A cute possibility for place cards: a little pincushion made with a circle of fabric covering a wad of cotton and stuffed & glued into a communion cup (plastic 1-ounce cups available I think at party stores) with a name tag pinned on or stabbed on
. If you use one of the long quilting pins you could go through the name tag and stab into the pincushion so the name tag is like a flag sticking up.
A centerpiece could be made of fabric flowers on "stems" of knitting needles stuck into craft foam in a vase. The flowers could be made in a variety of ways: ribbon roses, fabric glued to wire frames and bent (I used to do those in the 70s!), or the puckered gingham sort of flowers.
Have fun planning this! I am sure your Mother will be thrilled with whatever you do.