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My mom bought sterling from a door to door guy (Westmorland John and Priscilla) and while I didn't much care for it (very plain) while I was in my Early American phase, my tastes have changed and it would work perfectly for me... except the knives are ...ghastly. My stainless knives have serrated edges so they can cut (never understood why people needed steak knives because these cut so well) but they are VERY early American (Onieda Patrick Henry, from the Betty Crocker Catalog -- and I bought them all on the thrift plan, and my mother in law worked at an insurance agency and she had practically all her clients saving the points for me...I miss that woman)
I would totally use this set all the time if I could have the knives redone....Now I'm wondering if I could have the knives redone....
I say use the "good stuff" every day if you want to, why not. Wear it out, use it up. Your immediate family are the most special people in your lives and they should get the good stuff, why save the good stuff for strangers you only see at Christmas. You should be proud to have worn out your fanciest china, rather than letting it sit around and go to waste not being used. And it can be washed in the dishwasher, if your dishwasher has that kind of setting. Good quality china is actually quite durable.
My mom bought sterling from a door to door guy (Westmorland John and Priscilla) and while I didn't much care for it (very plain) while I was in my Early American phase, my tastes have changed and it would work perfectly for me... except the knives are ...ghastly. My stainless knives have serrated edges so they can cut (never understood why people needed steak knives because these cut so well) but they are VERY early American (Onieda Patrick Henry, from the Betty Crocker Catalog -- and I bought them all on the thrift plan, and my mother in law worked at an insurance agency and she had practically all her clients saving the points for me...I miss that woman)
I would totally use this set all the time if I could have the knives redone....Now I'm wondering if I could have the knives redone....
You can still get the serrated knives from replacements.com.
You can still get the serrated knives from replacements.com.
Yeah -- the steak knives are there...but I was talking about the regular knives (mine are the French knives) having a gently serrated edge like my regular stainless knives.
I did check, though -- there is a fantastic silversmith near here... I might check with him. (My knives are also pretty damaged from being hollowed handled and banged about.
When I got married, we didn't get fancy china, sterling, or crystal. Our families and friends could not afford it, and we did not use a registry. We considered ourselves lucky to have basic dishes, stainless flatware, and glasses. I must say, however, that my wife always made the table look festive on holidays.
As we grew older, our parents passed on, and we inherited nicer china, crystal, and even some sterling. We got it from both sets of parents, so we ended up with 6 sets of china (some of them service for 12) and 3 sets of flatware. After using some of it for a few years, we did the logical thing...we gave most of it away to our two married daughters, both of whom have families. They never had anything fancy, either!
Our daily use dishes are Corelle Livingware, which can be baked and frozen, and tends not to break as much. Goes in the dishwasher just fine, but we rarely use that. We did keep one "fancy" set, an antique design with a 1" wide rim of 22k gold around the edges. My grandfather gave it to my grandmother with love; she gave it to my mother with love; my mother passed it onto us with love; someday we will give it our daughters with love. IMHO, that is really all it's about!
I have 2 sets of good china. One set we got when we were married and I have since inherited my Grandmothers. We used one or the other for special occasions. It helps make those occasions special. Our china could be washed in a crystal setting in the dishwasher but I would never put my Grandmother's china in the dishwasher. It would lose some of the special feel if we used it every day.
So what I've done every year since I turned 40 is on my birthday I buy myself one place setting of a china pattern I happen to love that particular year.
I use whatever pattern I want to use every day. AND when I have a dinner party (which isn't all that often) I select the number of place settings I need and put them out on a white damask tablecloth with the silver utensils I inherited.
All of the different patterns on the white cloth look so pretty with one another that it just makes me happy, and I get compliments too.
Just another way for us old maids to have some fun.
So what I've done every year since I turned 40 is on my birthday I buy myself one place setting of a china pattern I happen to love that particular year.
I use whatever pattern I want to use every day. AND when I have a dinner party (which isn't all that often) I select the number of place settings I need and put them out on a white damask tablecloth with the silver utensils I inherited.
All of the different patterns on the white cloth look so pretty with one another that it just makes me happy, and I get compliments too.
Just another way for us old maids to have some fun.
I've seen multi patterned tables and I love the look, but it's not something I can carry off for some reason. When I tried it, it looked bad. So I must be doing it wrong.
I respect that tradition. In my life, we focus on minimalism hence my view.
And I respect that tradition. I truly do.
But in my family and life, we focus on passing down traditions, items, stories etc. We are blessed to have a lot of family heirlooms that even the youngest kids really seem to appreciate. My mother and her mother and sisters all painted some beautiful oil paintings and we have them. My dad's mom was an accomplished seamstress and also did gorgeous needlework, so we're lucky enough to have some of her original pieces, some of which date back to the early 30s.
We have a quilt that HER mother and her two grandmothers made for her for her hope chest, with squares that each of them stitched their names and birthdays on. Some of those birthdays are in the mid 1800s. My great grandmother collected McCoy and Roseville pottery pieces and passed them on to my grandmother who was the only daughter. She had only one son, so when she died, I inherited them since I was the only granddaughter. They are beautiful pieces and I can't imagine getting rid of them.
My dad has a small table that HIS great great grandfather made around 1835 - by hand. I think that's pretty amazing.
So no minimalist going on here!
Of course the flip side is this - I was happy before I had any of this, and I could be happy without it too. Possessions are a responsibility and can be a hindrance as well as an asset. So I can see both sides to it.
It's just that when I hold something in my hand that my great grandmother held, it makes me feel warm and connected to all those people that I have loved through the years. I never met my great grandmother but everyone tells me we look and act just alike. We must be kindred spirits because apparently we have very similar taste!
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