Friday, October 30, 2009

Cajun Corner - Vol 1 No 22

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 22 – OCTOBER 30, 2009


Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

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Poor George has had some major dental work done recently, which means that I’ve been sitting in the reception area reading all of the magazines. I noticed that there is a new trend, especially for travelers, of a bed bag or dream sack. It is a bag/sack the size of the top of the bed, made of sheeting fabric, some advertise silk, with a pillow pouch. Some do not have the pillow pouch and are intended to simply lay over the hotel bed, pillow and all. The purpose is for times when you stay in a hotel and you are concerned about hygiene. Instead of sleeping under their bedding, you sleep in your bed sack. Two sides are open. I guess it’s like a very large sleeping bag but not as bulky and no zippers. Here is one of the advertisements:

“Suspicious of hotel bedding? Pack your own silk DreamSack®. Those hotel sheets may look clean, but you're wise to be wary. Best bet: Pack a soft, luxurious DreamSack in your bag (it stuffs into its own 8 x 4 x 1" pouch). 100% silk keeps you cool and dry in the summer, and warm when the temperature drops. DreamSack has a built-in pocket for a pillow, and a side opening that closes with tab fasteners. Machine washable; quick drying. (93 x 69")”

I wonder if anyone would be interested in these sacks. Of course, they can be personalized. I have seen them from $25 to Hundreds of dollars. If anyone is interested in this, let me know and I will do further research and come up with a price. It really is a shame that we have to be so wary of hotel linens.

Speaking of bedding and sheets, did you know that not all Egyptian cotton is luxurious. The fabulous Egyptian cotton that you hear about comes from one specific area of Egypt. The good ole USA has a cotton of equal quality called PIMA.

Also, the higher the thread count on bedding is not necessarily the better. A really good thread count is 300-400, maybe even 500. Above those figures is a rip off. The way I understand it is that they count the threads on the warf and weft (up and down, and side to side) per inch to arrive at the thread count. There simply is just so much that can be placed into a one inch square. After about 400 threads, the math becomes fuzzy and the count starts to double and sometimes triple due to multi-ply. The multi-ply is simply twisted threads that are counted in multiples and are not as strong and luxurious as single ply. Be careful out there looking for high thread counts when purchasing bedding.

By the way, Cajun Stitchery now has GIFT CERTIFICATES. The gift certificates are in any denomination that you like. Give them for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, whatever the occasion. Have you ever wanted to give a gift but you just weren’t sure what the person wanted? Give a gift certificate to assure they receive a gift of their liking. Are you giving a gift of a towel or shirt? You’d like to personalize it but you really don’t know if the recipient would prefer their name or initials. Give the gift with a gift certificate and we can personalize it anyway they want. Unlike the gift cards that cost you $5 or so just for the card and then the amount for the recipient, there is no extra or hidden charge for these gift certificates, except for sales tax if you live in Florida.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

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The phone rings in Iberia Parish Emergency Services and the new girl answers her first call exactly as trained.

“Emergency Services, dis is Marie, what’s the nature of your emergency?”

An excited voice yells, “MARIE, DIS IS BOUDREAUX. ME AN’ OLD MAN JOHN IS SQUIRREL HUNTIN’ BY DA BAYOU. JIST NOW OLD MAN JOHN, HE DROP HIS GUN, HE GRAB HIS CHESS, AND HE FALL DOWN. HE FLOP AROUND A BIT, BUT NOW HE’S REAL STILL – MARIE, I TINK HE BE DEAD. I GOT MY CELL PHONE AND CALL. WHAT I GOTTA DO?”

Marie replied using her most calming and reassuring voice just as she was trained to do. “Mr. Boudreaux, calm down. You’ve done the right thing. We’ve handled things like this many times before. Now this sounds like a possible heart attack with victim dead. Sheriff Thibodeaux made up a list of things to do in this situation. You and I will just work our way through the list and everything will be all right. Are you with me Mr. Boudreaux?”

“Yeah, okay”, Boudreaux replied in an anxious voice.

“Good. Now the first thing on the list is,” Marie said still in her calming voice, then reading, “Make sure the victim is dead … that means --.”

But Marie got no further. She heard the phone hit the ground, then a metallic clank, followed by a loud BOOM. Her ears were still ringing when Boudreaux got back on the phone.

“Okay. Now what?” Boudreaux asked.

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French phrase of the week: joliment (adv.) very; pretty much. Ça va joliment bien aujourd'hui. (It's going pretty well today.)

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Fall is ending and you are getting ready for the first frost but you still have green tomatoes on the vine, what do you do to ripen the green tomatoes? Pinch off all remaining flowers. The flowers are not going to make it to maturity anyway.

There is controversy over pruning the suckers on the tomato vine. I definitely remove the suckers. It just seems to make the plant healthier and produce more. My theory is that if it doesn’t look picture perfect, get rid of it. If a leaf is turning brown or spotted – I remove it. Whatever doesn’t look perfect is usually removed from all of my plants.

Use soap in your garden. It gets rid of the little mites and stuff in there. The soap is sticky and the bad stuff gets stuck and washed away.

Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list.

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.
Christmas is right around the corner – have you done your shopping yet? Take advantage of this week’s special and get ahead of the shopping rush.

Cajun Stitchery

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Fall is in the Air

The Blue Angels are flying overhead as I write this entry.  Every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings the roar of the Blue Angels fills the skies in Warrington.  I always get excited listening to them and watching their maneuvers over my house.  My own private show one, two, three, four, five ... all in formation or screaming through the skies in various directions.

This month Cory Station apparently acquired a new sound system.  Now we get taps at night and all kinds of bugle calls and announcements during the day.  Since I hear it at my home, which is a mile or two away from Cory Station, I can only wonder how loud it is on Cory Station. 

The weather has cooled and really feels like Fall.  Our neighborhood group has been getting together for our wonderful weekend Fire & Wine parties.  This past weekend several of the group went to Georgia to move Buddy's mother and brother to Pensacola.  The remainder of us had the Fire & Wine party at my house.  I boiled shrimp straight from Joe Patti's, which means they are fresh.  If you are not from Pensacola and decide to visit this wonderful place, make sure you stop by Joe Patti's.  The boats come in with fresh seafood everyday.  Anyway, I boiled 10 pounds of shrimp and others brought various appetizers.  Then we settled down into a lovely, peaceful meal and companionship in front of the chiminea with cajun music playing in the background.  Oh what a glorious evening that was.  The gang was back from Georgia the following evening and we went over there with left over shrimp.  And then Monday night, since they had been unpacking all day and were exhausted, we had them over for shrimp gumbo.  A little bit of shrimp goes a long way.

Cajun Stitchery has been jamming, too.  Our customers are getting their Christmas shopping done and over so they can party through the holidays.  You just can't beat personalized gifts.  Everyone wants the personalized gift bags for a mere $5.00 each.  Much to my chargrin a lot of projects have gone out the door without photographs taken.  The camera is ready to take more pictures and I hope to have a plethera of photos by this weekend.

We also personalize those cute little Santa hats with the white around the edges, not to mention Christmas stockings.

Keep an eye out because Cajun Stitchery will be offering gift certificates soon.

C'est tout mes amis.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Cajun Corner Vol 1, No 22

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 22 – OCTOBER 23, 2009
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
ΘΘΘΘΘ
I was born in Marietta, Georgia at Kennestone Hospital. Our little family was living in Georgia because my father was dying of Hodgkins Disease and his family lived in Georgia. When I arrived into this world, I was well over a month late. Mama always told me the story that she was dressing Nancy for a Halloween party when her water broke. We were living in Woodstock, Georgia which was a significant drive to the nearest hospital, Kennestone – remember this was in 1950. She gave birth to me around 2:00 a.m. While in the hospital, the nurses came by to complete the information on the birth certificate. Mama says that she told the little southern girl that she wanted her daughter’s name to be Marguerite Odette Poor. Apparently you are not allowed to have the name Marguerite in Georgia because she wrote Margaret Odette Poor. Alas, I was official and had a name. As it turned out Mama’s nurse was named Peggy and asked Mama to call me Peggy. It stuck and that’s my name.

Growing up I seemed to have a lot of name issues. Having the last name of “Poor” leads to volumes of jokes and teasing. When I attended Mt. Carmel in Lafayette (first through third grades), the hook at the back of the room where I would hang my little coat read “Poor, Peggy”. Poo yie. When my mother married my step-father, Johnny, the question always arose, “why is your last name not the same as your daddy’s?” Well, that was in Louisiana. In Georgia, my daddy’s last name, Delhomme, was kind of like Marguerite. No one could spell it or pronounce it, so it was avoided at all cost. In Louisiana, it’s pronounced da-loam. In Georgia, it’s pronounced dell-homey. Translated it is “the man.” He sure was “the man” in my life.

In Georgia the big department store of the day was Rich’s. The Rich family owned it. I don’t believe I could tell you how many times people would say, “Peggy, if you were to marry one of the Rich boys, you could be Peggy Rich or Peggy Poor Rich.” The only thing to do with a name like that is beat everyone to the punch. So, I would just explain that I was raised at the Poor House. Later in life I learned that the big stock company, Standard & Poor, is actually a distant relative.

Before I was old enough to attend school and we lived in Louisiana, my Grandmother Theaux (pronounced th-ey-oh) took care of me while Mama and Daddy were at work. Everyday my Grandmother would get the mail and go through it making little stacks for each person in the household. I always had a stack of mail addressed to “occupant”. One day I asked my Mama if “occupant” was one of my middle names. She loved that story.

How many nicknames have I had? Of course, there is Peggy. The history of Peggy is that the name Margaret is as old as the Bible. Through the course of time Margaret became a myriad of names, including Marge, Margie, Mag, Maggie, Meg, Meggan, etc. All of these are nicknames of Margaret. Further through time the Meg and Meggan were changed to Peg and eventually Peggy.

In Woodstock, my name was “Baby.” My step-grandmother Poor had been an English professor. That was quite a feat for a woman in the early 20th century. When I was born, she was 60 years old and quit teaching to help care for me. As I said, my father was dying when I was born. He died when I was 10 months old. While he was alive my mother was busy caring for him, my sister and myself. Grandmother Poor stepped in to help ease the situation. Although they all lived together, she used to say that she took me from the day I was born and raised me. Even after Mama married Johnny and moved us to Louisiana, Nancy and I would spend the summers in Woodstock with Grandmother Poor. Everyone knew me as grandmother’s baby and called me “Baby.”

In Louisiana, my Grandfather Theaux had a “term of endearment” that he used to call me, fonte pouchambre. I know I am spelling this wrong and if any of my french speaking readers can help me find the correct spelling, I would appreciate it. The meaning of this term of endearment is, and you thought Poor was bad, “bottom of the slop jar.” I was his little “fonte pouchambre.”

Then, of course, my mother’s nickname for me was “tit crotte” meaning “little shit.”

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be more desired than great riches…” People love to be called by their name and people love personalized items. Don’t forget to make your Christmas gifts personalized. An initial, name, or even a nickname on an item increases the value to the recipient.
Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

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One day Boudreaux went to the doctor to get a check up. Boudreaux says to the doctor, "Mais you know something doc ... my wife Clotile, she's having trouble wit her hearing."

De doc say, "Well Boudreaux, how bad is it?"

"Mais doc I don't know how bad it really is but she don't seem to hear me at all. Whats de best way to find out how bad her hearing is?"

De doc say, "Boudreaux, when you get home stand about 20 feet behind Clotile and say something in your regular voice. If Clotile don't respond then move up 10 feet and try again. If you don't get any response again move up 5 feet and try, then if you don't get any response move right up behind her and try."

When Boudreax got home, Clotile was wash dem dish in de sink so he get about 20 feet back and say, "Clotile what we havin for dinner?"

Mais there was no response, so he move up 10 feet and say dat again. Still no response so he move up 5 feet and try. Nothing...

"Hunh, it worse dan I tought," Boudreaux say to himself.

He move right up behind Clotile now and ax her one mo time, "Clotile, what we havin for dinner?"

Clotile turned, looked at him and said, "for the fourth time, I said we havin' chicken and rice!".

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French phrase of the week: itou (adv.) also; too. Moi itou, je veux partir. ( I want to leave, too.) Variant: aussi.

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We have been cleaning the yard and putting in our winter garden over the past couple of weeks here at Cajun Stitchery. Our vegetable garden is built into our landscape, right outside the kitchen door. We created the garden in raised beds to prevent so much back-breaking work. Many years ago I read an article on helping the disabled to garden. Raised beds were used and a wheelchair move around the yard and garden, from flowers to vegetables. What a great idea?

We also maintain two compost areas. One area actively receives the leaves, waste, paper, etc., while the other ages, being hosed and turned frequently.

We try to maintain our perennial vegetables and fruit outside of the vegetable garden area. That area is reserved for annual fruits and vegetables, only. I must admit that some perennials do creep into the vegetable garden because some perennials, such as peppers, are treated like annuals.

Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list.

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Christmas is right around the corner – have you done your shopping yet? Take advantage of this week’s special and get ahead of the shopping rush.

Cajun Stitchery

Friday, October 16, 2009

Cajun Corner - Vol. 1, No. 21 - October 16, 2009

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 21 – OCTOBER 16, 2009
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
ΘΘΘΘΘ
Ah, bookkeeping. We used the freebee Quicken to its limits and finally broke down and purchased the official, super-duper, version of Quicken. I’m still learning. Quicken is supposed to just pop up and tell me what sales tax I owe the government. Since it’s time to pay the quarterly sales tax, I sure hope that feature works. Then it’s supposed to tell where Cajun Stitchery makes the most money. I’m certainly looking forward to that function. The problem is that I’d rather be embroidering than playing with the books. Eventually, I’ll either learn Quicken and all of it’s features or I’ll hire a bookkeeping service. Right now, we are doing it all.

Today is our first really Fall feeling day. The windows are open and the fresh air is circulating in the house. Spring and Fall, my favorite times of year.

The tomatoes, beans and peppers are still producing in the garden. One of our neighbors introduced us to Philipino Beans. They are just like snap beans only longer, about 12” long. They cook and taste exactly like snap beans and are prolific. It only takes a few a day to feed George and me. There simply is nothing like the taste of food cooked fresh out of the garden. You cannot buy that at Wal-Mart. I can’t wait until next Spring when the asparagus will be ready to begin harvesting.

My pet is my herb garden. The oregano was so prolific that we had to take it out of the garden this past Spring. We planted it around the yard but none of it seemed to take. However, we have noticed a bit of the oregano that we planted near an oak tree in the back is now growing. Can’t wait until Spring. Parsley almost tied with the oregano this year. The parsley was in a separate area and didn’t have a chance to overtake anything else. We did end up having so much parsley that we had to take out about half of the plants to make room for other plants.

Blackberries are our usual nemisis. This year we decided that we are going to clear out a patch in the corner of the yard and just let the blackberries grow. We are still trying to find time to do that. Blackberries remind me of spending the summers with my grandmother in north Georgia when I was a little girl. She had probably an acre of land in front of her home that was nothing but rows of blackberry bushes. Nancy and I would each take a bucket and harvest blackberries. We probably ate as much as we harvested. It sure did occupy our time, though. We would return to Grandmother with buckets of big, juicy blackberries and two little girls with blackberry juice staining our clothes, our hands, our mouths, and all of the little cuts from the briars. With those kinds of memories, how could I even think of getting rid of all of the blackberries in the yard? They just need to be controlled. There is nothing like hot blackberry cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

In addition to the above, we have onions, garlic, and broccoli growing now. Those are not ready to harvest yet. We also need to get out there and do our October planting. Florida is wonderful for gardening. You can garden 12 months out of the year.
Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.
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Boudreaux and Pierre were flying Cajun Airlines. Pierre was flying da plane and Boudreaux was in da back foolin wit da cargo equipment an stuff.

Da plane hit some turbulence an started bouncing aroun' an Pierre got knock unconscience. Den da plane start driftin.

Boudreaux him come run up to da front an saw dat Pierre was sprawl out over da steerin wheel.

Well, Boudreaux don know nuttin bout flyin an he start to get panaky. He grab da microphone and holla "May Day! May Day! Dis is Cajun Air Line 10210. Pierre, him knock unconscence an I don know nutin about flyin dis plane!"

"Dis is da control tower," someone answer. "Don you worry bout nutin. We gona splain how fo you to land dis plane, step by step, ah gar-on-tee! Jus leave aryting ta us. Fus, how high are you an what's you position?"...

Boudreaux thought a minute, den say, "I'm five foot ten an I'm all da way to da front of da plane."

"No! No!", answer da tower. "What's you altitude an where's you location?"

Boudreaux say, "Man, ah got a po attitude, an I'm from Thibodaux!"

"No! No! No!" came an exasperated voice. "Ah needs to know how many feet you got off da groun an how you plane's in relation to da airport!"

Boudreaux start to panic by dis time. He say, "Countin Pierre's an mine we got fo feet off da ground an I don bleve dis plane's related to you airport!"

A long pause --- "We needs to know who you next of kin is and where to send da flowers!"

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French phrase of the week: habillement (n.m.) [AH BEEY MAn] 1. clothing. 2. outfit.
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1. Mulch your flower beds and trees with 3" of organic material - it conserves water, adds humus and nutrients, and discourages weeds. It gives your beds a nice, finished appearance.
2. Mulch acid-loving plants with a thick layer of pine needles each fall. As the needles decompose, they will deposit their acid in the soil.
3. The most important step in pest management is to maintain healthy soil. It produces healthy plants, which are better able to withstand disease and insect damage.
4. Aphids? Spray infested stems, leaves, and buds with a very dilute soapy water, then clear water. It works even on the heaviest infestation.
5. Compost improves soil structure, texture, and areation, and increases the soil's water holding capacity. It also promotes soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development.
6. Look for natural and organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers, such as the use of compost. Our use of inorganic fertilizer is causing a toxic buildup of chemicals in our soil and drinking water.

7. When buying plants for your landscape, select well-adapted plant types for your soil, temperature range, and sun or shade exposure.
Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list.
C’est tout, mes amis
Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com
P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.
Christmas is right around the corner – have you done your shopping yet? Take advantage of this week’s special and get ahead of the shopping rush.
Cajun Stitchery

Friday, October 9, 2009

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 20 – OCTOBER 9, 2009

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 20 – OCTOBER 9, 2009


Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

The 2nd Annual Pensacola Beach Arts & Wine Festival is now over. The festival was quite a learning experience for us. It was much smaller than I had envisioned. It is only the Second Annual. This is a good start for the beach and I’m hoping that they continue the festival and help it grow. The beach does not have another arts and crafts festival and there are so many talented artisans in this area and especially on the beach.

We began Saturday with me worried that we wouldn’t have enough products to sell. We did. The new canopy was a dream. It was real easy to put up and take down. There was a steady flow of people passing by, but not a lot of people. The trolley did drop off and pick up people throughout the day right in front of our booth. That meant that people were browsing around while they waited on the trolley. That’s a good thing. There were a lot of tourists and a good share of islanders, as well. Our wonderful neighbors/helpers were a big asset to our booth. By the end of the day we realized several things. One was that we needed music. There was no music. We brought music on Sunday but we were rained out.


Next year we will have the same booth, with ample products, but with several changes. That was the beauty of this festival. It was small enough for us to learn. Our booth sat behind and to the side of the other booths. We needed some sort of attraction because we blended into the scenery. The music probably would have done the trick, but next year we will also have lots and lots of color. It’s a good thing that we didn’t have time to embroider our tablecloth with our logo, as we had planned. The tablecloth was used folded in half. It was much too long for our table. We also did a lot of the right thing that we will repeat next year. Many of our new business cards were handed out. There were several inquiries into business logos on shirts and other non festival type embroidery possibilities. The public relations alone was worth the whole thing. In my view, the weekend was very successful.


The table cloth issue gave me an idea about the display tablecloths. Next year we will have a piece of cloth, like a runner, going from back to front (rather than side to side as most runners lay) with our logo on the runner, rather than the tablecloth. That way no matter how large or small our table, we can still center our logo.


Of course, the SOB and Shark Alert Team patches were very popular. We sold many of those. The surprise was that the next most popular item wasn’t the little tote bags, but rather the sleep masks. Everyone was looking at those little masks. Many of them were sold.


The red aprons with the Cajun Stitchery logos embroidered on them were adorable. I planned to take pictures of all 3 of us sporting our aprons on Sunday but, that did not happen.


Since we now have the canopy, tables, chairs, tablecloth, business cards, receipts, bags, etc., we will not have these expenses next year.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.
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One day, Boudreaux was sitting on his porch and a truck drove up to Boudreaux's house and a man stepped out. The man introduced himself to Boudreaux, told Boudreaux that he was from Texas, and that he was getting some information about land in the area.

The Texan said, "Mr. Boudreaux, how much land do you have here where you live?"

Boudreaux said, "Mais, I have about two acres."

The Texan said, "That's not much land. Back in Texas where I'm from, it takes me just about all day to drive my truck down my driveway to my house."

Boudreaux thinks about what the Texan said for a while and then responds, "Yeah, I used to have a truck like dat."

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French phrase of the week: garçon (n.m.) 1. boy. 2. son. Mon garçon reste pas loin d'ici. (My son lives not far from here.) vieux garçon bachelor; man who has never married.

Pronounced: gar (like the fish), so (as in song)

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An aspirin in a vase of cut flowers will help the flowers remain fresh longer. Also, an aspirin planted near tomato plants will help ward off diseases and strengthen the plant.

Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list.

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.
Christmas is right around the corner – have you done your shopping yet? Take advantage of this week’s special and get ahead of the shopping rush.
Cajun Stitchery

Monday, October 5, 2009

My First Craft Fair

The Pensacola Beach Second Annual Arts & Wine Festival is now over.  Cajun Stitchery can honestly boast about having a booth at an arts and craft fair.  Saturday was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time.  The public relations, alone, was worth the whole thing.  Many people picked up our cards.  To say this festival was small -- well, look at the pictures.  I think the festival has a lot of room to grow and I'm looking forward to next year.  We realized on Saturday that we needed to bring some good ole cajun music.  However, Sunday was rained out.  Much of the cost to Cajun Stitchery was in purchasing items that will be used repeatedly, such as the canopy, folding table, and such.  We did sell items.  We were pretty sure the patches would sell, and they did.  To our surprise the next highest selling item was the sleep masks.  We received a lot of good input and simply enjoyed the day.  My only regret is that I didn't get a photograph of the three girls wearing the Cajun Stitchery aprons.  Right after these pictures were taken, the sign was moved from in front of the table to overhead in the back so all could see.






Saturday night the whole bunch of us were beat.  We all joined together for a nice steak dinner and at one point during conversation, my head simply nodded.  We went home and fell fast asleep. 

By the way, congratulations to Lois for winning the Wine Sip Off Contest and becoming the new Arts & Wine Festival Queen.  We have queens for everything on the island.

Most of the craft items remaining will go on sale Friday.  Keep an eye out for the sale on Cajun Corner.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cajun Corner Vol 1 No. 19

Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

What a week of ups and downs with the tote bag sale. First off, by Friday at noon all of the little tote bags with the bows were sold. We then put satin bags on sale for $5 for the bag and initials/name. Then we received more of the little totes with the bows and still have some. That sale is over. We still have some totes with bow and some in satin and we are going to put little designs on them and hopefully sell them at the Arts & Wine Festival this weekend.

The gorgeous tote with the mermaid on one side and Nerius on the other side was auctioned off and the winner was Mrs. Kathy (Daisy) Long for the sum of $28.00.

No sale this week simply because we are slammed with the festival this weekend. George has been running around taking inventory and picking up change and price tags and all of the what nots that we feel are needed for a successful booth. Say a prayer for Cajun Stitchery’s first art festival.

I finally digitized Cajun Stitchery’s new logo with the shrimp and our helpers and myself will be sporting brand new, bright red aprons with the logo embroidered on them for the festival. I do see a few flaws in the digitizing but still think it looks good enough to wear this weekend.

I’m continuing to make sleep masks on Doris. Compared to Boudreaux, it’s a slow process but we will be able to sell sleep masks, too. I need to remember to take pictures of everything before the festival.

We purchased an “in the hoop” design for a bottle apron. We really didn’t think anyone would want them but after we made one and showed it to various friends, all we received was accolades. There probably isn’t enough time to make more before the festival. We are slammed against the wall for time now. We would be interested to hear your thoughts regarding “bottle aprons” though. The design we bought has a reindeer design but the design can be changed out with anything, including personalizations. Just interested to know if anyone has ever thought about purchasing these from anywhere. They could be used in the event that someone was giving a bottle of wine or bottle of whatever in place of a bow. It would pretty up the gift like a bow would. My friend, Valerie, just loves them, not so much the reindeer, but the bottle apron. Valerie is the most talented artist that I know and I learned a long time ago to bow to her knowledge when it comes to anything artsy. So, please let me know what you think of bottle aprons. No time to put photographs in this Cajun Corner, but after the festival the photos will follow. If enough of your respond in the positive, we may offer them for sale for Christmas gifts, etc.

Tomorrow is our last day of preparations for the festival. Sorry, no sale this week. I’ll make up for it next week. I promise.

All of our projects can be seen on our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

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One day while Clotile was washing Boudreaux's clothes, she found a piece of paper in Boudreaux's pants pocket. She opens up the paper and it has the name "Mary Lou" written on it.

Clotile got real mad and stormed into the room where Boudreaux was and said, "Mais Boudreaux, you better explain to me who dis 'Mary Lou' is, rite now!"

Boudreaux said, "Mais Clotile, don't you go worryin bout dat. I went to de race track today and dat's the horse dat I bet on!"

Clotile thought about it some and said "OK, but don't you ever let me find out dat you been messin around with somebody else."

The next day the phone rang and Clotile answered it, after a while she hung up the phone and then went over to Boudreaux carrying a big iron skillet. Clotile hit Boudreaux on the side of the head with the skillet.

Boudreaux, rubbing his head, said "Clotile, mais what you done dat for?!"

Clotile said, "Mais, your horse just called!"

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French phrase of the week: festival is the same in English and French.

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Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list.

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall, Owner

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

SALE OF THE WEEK (no sale this week. Check back next week or better yet, visit Cajun Stitchery at the Pensacola Beach Second Annual Arts & Wine Festival this weekend.)

Christmas is right around the corner – have you done your shopping yet? Take advantage of this week’s special and get ahead of the shopping rush.

Cajun Stitchery