Monday, April 2, 2012

Bunny Napkin Folds For Your Table

Well, it's Monday again.  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We sure did.  The weather was spectacular and we enjoyed every moment of it.  All of the in town family came over for breakfast on Saturday morning and I did an egg craft with the two older grandsons that turned out really cute.  The two toddlers played in the yard and the baby ate and slept as babies will do.  We had a grand old time.  We were just sorry our New York Grandson did not get to join us.

Since it's countdown to Easter Sunday, Grandma has a lot to do here at the little yellow cottage.  We will have a big old egg hunt on Sunday followed by dinner.  That means I started preparations today!  I wanted to finish things for the table first, so I did my bunny napkin folds.  There are lots of directions on the world wide web, but I found Martha Stewart's to be the easiest to follow.   Fortunately, I found some lovely pink napkins at World Market last week.  Whew, that was a close one.  Thought I was going to have to make them.

Before we moved to Nashville, I worked at the local casino at home as the floral designer and event decorator.  Therefore, I have folded LOTS of napkins.  The difference between a nice table and an outstanding table can sometimes boil down to the napkin fold.  It always made me so happy when a bride walked in to her reception room and was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of her beautifully decorated room.  It was lots of work, but well worth it.

Grandma likes to do things for all the grandsons to enjoy, especially for holidays.  We are making memories here.   Don't you have things you remember with great fondness?  That's what we are doing.  Someday, they will tell a story about a time at Grandma and Pawpaw's house and remember all the good times we shared.  Let me show you how to do these cute little bunny napkins.  You might want to make some memories too.

First, press all your napkins.  Then, lay one out flat on a table.

Grasp the two bottom outside corners and fold the bottom up 1/3 of the way.
Grasp the top two corners and fold them 1/3 of the way down, making a large rectangle.
Now, you need to find the center.  Fold the rectangle in half and "press" with your hand.  In sewing terms, that is called finger pressing.  This is where you find out your square napkin isn't very square.  So tug around until you get it as even as possible.  Good luck.
When you open the rectangle up, you will see a center fold.
Grasp the right upper corner and fold the napkin down along the center line.
Repeat on the left side.
Grasp the right lower corner, and fold the napkin up along the center line.
Repeat on the left side.
Grasp the right corner of the "diamond" shape and fold to center.
Repeat with left side.
Grasp the napkin tightly and rotate and flip.  Bottom to top and turn over.
See how you have two separate "ears" at the top and then a fold about 1/3 of the way down.  Perfect.  Now, fold the bottom point up.
Grasp the napkin tightly and turn over.  Martha suggests placing one fold inside the other.  We would have done that at the casino and that would have been fine.  We, on the other hand, have lots of little hands, so I have a trick to show you.
I have a package of colored hair pins from the Dollar Tree that I use to make hair bows.
I took the pink hair pins and placed one between the folds on the back of each napkin.
Push it all the way up, flat with the edge of the napkin.  Now, if a curious little hand grabs one, it won't come all apart before we eat dinner!   Turn the napkin over and turn the two ears to face you, instead of each other.  Now, Little Bunny Foo Foo is read to sit on the table.
Isn't he cute?  Adorable.  This may seem really complicated to you, but once you fold one, the others will be easy.  If you need further instructions, go to Martha Stewart and type in bunny napkin fold in the search.  They have sketches that show the folds.  This is how the table looks at the moment.
There are hand painted place mats with the Peep tree in the center sitting on an egg shaped platter.  Bunny napkins sit all around the table and just WAIT until I show you how to make those cute little "egg chicks" that are in the first picture.  They will be our Easter favor this year.  Come back tomorrow to find out how.  Talk to you later.

Every Day Donna

Things to Remember:

Thought you might find this interesting.


Why Did Jesus Fold The Napkin?
Why did Jesus fold the napkin?
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?


The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was
placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave
clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was
neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

1. Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the
entrance. 

2. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!" 3. Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. 
4. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. 
5. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. 
6. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 
7. while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Is that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!


In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The
folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would
not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers,
his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in
those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because.......... 


The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"