Nautical
When we first saw Nautical by Caskata Studios™ for Riley Blake Designs, we took a trip down memory lane and ended up in New England! We've lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island so there's plenty of memories and these classic nautical images really brought us home.
Long before Jess was born, my Dad left our house in Longmeadow, MA for a business meeting in Portsmouth, RI. When he came home that evening he informed my mother he had bought a house. Yes, a house. Without telling her. On his first trip to Rhode Island. Ever. (If you're keeping score, this is similar to the Corvette buying episode.)
The house was charming and had beautiful water views. It wasn't long before my mother and our whole family fell in love with Little Rhody. Mom loved to drive down to the wharf in Newport to buy fish straight off the boats. Swordfish was newly in vogue and was on her grill weekly. It wasn't long before the fishermen knew Miss Angie was quite the gourmet and would love the stray octopus that ended up in their nets.
Here she is in her royal blue slicker. Blue because, well everything we owned was blue! Mom's favorite color and the decorating theme of every house we lived in.
Which brings us back to Caskata Studios™: She would have loved their gorgeous china! Probably would have been one of their best customers since she truly believed that you needed a full set of dishes at least equal to the number of children you had. In her case, a minimum of six collections.
No question, this would have been dinner on the brick patio:
Everything about this seaworthy line from Caskata Studios™ brought me straight back to Mom's table. Which is why I chose to make place mats out of Nautical.
Mom had a round patio table, a sewing machine and a daughter that sewed. Combine those three things and you have lots of table cloths being altered to accommodate the umbrella.
Place mats were not the answer. Rectangles overlapped and looked unsightly. Circles left no room for your glass. Squares not too popular in the ready made department. What to do? Make our own pattern!
A gentle curve and angled sides make for a mat that circles the table naturally and creates a lovely setting.
We chose the blue and white prints, of course, and channel quilted them. That gives you a nice, sturdy mat but doesn't take away from the beauty of the art.
Here's what we used:
Riley Blake Designs Nautical by Caskata Studios™
C8552 Compass in blue and white for the napkins.
C8553 Lucy (the octopus!) in blue and white
C8555 Lobster in blue and white C8557 Sea Leaf in blue and white
Although we chose to quilt and bind these, you can make a lovely set by backing the beautiful Nautical prints with canvas and just top-stitching them after they've been turned. Either way, the round table place mat pattern is a real problem solver!
We took our new mats down to Aunt Paula's to photograph on her round kitchen table but decided a poolside photo shoot was a better idea. We really should have made her cook us a lobster but the pizzelle iron was hot and ready.
Jess has mastered the art of Pinterest and did an outstanding job with this beautiful board dedicated to her sweet Gram.
It's called Angela's Indigo, naturally.
Feast your eyes on this luscious red!
Thanks to Riley Blake Designs and Caskata Studios™ for the nostalgic journey they sent us on!
Do yourself a favor and sew yourself a treasure this summer with Nautical.
V.