Autumn and Artichokes

Welcome to this week's Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.  Please visit her site and check out the other tablescapes.   Didn't this week fly by?  I know it did for me.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not!

Signs of Fall and Halloween are everywhere.  I have never seen more variety of pumpkins.  What will people think of next?  The pumpkin on my front porch looked so plain that I perched a black crow from Dollar Tree on him (saw it in Blogland , of course!).  He seems happier now, nestled between the flowers and the cement pedestals (and yes, he's a male pumpkin in my opinion). 

No pumpkins in this tablescape.  I like to change it up each week.  Different table, different colors, different mood.  Today I am setting the table in my Kitchen/Great Room.  I enjoy watching color trends and using them in a tablescape is a great way to go with what's "in" without a commitment.  Purple is hot right now.  I've even seen Kitchen Aid stand mixers in purple.  (I went with classic white for mine and now I have black counter tops and it looks bad.!  Ah, the best intentions!)  This table went together quickly and I'm now a big fan of the color.

I was able to incorporate some of my Pineapple accessories (I have many!).  I found the place mats at my 1/2 price Goodwill.  Almost all of the linens I find there have never been used.  I love the drama of the black background.

I always put my place setting together first. No charger this week so as not to block the pattern on the place mats.  I used my gold stoneware plates (Ross).  These have proven to be as versatile as my white plates.  I found the purple plates at another GW.  Two are true purple and two are more of an eggplant, deep blue color.  They look brown in this picture but they are not!

This past weekend I visited The Rustic Rose and on my second round of the store  ( I always go through a store twice and that's when I discover the good stuff) I found these golden yellow square plates ($2.99 each). 

Aren't they different?   They would also be great to place a candle on.  I bought these leaf bowls at Ross.  The first time I saw them there were only 3 but on my next visit they had more.

The brand new purple napkins are from the 1/2 price GW and I layered them with a green one.  The napkin rings are from The Stationery Store located in the charming little shopping district in Venice, FL. 

The purple wine glasses are from Marshall's and the golden water goblets (they are clean I swear!) are from Home Goods ($2.99 each).

My good flatware fits in with all the fruit very well.

I added a votive (purple tea light from Dollar Tree sitting on whole coffee beans), a faux artichoke (Ross) and  my place setting was complete.

I am always looking for interesting edges on  plates.

Sometimes you come across a piece and it's just love at first sight.  That's what happened at Marshall's with this gold pedestal bowl ($16.99).  It's made in Portugal and has interesting detail.  I'm sure I will use it again and again.  I bought a bag of faux fruit for $2 at GW.  This wasn't the cheap stuff and all the stickers were still on every piece of fruit.  It filled the bowl perfectly! Of course real fruit would have looked best but I didn't have enough on hand to fill the bowl. 

I decided at that point to just go for it and add some accessories to the table.  A pineapple water pitcher (Ross), 2 purple leaf plates with artichoke candles (Ross), a leaf and lemon dish (Tuesday Morning), watermelon salt and pepper from the Church thrift store and my favorite celery dish (was my mom's).

My mom used to serve celery sticks stuffed with cream cheese, sprinkled with paprika in this dish.  I did the same for my family (peanut butter stuffed too).  Are you supposed to match the food to the dish?

 Once again, I have to tell you how much fun it was to put this table together.  I did it while I was cooking dinner last night (my husband and I ate dinner at the breakfast bar!).  This room never gets direct sunlight so taking pictures is always a challenge.  They are somewhat presentable thanks to Picnik. 

Thank you for visiting and I love when you leave me a comment.   Don't listen to your parents advice, in this case it's okay to be a follower. You don't have to be a blogger either, you just need an  email  address.

 Remember to visit my sister, Elaine,  at Creating Wonderful Spaces.  The two of us have something special planned for sometime in November.  How's that for a teaser?