass is plain, and the iced beverage glass with the platinum rim is Argenta by Tiffin. The flatware I picked is called Cantata by Oneida. I picked it because Cantata is a musical term.

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I think the only thing I would want to add is some musical note confetti. I hope you liked it!


-Emma

Yesterday, Today and Always...dedicated to the one I love.

Forty three years ago, I proposed to my husband. Actually, we were already engaged, but I decided that we needed to set a date. Decisions had to be made quickly, since we decided to marry during spring break, which was only a little over a month away.  I was not interested at all in the wedding plans (is that normal?), but I was oh so interested in choosing my china, silver and crystal.

That was in the day, when the girl and her mother, (no boys allowed), visited the local jewelry store and spent a glorious afternoon immersed in table settings. This Valentine's Day, my table is set with some of my choices.

The dinnerware is Solitaire by Lenox, the sterling silver flatware is Strasbourg by Gorham and the crystal is Argenta by Tiffin. There were so many beautiful designs offered to me that day on the shelves of that little jewelry store, but I decided to pick things that I hoped would not go out of style and could be used on many different occasions, (add a few red napkins, a bowl of candy and some flowers and you have a Valentine's Day table).

I did choose another set of patterns, (more on that in a later blog), but these were the ones that made my heart sing! Speaking of hearts - those darling little heart- shaped plates with the pink and white polka dots are a recent purchase from Cracker Barrel!

I think that I did very well with my choices as a young bride-to-be. I am still thrilled with the tabletop choices and choice of husband - they have all stood the test of time. Happy Birthday (yes, he is a Valentine's birthday guy) and Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for almost 43 wonderful years and allowing me to feed my addiction to tablescaping!


-Diane

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