Tablescapes for Autumn Jubilee

This really is my favorite time of the year. I love the rich colors of Autumn, the gold and burgundy with rust and deep evergreen speak to me. This week, the color at our home reached its peak, with glorious golds and orange, rust and a little bit of deep red. The oaks and maples are showing brilliant red and orange, while the tulip poplars are right behind with a bright yellow gold.

Then, this stunning sweetgum in the back a little way up the mountain burst into brilliant orange in the morning sunlight a few days later. I’ll have more of our beautiful fall color for you this coming week, but for now, let’s go inside and set the table for a hot meal on a cool day.

Fall tablescapes mean getting out the fall theme dishware like pumpkins and leaves. I know I have more fall-theme dishes than the average person, but I just cannot help myself, LOL! So, out it comes so you can enjoy it with me. The challenge is to use only what I already have in a way that is new. Believe it or not, this is getting harder!

The table begins with a burgundy tablecloth, topped with my Maple Leaves topper in the center. You cannot see much of it, but this was on Moda Bake Shop some years ago. See my tutorial Maple Star Table Topper on Moda Bake Shop for the tutorial and downloadable pdf.

In the middle, I placed a pumpkin shaped cookie jar, and surrounded it with silk leaves. On each end, I put a crackle glass candle holder with unscented tea lights. Fairly simple for now, we’ll add to it in a bit.

Large rust color chargers are stacked with gold square dinner plates and my favorite fall leaf salad plates. I use these from mid-September all the way through Thanksgiving.

I add my pumpkin bowls to the setting. I had six of these, but last year I broke two of them at once when I dropped the box they were packed in. I was so mad at myself! I still have four, and that is enough for this table. Individual salt and pepper shakers are at the top and crystal water glasses are added on the right.

I love the look of gold flatware with fall colors, so that set comes out now. I put gold spoons in the pumpkin bowls for soup. Gold napkins are held in gold rings with brown beads.

So, there we are, a simple table for a fall meal.

Now, into October, we are closing in on Halloween, so let’s make some additions to the fall table. I pick up the leaf plates and replace them with a Halloween set. Around the pumpkin cookie jar I place two sill sitters and a few pumpkins. This one says “Spooky”. The plates all have different motifs, this one is a dog and some owls with bats flying over the moon.

The other sill sitter says “Boo”. The plate is a black cat on a pumpkin.

A couple of happy pumpkins complete the centerpiece. On the plate, a witch rides a broom while the smiling moon watches.

This one is my favorite, a happy jack-o-lantern patch.

In a jiffy, my basic fall table becomes Halloween. For Thanksgiving, I’ll pick up the Halloween items, and replace them with my turkey salad plates and some ceramic turkeys or my pilgrims. So, essentially one basic tablescape becomes three different months to enjoy meals. I’ll show you the November edition next month. If you love tablescapes, just click on the Tablescapes category on my sidebar to see tables from the last 8 years in all seasons.

Today’s giveaway is sponsored by Meredith Publishing, now known as Dot Dash, publishers of some of our favorite magazines like Quilts and More, Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, All Recipes, American Patchwork and Quilting, Real Simple, Magnolia, Quilt Sampler, and the New Edition of Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. The prize is the cookbook, plus one issue of all the magazines you see in the photo, including the one with my pattern, Autumn Elegance, on the cover.

To enter, visit All People Quilt and explore the immense amount of patterns, tips, projects and more on their site. Did you find a tip that surprised you, or a new free pattern for a quilt, bag, pillow or gift to try? Leave a comment on this post, then click on the Rafflecopter icon to enter. Hurry, this drawing is only open for two days as we end Autumn Jubilee tomorrow. You can enter all the way through Monday to midnight, and I’ll draw the winner on Tuesday.

What did you find on All People Quilt?