What's On Your Table

Overwhelmed, inspired, going on blind faith and a prayer, the holidays are going to be here before we know it and I am trying not to freak out with the 10,000 things I want to get done. 

I'm  plugging away at it little by little and then they'll be over in the blink of an eye.

Trying to savor those small moments a little more. 

Meanwhile a lovely linen tablerunner for you to savor

from my new favorite line of European farmhouse inspired linens.

Come and get 'em while they last.
And click here to buy it online.
photo courtesy our friends at Linen Me

Otomi Textiles

 Ooooh, I brought some beautiful tablerunners back from Oaxaca.  Handstitched cotton on muslin. 

About 6 feet long.

Or how lovely as a wallhanging in a child's room?

Traditionally, they're all animal and flower motifs.

I love this section here with the two rabbits sharing a leaf.

I have about six or seven of them. Mostly blues ....

The Inner World

Roost has a new product we're carrying called candelariums .  I guess that's like halfway between a terrarium and a candleholder.  Basically a big sturdy glass box with a carrying handle.

They're kind of fun, right?  Like a naturalist's take on the Jungian sandbox.

A little moss, an air plant or two and some Mexican church candles and voila!

But who says you have to play all neutral and mossy with these?  How about some colored candles, a houseplant or two and some cones, fruits,  and nuts in your candelarium? 

We only have two sizes left so come in and have fun putting your little world together.

Bottom photo courtesy Julie Benson, all other photos taken at Roost Design booth in NYC.

Life's Simple Pleasures

Napkin love chez Passionflower.  I have always used cloth napkins, and I always will.  It's part of the whole dining experience for me.  Here's a shot from New York show with me having fun putting together some table stories.  Wonderful new napkins from Pehr Designs out of Canada - runners too.

Figalicious Love

 

 

 

Remember I promised you some more fig happiness?

 

 

It's my new favorite tablecloth in the store.  Not that we haven't had it before.  It's just that it has moved into favorite position.  Because, in between dreaming of grapes, it's figs that have captured my imagination.  And a big thanks to Tiffany Norton, from Party Dowtown, who took me even deeper into that  figalicous dream world.  I brought her a whole slew of figs from my tree.  She halved them and roasted them, drizzled a little honey and put a dab of creme fraiche on top plus a  mint leaf

and we served 'em up at our Becky Going Away Party.  How cool is that?  You bring the chef food from your garden and they cook it up for you.  Gotta love Eugene.

 

bottom photo courtesy Couleur Natur

Starting to have a thing for Purple

 

I made some grape juice the other day....it was super fun and easy although ultimately a little sticky.....I just piled the washed grapes in a steamer and let it do it's magic.  And there was a little dionysian mystery involved as the first batch came out, what my friend described as, looking like paintwater when she watercolors.  That's code for muddy greyish, greenish, brown....and then the second batch came out looking like.....well pretty dang delicious. I could go on and on and thank goodness this blog is providing an outlet, as I have been banned from discussing any  more of the intricacies of making grape juice at my house.  And I think I've developed a fondness for drinking grape juice warm!!

 

 

Plus wondering how lovely it would be to drink the grape juice from this Juliska pressed amethyst  glass goblet?  Which begs the question, how exactly do the utensils you use while dining change the experience?  Off to work as I ponder the question for the day.  And fairly soon here, we shall be finished our fall reset and shall have some photos for you.

 

top photo courtesy Ms Becky Tonkin and bottom photo courtesy Juliska

Friday Night

In case you missed the memo, downtown Eugene is rocking these days with all manner of people wandering the streets and a veritable panoply of food love - I like to start at one end and go down to the other counting all the new restaurants that have opened up in just the last year (and forgive me if I miss one, because there just might be one popping up that I missed) :  Dalia, Bon Mi , Larry's Cupcake, Barn Light, Soubise, First National Taphouse, Red Wagon Creamery, Party Downtown, ( are you sensing a theme yet?) & holding down the east end of downtown, the lovely Noisette.  Lots of these places are sporting flowers from the shop and a plant or two and this makes us happy.  Plus every now and then one of your new neighbors sends you a Facebook message saying she's testing out some gluten free brownies, did I want to come try some?  Why yes I did and thank you very much Tobi from Noisette.  I think I'll pick up a few of those macaroons too for my crew.  

Here's a little photo from Noisette of some cupcakes Tobi  made with blue  borage flowers and thyme leaves.  Aren't they just beautiful?  Tobi and I could do a beautiful wedding together. :)

And so it's another Friday night in downtown Eugene and we're going to be open tonight until 7  for Susan Goodwin's trunk show and we've committed to being open on First Fridays and we're thinking about being open every Friday night because we want to be one more little sparkle lighting up the evening in downtown Eugene.

Planning a Party at Passionflower

 You may remember my obsession with all things elderflower from this post where I wrote about the french liquor St Germain.

So it was pretty exciting to find this British infusion of elderflowers in, well just about my favorite packaging I've seen in a long time. Like if I were a bride I might plan my whole wedding around this bottle of bubbly water. 

 We have two sizes of the bubbly flavored water  - one for gift giving and one a perfect little single serving size great at weddings or summer parties. - And we also have  a "cordial" which is a stronger infusion calling for dilution with some lovely kind of wine or tea or fruit juice.

 And we are happily researching little elderflower cordial recipes as I write, because we thought they'd be the perfect little drink to serve up at Susan Goodwin's trunk show this coming Friday evening. 

 Elder is such a delicate, aromatic flavor - just right for contemplating the subtleties of Susan's magnificence.

Please join us for a sparkly fun time.

Friday May 31st from 3 to 7 or until 1 on Saturday June 1st.

Summer Dining

 

Come and get them.  These ceramic colanders are just right for washing a pint of berries (and sitting outside eating breakfast on a warm May Day!) .  Happy Saturday to All!

Mexican Textile Show on First Friday in Eugene

 

 And another little sneak peek at some tablerunners I brought back from Mexico. So very Mexicana with fanciful birds, flowers, and insects...

Love the turkeys and the burros in this one. These pieces have that dramatic exuberance

that could look great in a very modern or a very funky home and lots of places in between.

Come join us Friday April 5th and we'll have lots more to see.

Bring on the Flowers

 I'm still in Mexico, but I hear we're having all kinds of wonderful weather in Eugene and flowers are popping up everywhere....it's daffodil and squill now and soon apple blossom and lilac, oh my.  Which just seems like  a perfect occasion for a new vase.

You know how some people think you can never have too many shoes (well I'm actually one of those people).....or too many tablelinens (I'm one of  those people too).  And I'm also one of those people who believes you can never have too many vases either!  Which is why I'm so happy we just got in a new collection of Eigen art Vases in some yummy spring colors!  Any of these would be great with flowering branches or some long stemmed tulips!

A Late Winter Morning

 

Breakfast for one at my dining room table.  Loving the greeen and white striped vetivert runner down the center.  Oh yeah, practical and pretty, that's me.

My Crabby Christmas

 I love setting a festive holiday table......it usually starts with the food.  In this case -crab....typically what I would think of for New Year's but somewhere got it in my head I wanted to have crab. I was going for something sort of earthy but bright and happy....a little bit clean and not too fussy.  I decided we'd serve ourselves most of the food  buffet style in the kitchen and then just have the crab and accoutrements on the table.

 I went out for a  walk in the filbert orchard behind my house and came home with some goodies for the nature part of the table- lichens and moss and a sweet little licorice fern (something very special about licorice fern) ...starting to look a bit like Christmas.

 But uh, oh, starting to get a little crowded on that table with all the crab paraphernalia - you know crackers and pickers, and lemons and aoili, and the crab itself and places for the shells. Plus we needed candles and  I wanted to have three little mossy vases down the table but I was definitely running out of room.

 Problem solved, I would just run red and white string up and down the table.....lots of color punch and it wouldn't take up any space. 

Keeping with the new design directive that all decorative elements must lie flat on the table, I added these  masks I was going to give away as party favors.....a little devilish for Christmas perhaps but the red seemed just right.

What can I say?  Try as I might (never), I'm not a minimalist......

And the food hasn't even made it to the table.

Thanksgiving Centerpieces in Eugene Oregon

 We would love to help you with flowers for your Thanksgiving table.  Whether you'd like a few spectacular blooms.....

to put together on your own.....

Or say something more spectacular for an entryway or a buffet or a mantle.....we are so here to help you do that.  We aim to have  a great selection of unusual blooms, fruits, foliage, and berries to help you set a perfect harvest table. 

Bamboo Dishes from Juliska

Can we say big yummy?  These bamboo design dishes from Juliska are never going out of style.  There's just something faintly glamorous about bamboo while still being earthy and organic.  I ought to buy myself a set of dishes instead of just waxing poetic about them.

photo courtesy Juliska

The Festive Table

May we help you find something lovely for your Thanksgiving table?  Beautiful crewel placemats and runners just might fit the bill.

Juliska Country Estate

I am really thinking it would be fun to cook some baked apples in these Juliska ramekins.  This design is from their Country Estate pattern.  It's Juliska's homage to toile and the idyllic country life.  We can get behind that!  Lots of platter, cake plates and bowls make great layering pieces on the table.