Royal Albert

Royal Albert Hall in London...

OR

Royal Albert China

(hmmmmmm...I think you might already know without any explanation ;-)

I've set the table for a nice tea with different patterns of Royal Albert China...there are so many wonderful patterns and these are my favorites!  Each place is set with a different pattern and the ever-versatile Val D'Or is used at each place.  Here we go!

Choose the pattern you like best and take a seat

Here is an overview of each place setting...

This pattern is called "Celebration" with beautiful white and maroon flowers

This one is called "Victoriana Rose".  It was originally a Paragon pattern, but I believe that Royal Albert bought them.  It is just delicate pink roses (sorry the picture isn't very good)

And here is the famous "Old Country Roses"...what else is there to say about this one!

This is "Moonlight Rose"  which is the pattern of "Old Country Roses" in blues and lavender.  You know how moonlight gives things a blue-ish cast.  This is exactly what this pattern does. 

(I don't have a salad plate in this pattern, so I used the "Val D'Or)

For the center of the table, there are beautiful real roses in an OCR teapot.  Don't worry...there are more tea pots in the china cabinet so we can still have tea

A closer look at the "Celebration" pattern

. . . "Victoriana Rose"

. . ."Old Country Roses"

. . ."Moonlight Rose"

Now for the dish on everything else!!

• The lace tablecloth  I have had for years
• The maroon placemats are from ebay just this past year (not the best fit for a round table!!)
• The silverplate is Oneida Vanessa/Francesca
• The fresh roses are making their second appearance. They were a grocery store buy
• The pink damask napkins are from ebay
• Napkin rings are Royal Albert Old Country Roses from TJ Maxx

I'm sure everyone has a favorite china pattern that you collect.  Thank you for stopping by to see my favorites!  Please visit  all of the lovely tables with Susan at "Between Naps on the Porch".  Just click on the link up on the right!

I Love Chintz!!

I really do love chintz!  I know that the word "chintzy" has a negative connotation, but I love floral anything and there is nothing jammed with more flowers than chintz fabric and pottery!  To me, chintz just means colorful and happy!!  Here is a short history (or maybe it seems like a LONG history!!) of chintz.

 

Chintz is glazed calico cloth printed with flowers and other patterns in different colors. It was originally a woodblock painted or stained calico produced in India from 1600 to 1800 and popular for bed covers, quilts and draperies. Modern chintz usually consists of bright overall floral patterns printed on a light background but there are some popular patterns on black backgrounds as well.

 

Chintz is also pottery covered with a dense, all-over pattern of flowers or other objects. The pattern is applied by transfer printing as opposed to the more traditional method of painting by hand. The main firms making chintz (including Grimwades-trade name Royal Winton) were English and turned out a great variety of chintz dinnerware, teaware, and ornamental pieces mostly in the 1920s to the 1960s. The Royal Winton and James Kent factories began reproducing a few of their chintz patterns again in the mid-to-late 1990s. Royal Winton is still producing chintz today. (excerpted from Wikipedia)

 

I don't have much chintz pottery, but what I have, I really love!    I am setting the table for coffee and a few sweet treats.  Please join me and we can talk about chintz and china and all sorts of "table" things!

 

My FAVORITE pattern is Royal Winton's "Welbeck".  It has a sunshine yellow background with beautiful flowers crowded all over!  I don't have any of this myself (it is too expensive for me), but I do love the pattern.

 

Isn't this square plate just beautiful...

 

And this teapot is just adorable...again that square shape is so pretty

 

Here is my little set...I bought this from a little second-hand store.  It is so pretty and the price was right.  It was just $25 for the entire coffee set for six! 

I love the square-ish shape of these pieces

This is so cute for a little afternoon coffee and sweet treat

These cups are small...almost demitasse size, but we can just refill more often!

Here is a close-up that shows the overall floral pattern...so charming!

 

This feels very pastel and spring-y

Here are the only other chintz pieces that I have

I also have this pretty chintz Old Country Roses teapot which was a gift from my friend Terry...she knows I am a nut for OCR!  That little creamer is from my mother-in-law in England.  It is actually Royal Winton.  The pattern is "June Roses".  It's hard to see, but the background is pale yellow. 

 I don't that that rose colored bowl even counts as chintz, but I love it!

Now for the dish on the dishes...

• The chintz coffee set was a great find at a second hand store
• The tablecloth is another that my sister brought to me from Ireland
• There isn't much in the way of silver, but I used my Oneida "Damask Rose"
• The flowers are from the grocery store...$9 for the whole bunch of roses!!
• The dish with the cookies is Limoge...given to me by a very close friend

Hope you enjoyed my "chintz-y" post today!  Thank you for stopping by.  Please visit Susan at "Between Naps on the Porch"(the button is up on the right).  You will see AMAZING tables!

Tess

The Last Valentine

Okay...is everyone red and pink'd out?  I have just one last valentine post.  I made heart shaped cakes for my Brit.  So here is our tea cart set up for cakes and tea.  He really liked the cakes and reciprocated with a heart-shaped box of chocolates for me (my favorite!).  I know it sounds like such a cliche...but I LOVE it every year!

This is our tea cart set for valentine's treats

Here are the cakes...I think I needed more cream in my chocolate ganache, but he loved it anyway

I think you can never have too many roses...and these dishes are COVERED with them

Plates for heart cakes and cups for hot tea.  There are some pretty m&ms peeking out at the top

More roses in the damask rose flatware...

Oh, there are those m&ms...they found a matching bowl, though they've covered up the roses

I love hemstitched napkins and especially in such a pretty pink

I love this new pedestal plate that I JUST bought (but didn't get a chance to find a better matching ribbon)

So I promise this is my Last Valentine post for 2011...but red and pink are my favorites, so THEY will be showing up frequently in the future.

Now for the dish on the dishes:

• The rose pattern dishes are from Iron Accents and I saw them when they were featured in Victoria magazine
• The tea cart cloth was a gift from my sister L.  She brought it to me from a visit to Ireland
• The sterling is Oneida Damask Rose
• Pink hem-stitched napkins are from ebay
• The pedestal cake stand I just picked up at TJ Maxx...I've been debating for a while.  Now I need to find a variety of ribbons to thread through
• My tea pot and the little china tray are from Tea with Grace
• Sugar and creamer are Hammersley from ebay

Thank you for indulging me in my last valentine post.  I'm so happy that you stopped by.  Be sure to visit all of the gorgeous tables at Between Naps on the Porch (the button is up on the right)

Tess

My Sweet Valentine

Well...Valentine's Day is nearly here.  My dear Brit doesn't really care for all of my tablescaping dishes etc., but he does appreciate my efforts.  I love pink and red together and this is the one time of year where it seems to be most appropriate to put them together.

Red and pink and white and roses...how "valentine-y"

A red tablecloth and white dishes, some with pink flowers

I made place cards from old-fashioned valentines I found on the internet.

This one obviously is for my honey

My husband prefers dark chocolate and I WAS a milk chocolate lover...but he has won me over to the "dark" side.  And what is Valentine's Day without chocolate?  Make mine Ghirardelli! 

My wonderful husband surprised me with the DVD of Downton Abbey, Season One.  Isn't he the sweetest?  He DOES pay attention sometimes!

What is more romantic than roses everywhere!

I've planned a dessert involving hearts and cake and chocolate

 to put on the pink glass cake pedestal

Here is the table with candlelight.  I think it's cozier to be next to each other

Cyril is checking see if his name is on the placecard...

Sorry Cyril...back to your footprint bowl!

Now for the dish on the dishes...

• The dinner plates and cream soup bowls are Royal Albert "Val D'Or"
• The pink flowered plates, including the cake plate under the candle, are Paragon "Victoriana Rose" and is one of my favorite patterns. I've been collecting for years (from ebay)
• The champagne flutes were a wedding gift from our wonderful friend, Bill
• The tall goblets and the bowls are the palest pink and are from QVC several years ago
• The silverplate is Oneida Vanessa/Francesca from ebay
• The pink damask napkins are from ebay and the Old Country Roses napkins rings I found at T.J.Maxx (we still don't have a Home Goods)
• The pink glass cake pedestal is from ebay as well.  I just love the color!
• The red chenille tablecloth with the damask pattern was on sale at Linens'N Things from a while ago
• The place card holders were a gift

I hope everyone is looking forward to a Happy Valentine's Day!  And I thank you for stopping by!! 

Back to Reality

The first season of "Downton Abbey" is over :-(

So I've put away the "good" china for now and am back to the reality of lots of snow and comfort food on regular dishes.  We didn't get the huge storm the weatherman was promising, but we had enough added to the piles we have already and it is snowing right now.

I made some turkey soup which my husband actually likes (vegetables and all!!) and he has discovered that he also likes grilled cheese sandwiches...who doesn't love melty warm sandwiches!!  So a cozy casual dinner of soup and sandwiches seems appropriate for the dead of winter.  I also made brownies.  These are the richest, most wonderful brownies ever, thanks to Alton Brown.  I have included the recipe below.

Just an overview of the table...it's pretty casual but you don't need much for soup and sandwiches!

All we need are plates for sandwiches and dessert.  A bowl for soup, fork for dessert because the brownies are so moist and rich and a large soup spoon.  That mug is for hot chocolate to have with the brownies...you can NEVER have too much  chocolate!!!

A napkin with cabbage roses in black, red, and green

Here are the brownies...I couldn't think of a better centerpiece!!!!   :-)

These brownies were on "Good Eats" with Alton Brown...I just love him...he's so informative and funny!

Cocoa Brownies
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
4 large eggs
1 cup white sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
1 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light
yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into an 8-inch square pan. (Spray w/veg spray); make a sling of parchment paper and spray again) Bake for 1 hour (I find that I end up baking for 1 hr. 20 min). Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan. When it's done, pull up with the edges of parchment and put on a cutting board. Move to a rack to cool.  Cut to the size that you prefer. (Sorry this recipe looks so odd...I have been trying to fix it for way longer than my reserve of patience...unfortunately, this is how it is right now!)

Thank you for stopping by...I hope everyone who is dealing with this severe weather is cozy and warm!!

Tess