Guests coming for dinner and what spring tablecloth should I use? I found the one runner out of three attempts that I finished last year (I'd link to the appropriate post, but that never seems to work for me) and thought about what to put with it. It is very pale, insipid with an off white undercloth and wilting against anything stronger. Also, even with all of the dishes I own I succeeded in making a runner that doesn't go with any of them. The dusty mauve embroidery on this runner (triggered by my use of cochineal in the centers of the silk-screened circles) has no affinity with any of my other stuff. I put the runner aside and considered re-doing the primrose table (green undercloth, white runner, bright flowers) but that was boring.... until I unearthed an Indian block printed white on white cotton rectangular cloth that I bought years ago. It was not big enough to use alone, but I thought it might layer nicely over the green cloth. Nope, also boring. At this point I came across a little hydrangea plant at the grocery store that had every color lurking in my poor pale runner...light dusty blue, chartreuse and that pesky mauve. When I got home the green undercloth, the Indian block print, the runner and the flowers leaped together as if by magic. The texture and colors of the undercloths supported the runner without overwhelming it.
I still had the dilemma of the dishes though. Then I remembered the unpainted blanks I bought in the Dark Ages from the Mikasa outlet store. I was hand painting my four sets of banded plates at the time, and didn't need all of the plain off-white dishes I bought for that project. They were hiding down in my studio and it took a while to get them out. Plain off-white turned out to be just the ticket for this table and thank goodness I didn't get rid of them the last time I cleaned out my stuff. Sometimes saving things pays off and sometimes plain is best.
My boys were here for Mothers' Day weekend and joined Mike's brother and sister-in-law at this dinner. It was a real celebration for me.