Consider yourself advised

Don't be doing this at 11 tomorrow morning:



Newport girls and esteemed others please note, by 10:59 AM EST tomorrow you must be at your keyboards, click fingers poised, hunched over the monitors. Lily Pulitzer returns to the online sale Rue La La. This is a private shopping service. If you need an invite, do not hesitate to email me at cccoughlin@aol.com.

And on another note, the Hostess hears from a very reliable internal source that there is a ton of Vineyard Vines on the racks at TJ Maxx stores under markdowns as heavy as 80% off original.

Happy, cheerful shopping to you all.

The Games We Play

I must confess that I do not play card games. Also, I am both a distracted and a distracting gambler. When sitting with my ever-so-brilliant with cards as well as life, and blessed-with-Grace-Kelly good looks best friend at a casino in Incline Village at Tahoe, I quickly dismissed her further explanations of Black Jack and said something like, "Adds up to 21. Got it. No problem." and quit to people-watch with Hope when I was $40 in the hole mostly from inattentive math. Further to this, later on in the same trip when I was keeping her seat warm at a table, I became hopelessly enamored of a pair of Jimmy Choo's that strode by and I had to give chase in order to further observe (aka take a cell phone photo), in the middle of a hand. Let's just say they know my name in Tahoe because cluelessness is just as dangerous to a casino as card counters.

Now that you know who I am I feel I do not misrepresent myself in telling you that I adore beautiful playing cards on aesthetic face value alone. I love a table top vignette of playing cards, books, and old cigar boxes. Ah, the trappings of cultured vices.

These British antique avians caught my eye.

I picked a table upon which to play with them.



I thought this antique deck of nasturtiums and gladiolus would be a nice touch for bridge.



They would fit in nicely here.

This girl, she is intriguing. What is that look on her face? Come hither? Buy me a drink? Oh, dear, cards which seem to be thinking provocatively. Now, this is getting complicated.



She might like it here. It is a bit jaunty just like her.



The Tiffany deck, still my hands down favorite.

It would be lovely here.



I love these antique polo cards.



Here is nice place to use them, keeping with the whinny theme. By the way, the painting is my birthday wish. You have two weeks to pull it out for me.



A lovely deck of cards or two requires a lovely piece to guard them. And not some cheesy job with hearts and spades painted on the outside. Dear, no. Something more like this rosewood piece, no?

Trianon Antiques, Boston

Now the bad news: Cards and the games played with them are literally as old and varied as the paper they are printed on. Some are literally ancient. The decks we know today can vary markedly against those made in other eras and from other places. Some have only fifty cards or do not include queens and so on. They are collectibles and in many cases, too precious to play with any longer. Best to always keep the Tiffany double deck handy in the drawer and treat old sets like the above with great care.

All above interiors from House Beautiful.
All above card decks from Collectors Playing Cards, United Kingdom unless otherwise noted.

Bag it

The Hostess is not "crafty" per se. No. More like, possessing certain skills, let's say, which she occasionally, with much irritation, presses into service. But, as you surely suspect, one does not become, or should not, an apparel sourcer with no affinity or ability towards these "crafty" pursuits. All I can really tell you is that when you argue about cashmere sweater trim stitches for a living, there is not a lot of joy in hobbyist needle turning. Occasionally however, I will see a knit that I love but dislike the yarn or colorway, or wish it were a scarf, hat, or throw. It is then when I have to suck it up.

Yarn-project baskets also bring me no great joy. But, I notice designers employing a basket of yarn as a creative visual tool now and it is growing on me. Usually, I hid the basket in a closet. It was a little too grandma/old school/country kitten for a city girl. Maybe you know what I mean?

Now I am contemplating leaving a basket out because project bags have come such a long way. A colorful array of these taffeta bags in a sleek basket would be a neat touch by the couch (There are enough colors to have them coordinated to the project. Is my OCD showing?):

Purl Soho

Idea notes: Seam binding gets a new gig

This is gift tied in apparel seam binding. What a great idea. Seam binding can be less expensive than many ribbons, has great hand feel, can be found in every notion section on the planet, and comes in tons of colors and widths. And I happen to have reams of the stuff in a box. For a change or in a pinch...

purlsoho.com

Paeonia

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.

-Audra Foveo

Martha Stewart has a remarkable garden. Not the sort of garden one develops to be believable as a domestic authority, but the sort created for a passionate devotee of cultured growing spaces. The word from people down the way in Westport, where she lived before moving here, is that she has always had a remarkable green thumb and the gardens at Turkey Hill, her home there which she managed largely alone, were magnificent and a rival to the new gardens at Cantitoe in Katonah. I have read Martha Stewart Magazine for years but the photos of the Cantitoe Farm we knew as children and the photos of it today are perhaps the only ones which marked my memory: The gardens are fantastic; the cultivars broad and unusual in every area. This photo still causes me to stare deep into the spring mist to admire and covet these few rows of peace on earth in an early dew.

The field of peonies (Paeonia) next to the paddock. I aspire to rise in room above such a field. This is a dreamscape for me if ever there was one.

I can only hope to return from my morning romp with the dogs with a basketful of peonies such as this. The photo above from the same article in May, 2008, is stirring.

The peony is a favorite of mine, it reminds me of one of my oldest friends. She is a remarkable soul. Some years ago we lost her to Park City, Utah and now to the Williamette Valley of Oregon. Her unforgettable, Jackie-esque Mother left this earth far too young but not before passing her love of peonies to Lois. Lois' wedding paired long turquoise shantung gowns with vibrant pink peonies and passed her great love of peonies on to me. Congenial peacocks roamed playfully around the ceremony. Like she and her Mom, Mary, everything about that day was magnificent: A wash in brilliant color and beautiful fabrics in Cottonwood Canyon as evening set in. A peony will always bring back that afternoon for me. And the feeling that follows is that I wish she could come home again. One bloom visible to the heart of a flower lover carries such a rich fabric of memories.

These are a few of my favorite varieties, available here.

Sorbet, Fairy's Petticoat, Top Brass

They make striking centerpieces.

And memorable bouquets.





All above photos marthastewart.com.

They inspire.
My favorite new computer trend from my favorite new graphic laptop skin designer, Lily Pang: the Peony and Butterfly laptop skin.


Peony detailed laptop sleeve in Swarovski Crystals.

Lollia Peony and White Lily Shea Butter Hand Cream.

Save the Date stamps.

Julia Knight Peony cake plate.

Red Peony accent plate.

Vietri Peony Dinnerware.


Lotus Tree Peony Fabric.


Phoenix and Peony Tray.


Peony print lined coat.


Peony wedding invitation.

I was afraid we would never meet again

This precious creature, whom I met with his feral pack when he was nine weeks old under the porch of a historic site in Corpus Christi, Texas...


and who grew into this beautiful, loving, and intensely loyal family dog, nearly lost his life today. He was saved by the combined efforts of my Brother and two dedicated veterinarians.

Puppy is a truly good dog and a generous animal that has stood by my side through every moment of three of Josh's deployments. He is protective and fearless when I am not. He loves our children. And he is my friend; he is my great bird-chasing, bridle path-romping friend. I am so grateful I have no words.

If I said

The Grey Gardens (Big Edie's) wedding jewelery is for sale, what would you say? Because it is.

Gold Standard: Royal Limoges

Oasis, Royal Limoges
All place settings are not created equal. And it matters that you have something glorious on the table, not only for your guests, but for your senses to be thrilled at the table, for your family to enjoy even if it is limited to Sundays and holidays. Many of the greats began millions of years ago only they looked more like this...



than this.

Beleme, Royal Limoges

This is kaolinite or kaolin, a mineral clay substance found on several continents but where porcelain is concerned, notably in China originally and later discovered in France, right there outside Limoges.

It is unfortunate so many bridal registries avoid porcelain because it is not dishwasher safe and perceived as too high-maintenance, too formal, or too pretentious. My kitchen dishes are from Williams-Sonoma and are very easy to manage but in the dining room, I use porcelain or bone: I am willing to do a little extra work to eat from a work of art.

If one considers a porcelain such as Limoges (which denotes the city of orgin, and not a process, quality, or artistry specific to the porcelain), a host or hostess might be more appreciative of the articles and willing to care gently for them.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries porcelains from China enjoyed tremendous popularity in Europe. An enterprising French business manager for the Crown was charged with finding a new industry for the area around Limoges and discovered the earth there held huge deposits of kaolinite which was the chief ingredient in the porcelain Europe was readily consuming from China at the time. The first mines, factories, and patterns belonged strictly to the Crown and were employed only to create porcelain for French royalty. Kaolin yields a white product and another cottage industry was born to hand paint the porcelain products of Limoges. This arrangement thrived for Limoges until the excesses of royalty were ended by revolution.


Paradis Vegetal, Royal Limoges

Ever the pragmatists however, the porcelain industry of Limoges reached out to recreate itself with David Haviland (of Haviland Limoges) as the foremost salesman of the reinvention of Limoges as the place settings of cultured Americans. Limoges rode this new train until approximately 1930 when the Great Depression caused another difficult period in Limoges manufacturing history.


Gold Lion, Royal Limoges

Though the Depression and the advent of very casual dining has created an upscale, artistic niche for Limoges porcelin in the eighty years since, many tasteful hosts continue to demand French porcelain for their tables. The Hostess is counted among these table-setters.


Boudior, Royal Limoges

You have been viewing the ever-exquisite patterns of Royal Limoges, SA., Limoges, France, the oldest French porcelain manufacturer and in the Hostess' humble estimation, a company whose patterns are still very much fit for kings.

Available here.

For the guest bath

... a couple of staggering beauties for the floor.


Find them here.