New Harmonies Table Decorations

I have had no time to blog or visit blogs this summer - I have missed SO much!!! I have been decorating tables and here is one that was very special. Our Arts Council is having an exhibit from the Smithsonian Museum's Museums on Mainstreet Program called New Harmonies which celebrates American Root Music - jazz, bluegrass, gospel, blues, etc. We had a Grand Opening for the exhibit and I did the table decorations.



I am linking this to Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH.

Also Linking to Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters.



For the centerpiece I used a fiddle and a mandolin. I was lucky enough to have my daughter's violin/fiddle and one of her friend's loaned us the mandolin. Getting them to lean just the way I wanted was a bit of a challenge. I finally used 2 glass cake plates with lips which could hold up the instruments, a vase to hold up the mandolin's neck and a ham holder to more securely hold the fiddle. All of these got covered with black fabric which blended with the black table cloths.



Around the tables I used pennants made of old sheet music glued to ribbon and then attached to the edge of the table.





The wall above the table looked really blank, so at the last minute a friend loaned me a grapevine wreath she had made and I stuck some miniature musical instruments (Christmas ornaments I had to dig out) and a mini watering can and some fans made of old sheet music. I made a bow out of Ivory & Black striped and black swirled ribbon to go with the old sheet music and VOILA - the wall was no longer blank!



For the flowers, I wanted to use sunflowers, preferably free sunflowers, but by last weekend all the sunflowers around here were past their prime. So I got several bouquets of grocery store flowers which had a few sunflowers in them and used those plus flowers and greenery from my yard and my friends.

I put magnolia leaves behind the musical instruments  and the the flowers in galvanized tin containers from the Target dollarish section (bought these a few years ago.) The flowers I used were: Sunflowers, Mums, Black-eyed Susans, Zinnias, Berries, Goldenrod, Asters, Acuba and Cotton Blossoms. Yes, I went out to a cotton field on the day of the event to cut cotton blossoms! I thought they added to the American Root theme!

For refreshments, the committee used napkins and plastic cups in yellow, orange and green to complement the flowers. I think they really stand out nicely against the black tablecloths.



The event was a BIG success with lots of visitors. The Exhibit is amazing as was the live music and food! Happy Tablescape to all of you!