Spring Fling

Good Morning! I hope today dawns lovely for you. Mr. Magpie and I are enjoying our favorite season here, springtime in Florida, with all the beauty the season entails...



A few weeks ago, I was out running errands, and some of those errands took me past a group of shops that I have always loved...



The shop windows were filled with spring goodies, beckoning passersby to come in and take a look...



Of course I obliged, and as you can well imagine, I did not leave empty-handed. What self-respecting magpie would do that? ;-)



No, I left with a group of six fuzzy friends in my shopping bag...



Could you resist such yellow fuzziness?



I think not!

We're having company from England (Linsday from the Cross Stitch House along with her daughter Jessica and husband Tim), and I've been thinking of tablescapes they might enjoy...



Then when Becky (Holiday in the Sun) phoned and said that she and Tami (A Girl's Gotta Nest) were going to be in town this Friday, I got busy and added the ducks to a spring tablescape that I'd like to share with you today...



I decided the ducks needed a bright quilt as a base...



The quilt contains a variety of colors including several shades of pink, orange, green, yellow, and blue...



After playing around with various china patterns, I decided I liked the way Mikasa English Countryside looked against the stitching of the quilt...



As well as the way the Tracy Porter salad plates added their whimsical charm and complimentary colors to the mix...



I am not, nor have I ever been, afraid of color...



I grew up surrounded by talented artists (both friends and relatives, some of whom are listed) who taught me to love color, and I have a particular penchant for the art of Matisse and Cezanne who loved color, too...



Texture also counts, and if you've ever seen a Van Gogh in person, with the dimensional quality of the paint strokes themselves, you'll understand immediately why I so enjoy these "textural patterns" of china...



Tablescaping, itself, is a bit like painting...



That being said, I decided to keep the flatware and stemware simple in this tablescape (with so much else going on) as it permits the eye a chance to rest...



As do the white plates and white cotton napkins...



The latter, tucked through the handle of a tiny white watering can filled with a simple white daisy...



A silk daisy, to be exact, whose fuzzy center mimics the fuzzy ducks...



I used some live plants I had on hand for the centerpiece...



And I simply propped them in this pink and white bowl I've had for many years...



Were I going to use these actual flowers for entertaining, I would make the arrangement much lower so you could see over them (hence the low bowl), and I think I would limit my flowers to the pink ones alone...



Providing a block of pink color as a place for the eye to rest...



Just for fun and to mix it up a bit...



I decided to experiment with different salad plates...



Like this companion accent plate to the Mikasa dinner plates...



I used these plates in a somewhat more dressy arrangement I plan to share with you in the next few weeks...



One good thing about these Mikasa dishes is that you can dress them up or down as the mood strikes...



And while I chose the peach and the pear to work with my color scheme, these accent plates also come in apples (Cindy of Applestone Cottage, I thought of you!)...



And I like that versatility...



And do you know what else?



I think my friends here agree!



They also agree that it's time to join Susan for Tablescape Thursday where all sorts of talented people share their tablescapes weekly HERE ...



Then I'm headed over to visit Beverly and her friends for Pink Saturday to see everyone's pinks right HERE ...



I hope you will join me in visiting these memes as there are always fun things to see and nice people to visit. I want to thank Susan and Beverly for kindly hosting us each week!



I'd also like to thank you for you very kind and thoughtful emails this past week as I grieved the loss of a wonderful friend. That makes three of my dear ones gone in less than a year, and all three were unexpected deaths. But I am certainly not the only one grieving the loss of a loved one as two of my favorite bloggers (Chasity and Debbie) lost their wonderful sister/SIL (Shauna) to a long, hard-fought battle with cancer. I extend to them my deepest sympathy and prayers. My heart goes out to you and your family, girls.

As I recall, I met these lovely ladies on Pink Saturday, so if you would, please drop by and extend to these dear bloggers (Chasity and Debbie) your sympathy and prayers. You can visit their joint blog, The Wild Raspberry, by going HERE .



Though my schedule is still spotty in terms of workmen and company, I look forward to visiting everyone and catching up with you! I did visit all the posters on two of the last few posts and still have a few more to visit. So if I will definitely be by to see everyone who has visited then and now. Thank you for your love and your friendship. It is greatly appreciated, and you are dearly loved. :-)




Warmly,

Mrs. Magpie (Sheila)





What/Where/And All That Jazz…



White Plate: Mikasa, English Countryside

Dessert Plate: Tracy Porter, Lemon Chiffon

Peach and Pear Accent Plates: Mikasa, English Countryside

Flatware: Wallace (stainless)

Goblets: Target

Quilt: Home Goods (also seen at Marshall’s and TJ Maxx)

Watering Cans: Toastie’s Booth at Southern Crossing Antique Mall

Centerpiece Bowl: Purchased about twelve years ago (Marshall’s)

Plants: Leonardi’s (St. Augustine)

Daisies: Dollar Tree (three years ago)

Ducks: Design Additions (Jacksonville... the same place I found my duck topiaries from other posts)