WOW - Retro Red Stripe Fiesta!

Some of the most sought after pieces of vintage Fiesta are the "stripes."  Most could be classified as "rare" and I am lucky enough to have a few pieces in my collection. They were originally produced in the first year or so of production which began in 1936 and came in several colors.  A few pieces of Red and a single chop plate in Blue are some of the pieces I most treasure in my vintage collection.

This past summer the HLCCA  (Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association) introduced an exclusive limited edition Retro Red Stripe Fiesta in Post 86 Ivory. Oh WOW!!

In these images the dinner plates are the Retro Red Stripe, while other striped pieces are vintage.  Shown alone with red chargers, then with a Post 86 Scarlet salad plate, then with a gusto bowl added bearing the Christmas Tree decal, and finally with a faux gift box.  Give yourself a year long gift by joining the HLCCA.  Membership entitles you to a quarterly magazine called The Dish and access to exclusives like the juice pitcher series and this new Retro Red Stripe Fiesta.

Advent Calendars, Tom and Jerry plus Fiesta

When I was five years old and living in post WWII Germany with my family, I received my first Advent calendar from a family friend.  It was about 18" long x 12" deep x 16" tall and had the traditional windows and doors that opened for each day of December leading up to Christmas.  This house was very special because each opening was filled with sweet treats of ginger cookies and candies.  I have to admit that most of the windows and doors were opened early that year as my sweet tooth and curiosity kicked in! I've had one sort or another of Advent calendar each year since that very first one.  My kids were never as enthralled with them as I am.

The origins of the Advent calendar come from German Lutherans who, at least as early as the beginning of the 19th century, would count down the 24 days of Advent physically. Often this meant simply drawing a chalk line on the door each day, beginning on December 1. Some families had more elaborate means of marking the days, such as lighting a new candle, which may be tied into today's Advent wreath,  or hanging a little religious picture on the wall each day.  Most Advent calendars today are usually geared for children and are usually secular in nature.

A number of years ago I happened into a Crate and Barrel or Pier 1, can't really remember which of the after holiday sales it was.  I picked up this wooden Advent calendar designed to hold small toys or treats and it became a regular part of my holiday decorating.  Each year I raid my miniature Fiesta store and pull dishes out to fill up this treasure chest of mini-dishes.

I always place my favorite little mini in the door for Christmas Eve.  It's a to scale miniature Ivory footed salad bowl with the "Tom and Jerry" written in gold just like its vintage big brother.

The miniatures normally are hanging out in the "La Fiesta" store just being their normal miniature selves.

A "Tom and Jerry" is a holiday drink similar to eggnog. It was very popular back in the day and many potters created sets of mugs with a matching punch bowl for holiday gatherings.

I seem to have strayed a ways from the Advent calendar theme, but like many other holiday traditions I usually manage to work Fiesta into it somehow!  How about a "Tom and Jerry" to sip on as you work your way through that "TO DO" list?

When do stripes and polka dots go together?

Vintage tablecloth set with Retro Red Stripe Fiesta, an exlcusive from HLCCA.  Only the dinner plates are new Post 86 Ivory with the stripes, the other striped pieces are vintage.


More tomorrow on the new Retro Red Stripe Fiesta, so please check back!

Flowery Christmas Tree - Mosaic Monday

Join the Mosaic Monday fun over at Little Red House and share your Holiday Cheer!

See more about this year's tree over at Metamorphasis Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On the Porch.

Flowery Christmas Tree - Met Monday

Welcome to another Metamorphasis Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch!

Do you love silk flowers like I do?  They do serve a purpose in arrangements, wall decor, and the quality of the available products just keeps improving. But after awhile the dust and the original appeal generally tends to wear out its welcome.  Do you have old baskets, arrangements, loose silk flowers hiding out in a back closet or the laundry room or a forgotten top shelf??

What you need for this project:

Dusty and forlorn old artificial flowers
Spritzer with diluted dish soap or straight Windex
Garden Hose
(If your stock of silk flowers is limited, remember to hit Michael's or a similar source during their after season sales.  I just picked up some at their sale a few weeks ago ....... $2 for a sunflower bunch holding about a dozen blooms.)

Bring out those poor posies, hose them down, dry them in the sunshine and begin to bring them back to life!  Now that they are all clean and have their leaves curled nicely, it's time to decorate your Christmas tree.  I haven't done this for a number of years, but my Flowery Christmas Tree is back for a reprise this year.  You might notice that the bottom branches seem a little "bare" .... that's because my fur baby Homer The Cat has already starting sneaking away with ornaments near the bottom.  He takes them into the grandkids room and hides them under the bed linens.  I think his Mom dropped him on his head when he was just a slip of a kitten.

And this is one I did in 2002

Sunday Rerun: Lemons and Palms Part 2

On some weekends I'll be reposting some tablescapes from this past summer. Hopefully more visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy them on this second time around.

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Here's a different slant on yesterday's tablecloth, showing off the palm trees.  Post86 Fiesta Scarlet dinner plates, Sunflower rimmed soups, Turquoise small bowls, Scarlet Post86 Betty Bowl, Bauer pedestal cake plate, Cityscape flatware, vintage "Siesta Man" wall pockets, contemporary glassware, napkin rings and napkins from Home Goods and Bed Bath Beyond.

The greens are Crassula phyturus and the flower stems are Echeveria 'Cameo'.

Saturday Rerun: Lemons and Palms Part 1

On some weekends I'll be reposting some tablescapes from this past summer. Hopefully more visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy them on this second time around.
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This vintage tablecloth has a lot going on and depending on how it is set, can give completely different looks.  Fiestaware 2000 Juniper dinner plates, Fiesta White luncheon plates, Fiesta Sunflower medium bowl (6 7/8") Post 86 Sunflower vase, Bauer yellow compote, vintage green glassware, Cityscape flatware, contemporary napkins from Bed Bath Beyond.


Another look for this cloth coming in Lemons and Palms Part 2
The Black-Eyed Susans are Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'.

1950s Kenilworth Boo-Fay

 
It's Foodie Friday over on Designs by Gollum, bring your ideas and your appetite to the  party!

Traditionally we always have some sort of buffet table set up with leftovers, extra salads and cold-cuts for most of the meals served on this day after Thanksgiving.  It gives friends and family the chance to come and go as they shop, pick up a tree, hang the Christmas lights or whatever they might be trying to accomplish as we move forward in this busiest of seasons.  Here's an alternative to that table full of leftovers or maybe just present those leftovers in a different way to make it feel like a whole new experience!

1950s Food Ideas -

Anything wrapped in bacon!
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Frosted Meatloaf (that would be with mashed potatoes as the frosting!)
Three Bean Salad
Chex Mix
Stuffed Pecans or Walnuts
Filled Celery Sticks
Broiled Mushroom Caps
Jello Salad with canned fruit
Jello Salad with chopped celery and walnuts
Jello Salad with .... just about anything! Do you remember Raspberry Ring, Grapefruit Intrigue, Sea Siren Salad???
Swedish Meatballs
Angel Food Cake (NOT from a box!)
Baked Grapefruit

OK, I admit it, some of these things still appear on my table!

Some of the things that came to our tables in the 1950s:

Sugar Pops, Minute Rice, Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Dunkin' Doughnuts,  Ore-Ida Potato products, Duncan Hines Cake Mix, Tropicana orange juice, Jack-In-the-Box, Taco Bell , Sugar Frosted Flakes, Pream non-dairy creamer, Dehydrated onion soup mix, Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks, Sugar Smacks, Cheeze Whiz, TV Dinners, "Irish Coffee" (San Francisco's Buena Vista Cafe), Denny's,Star-Kist  tuna, Eggo Frozen Waffles, Trix, Butterball Turkeys,  Stouffer's frozen meals, Nonfat dry milk,  Burger King, Shakey's Pizza, Peanut M&Ms, Marshmallow Peeps, Special K,Pepperidge Farm cookies, McDonalds (Kroc style), Kentucky Fried Chicken,  Imperial margarine, Certs, Pam (nonstick cooking spray), Refrigerated cookie dough (Pillsbury),Tang,  [Ruffles, Rice-A-Roni, Sweet 'n Low, Cocoa Puffs, Jif , Chicken Ramen,  Instant Tea, Pizza Hut, International House of Pancakes, Royal Crown Cola, Frosty O's,  Ocean Spray brand products and drum roll please ...... Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream

Toss on your sweater set and those cute little pearls and pumps for this 1950s Boo-Fay (A friend of my mother's in the 1950s Chicago burbs used the word "buffet" in every possible situation she could.  I think it made her feel cultured in some way a la Hyacinth Bucket (Bouquet in her mind) of Keeping Up Appearances fame.

Kenilworth was a buffet-luncheon-snack set designed in 1955 by Don Schreckengost, Homer Laughlin's Art Director.  It is a very limited shape in terms of items offered.  Seems perfect for our 1950's Boo-Fay!

The recipe from the 1950's that I still prepare many times each year:

Chili Shrimp

Shrimp - fresh or frozen, gently boiled for 2-4 min depending on size
Bacon slices - thin sliced, cut in half lengthwise, fried on one side only
Bottled Chili Sauce or any cocktail sauce you prefer
Finely diced garlic to taste (add this to the sauce several hours ahead of preparation)
Wooden toothpicks

Dip pre-cleaned and cooked shrimp in sauce, wrap each shrimp with a strip of bacon with cooked side in, secure with wooden toothpick, broil for about 5 minutes or use outdoor grill, serve hot with extra dipping sauce.  These can be prepared a day or so ahead, refrigerated and prepared in batches throughout your gathering.

Everytime I use this vintage tablecloth I think it has spots on it ...... it is actually the very realistic fruit seeds printed on the cloth.

Once the food is cleared away you can bring out the coffee service and other beverage containers with their matching ice bucket.

Tea Party For Eight - Show and Tell Friday

I had originally intended to post about my childhood tea set for today's Show and Tell Friday over at My Romantic Home, but since I was unpacking some mugs/pitchers for Monday's post about my Inversé Glassware Rack I decided to do a tea party with some of the vintage children's dishes.

These comical animal character decals were used by many different potteries.  Here's a shot of a full vintage sheet of the unused decals.

This tea party is set up for eight young guests with examples of these decals from several potteries including HLC, WS George and Syracuse.

Thanksgiving - Vera's Falling Leaves Linens

"Vera's Falling Leaves Thanksgiving" for Tablescape Thursday over on Susan's lovely porch and blog called Between Naps On The Porch.

These lovely glitter encrusted leaves decided they wanted to be glow in the dark leaves, more appropriate for Halloween I think!  In person they add a nice glittery look to the table, but in the presence of a flash they positively take over the world!

So I removed the leaves and went back to do this again. Ivory and Cinnabar Post 86 Fiesta with vintage Yellow Fiesta salad plates and hunter green chargers.  American Directoire sterling, glassware from Pier 1.

I found these cute little acorn salt and pepper shakers at my local Ace Hardware for $5.00!  It's the best Ace ever, with a large seperate room dedicated to high end cookware, gadgets, dishes and ornaments at Christmas time.  Just too much fun browsing through all the gadgets ever made for a kitchen and finding a few that I just can't live without. I stopped by there yesterday to buy a fly swatter (they carry several kinds, two of which I remember from my Grandma's time) and these shakers are just one of the items that immediately jumped into my hands.

And the carts came from Michael's post Halloween sale for $2.00 each.

Looking over the proceedings from the buffet are an Ivory vintage decorated Fiesta dinner plate and an HLC vintage Kenilworth platter.

The linens are one of several new designs from Vera carried by Macy's and this pattern is called "Falling Leaves."  More information can be found at this post from September.

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays on this Turkey Tablescape Thursday.

Are You Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving?

Are you dreaming of a White Thanksgiving?  Here's an alternative to the traditional colors of Thanksgiving with a white tablescape.  This was difficult for me, with my love of color I had to restrain myself from adding just a bit of bright color(s).

It would be simple enough  to add your own signature to this look with the adition of some color......blue or green glassware, some alternate colorful salad plates or some seasonal serving dishes.