Wednesday, September 7, 2011

~ Hydrangea Filled Compote ~

As Summer fades into Autumn a bouquet of dried hydrangeas take center stage as a centerpiece. Not to be left out a few thistles thrown in for fun. I wish I could say these were some of my hydrangeas, but they aren't. My bushes have produced 3 blooms in the 10 years they've been planted. :-( 
 A Big Thank you Karen for sharing your hydrangeas with me.I pulled the blue compote from the office bookshelves to hold the hydrangeas.
I chose my chargers from Penney's as the base and built from there.

Cobalt blue glasses are from Walmart many years ago.
I'm sure you must think these are the only monogrammed napkins I have. lol It seems lately the tablescapes I've done have called for white napkins, loving anything monogrammed these are just lucky enough to be used.
I don't recall where I got the blue wooden napkin ring, for some reason I'm wanting to say Kohl's many years ago. The deep blue plays off the cobalt dishes quite well.

Brushed and shiny nickle flatware for a bit of bling.

Target birds peek shyly from under the hydrangeas.




Blue and white placemats are from Walmart many years ago.

Blue cobalt dishes bought many years ago are a staple at our table settings. The J&G Meakin, Romantic England, were purchased through EBay last winter. A few of those dishes are scattered through out the house and used as decor in other ways.
Wanting to carry the green theme from the hydrangeas I chose the green pear to fill the dessert bowl instead of a traditional dessert.



From above....
Time to light the candles, this is where the problem occurred, more on that in just a bit.
The small ginger jar from the shop holds sugar for your coffee.


Are you ready for a hot cup of coffee?
Here you'll see the trailing hydrangea, I had scattered a few of the petals around the table, wanting to take more pictures without the petals I blew the candles out and preceded to pick up the petals.
The candle to the right is the culprit in the crime, I went to light it and whoosshhhh! The whole hydrangea centerpiece went up in flames. The flames were shooting up into the hanging light fixture. I grabbed the blue compote full of flames and took off running flames and all towards the kitchen to put the flames out. I hosed it down with the sprayer in the kitchen sink. By this time every smoke alarm in the house was going off. I had a sink full of ashes and a huge mess. I promptly ran to open all the windows and doors fanning the smoke alarms to get them to stop. Mr. P. casually walks and says, it's a bit smoky in here isn't it? Folks I was scared out of my mind. Can't tell you how scared I was. Next tablescape I'll be ALOT more careful when it comes to placing my candles and lighting them.
Table centerpiece with the thistle
Centerpiece without the thistle. Which do you prefer?
LINKING TO:
As always a huge Thank You Susan for you graciously hosting each week. Along with a lot of others I always welcome an "excuse" to play with my dishes.