Planning for my "new" spring tablecloth

Hi friends,

Our birthday celebration was wonderful, but tiring. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. But today, I want to share my latest project with you.

It looks here like I inherited the lion's share of table linens from my mother, grandmothers and great grandmothers. They've mostly been taking up room in a closet. I just don't use them, as they're either white or ecru. They'll show stains, and they're not very cheerful, IMO. 

I had wanted to use them in some way. Some of these are really lovely, about 100 years old, and even monogrammed. Others are vintage from the 1950s. Those are fun, too, especially the ones with a little embroidery on the corners. 

I was reluctant to change them in any way, like afraid that I'd spoil them if I altered them in size or color. Well, I had a conversation in my head and decided that my grand and great grandmothers would be more pleased if I did alter them in order to put them to use rather than allow them to continue aging, stacked in a closet.

Part of my daughters' birthday celebration included a day in vintage shops up north. One store in particular had tables set in pretty pastels for Easter. It got me to thinking that I could do something special for our own Easter table this year, and not spend very much money. I could dye one of the linen table cloths and a set of linen napkins from my grandmother a pale shade of pink. I think a pale pink tablecloth would be much cheerier for spring than off-white and would go well with our dishes.

I combed through all of the linens and found a pretty damask cloth. 

The napkins don't exactly match, but they do have a damask pattern woven in. They also have a nice hemstitch edge. And there are 12 of them!

Going online I was able to score a 30% off coupon for in-store pick-up at Michael's (craft store) to use on a bottle of fabric dye. My daughter swung by Michael's this afternoon and picked up my order on her way home. My pale pink dye had a total cost of $4.34, including tax and bag fee for the pick-up. I think that's a bargain price for "new" table linens.

I will dye the cloth and napkins later next week when the weather is slightly better, and I can hang them to dry.

One pretty pink tablecloth with matching napkins coming up!

Any March Birthdays Here?

This morning I spent a few hours shopping for a couple of birthday gifts for my two daughters.  I love shopping for birthday presents. This coming Monday (St. Patrick's Day) is their birthday. 

Because it's their birthday, we tend to not do much that is St. Patrick's Day-ish. While the rest of the continent is wearing green, eating Irish soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and talking about leprechauns, two members of my family are blowing out candles and opening gifts while the rest of us cheer on.

Having a birthday that falls on a holiday,. even a smaller holiday, will mean there have to be some choices and sacrifices by the rest of the family.  It also means that going out to celebrate can be challenging, as restaurants, parks, and other fun venues are jammed with merry-makers for the holiday. We do the best we can and choose venues and times that don't overlap too much with the Irish-at-heart in our community.

This year, we'd planned on a picnic in a local park for Saturday. However, it looks like rain this weekend. So, our picnic may be at home. We'll make it festive somehow. My daughters chose supercharged BLT sandwiches (extra bacon), apple wedges, potato chips, and cake for their picnic birthday lunch. Should be tasty!

Are there any other March birthdays here? Any St. Patrick's Day birthdays? How do you make an occasion festive when outdoor plans are forced indoors due to weather?

Have a great weekend everyone!

P.S. We had the tuna casserole planned, using the homemade cream of mushroom soup that I froze last week. With the casserole we had homemade applesauce from the freezer. Another easy-peasy dinner. Tomorrow I'll make pizza using frozen dough and frozen sauce. All I'll have to do is stretch out the dough, top with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, then bake.