Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Three Days and Counting

Three days before the Pensacola Beach 3rd Annual Arts & Wine Festival.  So much to do.  So little time.

Yesterday we finished the banners for the tent.  We made two of them; each is 10 feet long.  These banners are embroidered and beautiful.  They will go around the top of the tent on two sides.

The stuffed pillows are finished with some minor touches remaining.  These stuffed pillow letters spell out Cajun Stitchery, and will hang on the inside of the tent at the back.  We need to attach cup hooks to some boards to finish this project.

Next, I want to work on a tablecloth for the display table in the tent.  That should consume my day today.

George is busy working on tea towels.  Poo yie!  Those tea towels are beautiful.  His caps and visors are lovely, as well.  He does some good stitchin.  We have plenty of cell phone pouches and SOB patches made.  I never got around to making the bottle aprons and still need to make more luggage tags.  All in all, I think we are in good shape.

We finished an order for 6, long sleeve, forest green, t-shirts with the Friant Forestry logo embroidered on them.  Those were shipped this morning.

There are more tea towel, and Junkanoo orders coming in. 

The American Legion post on Pensacola Beach is gearing up for its annual Putt Putt Tournament.  This year Cajun Stitchery is going to be one of the sponsors.  I needed to come up with 3 lines of advertisement to put on our sign.  George wanted it to say:  Cajun Stitchery, you bitch, we stitch.  I love that!  We decided maybe the word "bitch" was too crass.  I think I'm going to submit:  http://www.cajunstitchery.com/.  Itchin for Embroidery Stitchin?  Call (850) 261-2462.  That's more professional sounding.  Don't you think?

I better get back to work.  There is so much to do.

C'est tout, mes amis.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Countdown to Pensacola Beach's 3rd Annual Arts & Wine Festival

Blogger is having issues lately.  I've been trying to post all day but kept getting an Error.  I went to their help site and found lots of people are having the same issues.  At least I'm not alone.  I have some wonderful photographs to share with you but blogger's issues are preventing me from uploading the photos.  Sorry.

I have been digitizing all weekend.  This house is starting to look like Santa's workshop and very messy.  We are counting down to this coming weekend and the Arts & Wine Festival on Pensacola Beach. 

Today I decided to start washing and drying some of the new bath towels and tea towels.  Ever since I got that shipping receipt with the bath towels that said the towels were commercially vacuum packed for shipping and I should wash and dry to re-fluff, I've been thinking about laundering the linens before we embroider.  I read an article sometime ago that said if the item is going to shrink, then wash and dry prior to embroidering because when the fabric shrinks and the embroidery will not shrink, this will cause puckering around the design.  This is not done with t-shirts or apparel.  When I did wash and dry the first bath towel, it did shrink.  I try to get all of the linen in 100% cotton, so you would assume it is going to have some shrinkage.  Today I laundered all of the bath towels and some of the tea towels.  I just used water, no detergent at all.  The tea towels did not shrink at all.  I will not be laundering the tea towels but I will the bath towels.  I'm going to do the same test with the pillowcases.  If they shrink, then from here on out, they will be laundered before applying the embroider.

This morning George was working on embroidering Christmas designs onto some red and green tea towels for sale this weekend.  OMG!  They are so cute.  This is what I was digitizing this weekend and they really turned out adorable.  I also washed, dried and ironed them to make sure there was no puckering.  One of the Christmas Seahorses absent-mindedly was embroidered backwards.  I kept that one for me.  It's beautiful but the seahorse is placed upside down.  I just folded it and layed it rightside up on the bathroom counter.  That's good enough for me.

George is always creating new ideas and designs for his caps and visors.  I can't wait for everyone to see these at the festival. 

Oh yes, we did some of the little gift bags.  We only have 3 left.  $5 each with a name embroidered.

Got to get back to our embroidery. 

Have a wonderful week:>)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Cajun Corner Vol. 2, No. 37

Cajun Corner – Vol. 2, No. 37 – September 24, 2010


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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.

I had a meltdown at the beginning of the week. We decided that I had just been working way too hard and too many hours. We think this is called growing pains. So, we put new procedures into place. I do the computer work and digitizing and then put the disk with the embroidery design and our card with information on the particular job on a specified area in the embroidery room for George to embroider and take from there. That has worked well all week. At first I had everything clipped to a Mardi Gras necklace. Now they are clipped to a bag handle. George is going to fix up a proper place to put the orders. It’s going to be like a short order cook. I guess he’ll be a short order embroiderer. Again this week, Boudreaux has hummed along all week and we have really gotten some work done.

The pillowcases for a couple of my friends were given this week and therefore, I can finally publish the photographs. I am very pleased with the way they turned out. I did a lot of digitizing on these pillowcases and feel like I’m really starting to learn the digitizing area. Although, I still have a long way to go and much to learn.

Next weekend, Oct. 2-3, is the Arts & Wine Festival. We will be busy, busy, busy this week. It will be like Santa’s workshop getting all of this stuff done. I’m looking forward to it.

A friend of mine owns The Island Times and graciously put a very nice blurb about Cajun Stitchery in the paper, as one of the booths at the upcoming Arts & Wine Festival. George and I were surprised at the items we found we were going to be selling. Luckily, all but one was already done and ready to sell. However, she mentioned that we would have Christmas Tea Towels with beach art. That’s now on my to-do list for this coming week. Great idea! When we were preparing for the Splash Party, she wrote an article that listed several games we would be playing. We simply added them to our agenda.

Speaking of my wonderful journalist friend, we were emailing this week and I decided to be cute and write my salutation as “Sister of the Beach” in French. We teach each other French in our emails. I had to look that one up but I felt sure it had to do with soeur, which I knew meant sister, and la mer. I was surprised to find that “Sister of the Beach” is “La soeur de la plage.” That was my salutation. She replied with “l’eau de vie.” That’s not too hard. L’eau means the water. Vie means life. It was the water of life. I had no problem translating that one but thought it unusual as a salutation. I looked it up. Ha! My computer translated it as “Brandy.” I had a good laugh with that one. Of course, I’ve always heard you do not drink the water in France. Brandy would be the water of life. She says her new drinking name is ODV.

Since our two week downpour several weeks ago, we hadn’t had a drop of rain. Of course, we began watering the yard, again.

This week when we turned on the sprinkler for the garden the birds began flocking. It was mesmerizing to watch. Those little birds would bath in the water trays under the potted plants. At one time they were fighting each other to get in the trays of water. My cats had a ball watching those birds. Then each morning we would get a lone, green, hummingbird. Our little Manx cat, Polly, was on the windowsill one morning and that hummingbird was directly on the other side of the screen almost face-to-face with Polly. She was ready to pounce, but, of course, there was the screen. Do you think he was taunting her? I wonder. A neighbor told me that he had a lot of hummingbirds in his yard. Of course, he has hummingbird feeders, too. I don’t. I’ve heard from several friends this week that they have hummingbirds in their yards and the hummingbirds are migrating. It’s just so cool to watch nature like that.

Another friend dropped by this week to visit. One of the reasons she dropped by was to get fresh herbs from the garden. She has to stop using salt and instead, she supplements with herbs. She left with a bag full of purple basil, green basil, rosemary, and some cilantro. I tried getting her to take some bell pepper but she doesn’t like them. We are having a bumper crop of bell peppers this year. But she did bring me a Tabasco plant. Yippee!

I still haven’t finished the ribbon luggage tags. I need to but I don’t like them. I wonder now if I will ever finish them.

Christmas is coming and customers are starting to do their Christmas shopping at Cajun Stitchery. Get this out of the way as soon as you can. For all who have businesses out there, remember that we also sell gift baskets.

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Boudreaux and Thibodaux were big "RAJUN CAJUN”, USL football fans. They made all the games, but were getting tired of fighting the traffic and not being able to find their truck in the parking lot. So , the next Saturday nite when Boudreaux went to get Thibodaux he was riding a camel. Thibodaux said "where you goin on that camel Boo." Boudreaux said "we will ride this here camel to the game and tie it up by the front gate. That way when the game is over he will be right there an we won't spend all night looking for the truck". So Thibodaux climbed on and off to the game they went. When the game was over they came out and there was 12 camels tied up at the gate. Thibodaux said, "Mercy, How we gonna tell which camel is ours?" Boudreaux said, "I know", and walked over to the first camel, picked up his tail and looked, then he went to the next , and the next. Thibodaux said, "Boudreaux, "What are you doing?" Boudreaux said, "didn't you here that cop say, "Look at them 2 buttholes on that camel when we rode in."

ΘΘΘΘΘ

French phrase of the week: Tant qu'à toi, t'es toujours en retard! (As for you, you're always late!)

ΘΘΘΘΘ

From an email that I received this week:

Clean Green for a Cat-Safe Home

How to Keep a Clean House Without Sacrificing Your Cat's Health

By Franny Syufy, About.com Guide

We all agree that a clean house is not only desirable, but essential to the health of both humans and the cats who share our homes. Ironically though, our homes are full of household cleaning supplies which can be harmful to our cats, things like chemical cleaners, disinfectants, and insect repellants. In an effort to protect our cats from exposure to toxic substances, while keeping our homes free from dirt and germs, the About Cats Forum members have brainstormed and came up with a list of helpful "clean green" tips and ideas. We have discovered that there are a number of safe products we already have on hand that can be diverted toward safe cleaning.

Vinegar

Vinegar has a multitude of uses both inside and outside the home. Here are just a few:

• Windows: Mix 1/8 cup vinegar with a pint of water for a great window and glass cleaner. Use in a spray bottle and use newspapers to wipe and polish. For a particularly dirty window, add a tablespoon of dish detergent to the mix.

• Floors: Mix 1/2 cup of white vinegar in a gallon of warm water. Use to damp mop vinyl, ceramic tile, or laminate floors.

• Cat Urine Odor in Carpet: If necessary, use a black light to locate the stain. Use a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water. Soak stain well, and then blot with (recycled) paper towels or an old towel until all liquid is absorbed. Repeat if necessary.

• Stains on Clothing: Gently rub the stain with full-strength vinegar. Allow to site for a few minutes, and then launder as usual. Helpful with fruit, jelly, mustard, coffee or tea stains.

• Clogged Kitchen and Bathroom Drains: Pour 1/2 to 1 cup baking soda into the drain, followed by one cup of hot vinegar. Let sit for several hours, and then follow with very hot water. This tip is also useful as a monthly preventive maintenance, using 1/2 cup baking soda.

• Wood Cutting Boards: Spray or wipe with full-strength vinegar. (It also will remove any lingering onion odors.)

• Ant Control: Spray straight vinegar (or a 1:1 vinegar-water solution) around baseboards and other areas where ants enter the house.

• Weed Control: Spray full-strength on resistant weeds. This is particularly helpful if you have indoor-outdoor cats who venture outside occasionally to much on grass. Also use to kill grass and weeds in cracks in your driveway or sidewalk.

Baking Soda

It seems to be a toss-up between baking soda and vinegar as the most valuable common household product with a multitude of uses. You will see that they are often used together for double-whammy cleaning green.

• Soap Scum in Bathroom: Sprinkle baking soda in sink, tub, or shower, then scrub with a sponge or a nylon scrubber. (Quick Tip)

"Double your whammy" by pouring a cup of vinegar down the drain before rinsing the soda, a great way to keep your drains clean, fresh-smelling, and running free.

• Shower Curtains: Clean and deodorize by scrubbing with a paste of baking soda and water. (From the Arm & Hammer folks.)

• Microwave Cleaning: Sprinkle baking soda on spills and gently rub with your nylon scrubber. Pour a little baking soda on a sponge to clean food splatters on the sides and ceiling. Wipe clean with damp sponge.

• General Surface Cleaning: Sprinkle baking soda on a sponge and wipe surfaces down; rinse and dry. Works on counter tops, stove tops, inside refrigerator, sinks, and laundry appliances. (You can soak the used sponge in a little more backing soda and warm water to keep it smelling fresh.)

• Cockroaches: Mix baking soda and powdered sugar in a 1:1 ratio. Spread in areas where cockroaches are likely to hide (under sink and in cabinets, drawers, and along baseboards.

Bleach (Non-Chlorine)

Household bleach, diluted with warm water in a 1:20 ration is a splendid disinfectant. It is often used in shelters and vet clinics, and can be used at home to clean almost every washable surface, including countertops, floors, as well as litter boxes and plastic automatic water servers and food dishes. Rinse the latter two well with water, and let other surfaces dry before cats walk on them.

Lemons

Lemons add a fresh, clean scent wherever they are used. Here are just a few ideas for using lemons in a less traditional way than lemonade:

• Make a furniture polish of lemon juice and olive oil in a 1:2 ratio. Use a soft cloth to apply, and then polish to sheen with a clean soft cloth.

• Recycle squeezed lemons by grinding them up in the garbage disposal.

• Lemon peels are a good deterrent to keep cats out of your potted plants, as they generally do not like the smell. Or, use them to keep stray cats out of your garden.

When I put out the call for helpful tips for cat-safe cleaning aids, the Cats Forum members rose to the call with enthusiasm, since we are all concerned for our treasured cats' safety. Susannah aka suayres1 voiced the philosophy of many of us when she posted:

I'm a fanatic on the subject of insecticides and pesticides and even weed-killers. I personally would rather live with the bugs (and use organic controls) and the weeds than salt my land with toxic substances which are known to be carcinogens and pathogens and mutagens and teratogens. I've had cancer twice, and don't want it again, thank you very much. So I've learned to love dandelions and to keep insects out of my house either by using natural controls (tansy planted outside my door, pennyroyal oil painted on doorsills and windowsills, and flypaper hanging near the windows), or just ignore them. I have a deal with the spiders: they can be in my house if they agree to eat other bugs and stay out of my hair. If they come down to my level, they get taken by the hand and gently led outdoors. My house is messy enough to be happy, and clean enough to be healthy, without being SO clean you daren't set food inside. I think this attitude is healthier for me AND the cats!

Bleach Revisited

• Diluted bleach is one of the best cleaners to use in bathrooms, kitchens, and litter boxes, as it kills many germs, including the FIP virus and FeLV. It is not toxic to cats if one doesn't let them walk on the surface while it is wet. Even if they do, it doesn't cause harm to their paw pads and the amount they might lick off their paws will not cause a toxic problem. One assumes the floor would have been mopped normally, without puddles being left behind, and that the bleach was correctly diluted.

Some vet sites recommend a 1:32 dilution, which is 4 oz. bleach in a gallon of water. Others say 1 part bleach to 20 parts water. Apparently a little goes a long way. Since I do take in cats from the streets from time-to-time, and start them out in the bathroom until I can access their status, I really do want to make sure I clean with something that can kill FIP and FeLV since the health status of the "newbie’s" is unknown. Plus it kills people germs too. It kills giardia too, which can affect both cats and people.

I also read that it gets rid of ant scent trails, so folks with ant invasions might want to clean their kitchen with diluted bleach.

- GalensGranny

• Good old bleach is pretty much what is used, even in hospitals, to disinfect stuff--of course, they have to give it a fancy name, "Dakin's Solution", but it's still basically bleach water. I dissolve a tablespoon of it in a quart of water, and keep a spray bottle loaded with it in my bathroom and another in my kitchen. Don't forget about neutralizing the odor with a vinegar-water rinse (bleach and vinegar seem to do a pretty good job of canceling each other out).

- Susannah

Removing Chewing Gum and Gunky Spills

• Oh, yes--removing chewing gum from fabrics, hair, or rugs: rub in ordinary (creamy) peanut butter, until you get all the gum out, then use the same treatment you would to remove oil or grease, to take out the peanut butter. I learned the peanut butter treatment the time my daughter got it stuck in her hair, and it works very well--and is, of course, completely safe for humans and pets. As for removing greasy stains from fabric and carpets, you can take ordinary brown paper bags, and place them over the stain, and then weight them down with something heavy, like a brick covered with aluminum foil.

- Susannah

• ...If it is on carpet or fabric, I put ice in a baggy or use one of those blue ice gel things on top of it. Leave it for a while. Once the gum freezes, you can just pop it right off in one piece.

- Sandra (MARSAN)

More Clean Green Tips

• Scrubbers:

As for scrubbers, I'll go you all one better--and this one doesn't even cost anything! You know the bags in which you buy onions? Cut off the paper tag and you have a great scrubber--it's especially nice when you make bread dough. You take that piece of onion bag and it cleans the bowl beautifully, and then the dough rinses right out of the mesh of the onion bag.

- Susannah

• Pest Control (Outdoors)

For pest control, I use dish liquid and water. I only spray outside, along the foundation and around windows. I usually get invaded by European earwigs in the fall of the year and this method really cuts down on the numbers.

- kelliandtaz

• Eucalyptus oil will remove sticky anything’s from most surfaces. It's brilliant for getting adhesives from Band-Aids etc off skin, chewy/bubblegum out of hair, oily stuff (including most inks) out of suede or leather, tar off car duco etc. If there is any residue, just wash with detergent or soap.

- HOSTBARB

But First, More Odds and Ends

:• Toothbrush and Toothpaste

I use old toothbrushes to clean in the cracks instead of throwing them away. Toothpaste can be used effectively to clean silver, too. I wouldn't want Phugly to eat it though because it could be toxic.

- IamKLS

• Another Safe Silver Polish

The next time you need to polish silver, instead of buying expensive metal polish, make a paste of baking soda and water and use that--it removes tarnish without scratching and it leaves no residue on the silver. I was taught that by an Uncle who collects coins. He told me that's the ONLY safe way to polish silver.

- Susannah (suayres1)

• A Popular All-Purpose Concoction

For several years I have been using a recipe I found on the internet:

1/2 cup Ammonia (I use suds free)

1 pint 70% Alcohol

1 tsp. hand dishwashing liquid

Put these ingredients in a 1 gallon jug and fill with water. I use in spray bottles.

This has been very satisfactory for our household. I use it for everything: kitchen counters, windows, appliances and everything else. It is a disinfectant with the alcohol in it.

- Pauline1101

Franny's Note: Ammonia is toxic if ingested, and can cause lung irritation in humans and cats if inhaled excessively, so keep cats out of the room while it is being used, and store the mixture safely.

• More on the "Concoction"

I use the 91% Alcohol from Kroger which makes it even better, IMO. I put the ammonia and alcohol in the gallon container first, and then fill almost to the top with water, and then I add the dishwashing soap last so it doesn't suds up so much. If you add the dishwashing soap first and then the water you will have lots of suds.

- Rose (10cats)

Commercial Products and "Green" Manufacturers

Many companies have been founded on the premise of respect for our environment, including the animals that populate it. One of the oldest (at close to 50 years) is the Shaklee Corporation, which still produces environmentally safe cleaning products, "biodegradable; free of phosphates, chlorine, borates, and nitrates." Other, newer "Green" companies include:

• Gaiam

Producers of Seventh Generation Products, which are sold in Whole Food stores, and many other fine natural food stores.

• Ecover

Manufactures environmentally friendly products and is actively involved in environmental groups.

• Earth Friendly Products

Their policy on antibacterial products is a must-read.

Other Cat-Friendly Cleaning Products

• Murphy's Oil Soap

This product (now apparently owned by Colgate), has been around for more than half a century, and is loved by every forum member who has used it. I've personally used it for years, and swear by it. As GalensGranny mentioned, it is diluted with water, and a little goes a long way.

• Fels Naptha and Bon Ami

Of course, some of the oldest and most basic cleaning products are still good--ammonia, baking soda, even good, old-fashioned Fels Naphtha soap. I also like "Bon Ami" scouring powder. It's basically just finely ground talc with soap added, and works as well as it ever did. I sometimes think that a lot of the newer, "technically advanced" products have too many drawbacks to make them a viable alternative, at least for me.

- Susannah

• Steam!

When Jerry and Jed were only kitties (a while ago) and they got ringworm I bought a Steam Buggy. It was a wonderful investment, and what I've saved on buying cleaning supplies has paid for it over the past few years. It uses only steam, no chemicals at all and sanitizes everything. I use it in the bathroom, kitchen, oven, litter boxes, windows, EVERYTHING.

- Vet2B (ShannaMarie)

• Fuller's Earth

This can be purchased from a pharmacy. It's a type of clay, which will absorb greasy matter from fabric, and which can then be vacuumed away. You'd leave either the paper or the Fuller's earth on the grease for several hours. If necessary, you can repeat the process until the last of the stain is gone.

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 catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

SALE OF THE WEEK (Good through Thursday, September 30, 2010)

SALE: Toddler Hooded Pullover with Side Pockets + embroidered name = $20.00 + tax/shipping

Rabbit Skins - #3326

Toddler Hooded Pullover with Side Pockets

Sizes: 2T, 4T, 5/6

Colors: aqua, ash, black, brown, heather, navy, olive, pink, raspberry, red, royal blue, Texas orange, white

7.5 oz. 60% cotton/40% polyester fleece. Jersey lined double-needle hem hood and side seam pockets. Ribbed cuffs and waistband. Cover-stitched shoulders, armholes, cuffs and waistband. Top-stitched hood and neck. White is sewn with 100% cotton thread.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Fingertip Towels to Nauga Queens

I think we are experiencing a little bit of growing pains.  The other night I just became overwhelmed with work.  That's a good thing.  But the other night I was tired.  The beauty of our relationship is that George and I can talk to each other about anything.  We have put some new inner office procedures in place and, by gosh, I think it's working.  I have a bad habit of trying to do everything myself.  That led to me being exhausted and overwhelmed.  It's fine when we just have a project or two, but we have more than that right now.  We are using the short order cook method.  I am on the computer, digitizing, creating and gathering orders.  Once an order is ready to be embroidered, I write up my usual card with the embroidery information, customer information, etc., and take the card and the disk (yes, we still use floppy disks in embroidery) and attach to a string of Mardi Gras beads that we have hanging on the embroidery room door.  I attach it with a clothespin.  George starts at the top of the Mardi Gras beads and pulls the top order and begins the embroidery.  He has plans on making a better order holder than Mardi Gras beads, but I kind of like the Mardi Gras beads.  He is right, of course.  We do need something more stable and professional.

The first order was for a set of 2 yellow fingertip towels.  As usual, this order has a history.  My friend who now works with the SBA via Homeland Security is in Chicago.  A few month ago she emailed me a photo of a house.  The house belongs to a mutual friend of our's.  She is a young lady who has only been married a few years.  This is her very first house and she is, as you can imagine, very excited to have her own home.  My friend asked me to digitize the picture.  I am still a novice at digitizing and seriously hesitated to do this but she insisted and I complied.  It didn't turn out too bad, although I can see flaws.  I see flaws in everything I do and have been told that I'm the only one that sees the flaws and I should not mention them.  Nevertheless, the young lady homeowner loves the color yellow.  So, we purchased yellow fingertip towels.  That took some time to get here but they have arrived.  We did a stitch out and tweaked the design; did more stitch outs and then the finished product.  I think they turned out lovely and so does my friend.  We will probably be shipping them tomorrow.  They are a birthday present but her birthday isn't until November -- it will be early.

Since I was dealing with a friend we decided to use the Yahoo PayPal application to see how that works.  So far, so good.  On my end, I just clicked the PayPal app and a page appeared that is pretty much an invoice.  I filled out the blanks and put the specifics in a "comment" section and hit send.  She won't be able to get to it until this evening but I believe all she has to do is hit the "pay" button since she is already set up on PayPal.  Hope it works.

The next project was a birthday present that I was working on.  I cannot show you the present because the birthday girl will, more than likely, read this blog.  Nevertheless, we did this one on hot pink fingertip towels.  When I order from certain wholesalers there is a minimum purchase required.  That is the case with the towels.  So, I had ordered more white, the yellow, and hot pink.  We used some beautifully colored thread on this design that I can only describe as sherbert colors.  The towels turned out simply stunning and I cannot wait to give this gift.  Alas, her birthday is about a month away. 

Another order for a shirt with the Junkanoo logo arrived.  This order asked me to get the shirt.  I had to inform my customer that I don't have a problem getting the shirt but when I order one thing, the shipping cost kills them.  If we can get an order for more than one item, then the shipping cost is spread out.  The more we order at one time, the more the shipping cost is spread out, and the items become less expensive.  So, she is going to get with the group and try to get several orders.

In the meantime, although the little Junkanoo red man looks fine, when embroidering there are some trims that don't need to be there.  So, I redigitized the red man for the logo.  Yes, I am getting the hang of this digitizing.  Practice makes perfect.

George is setting up for a stitch out of a set of pillow cases that I digitized for another birthday present.  The birthday is in October, so I'll have to wait to post; although, I don't think this friend will be reading the blog.

Tonight is my Wednesday night girls night and I am supposed to pick up a purple, velvet cape that was left with one of my friends.  We will then enter the world of embroidery on the Nauga Queen's capes.  Those Nauga Queens are something else.  This should be fun because everything is fun with those girls.

C'est tout, mes amis!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Monday is Laundry Day

Two more weeks until the Arts & Wine Festival.  I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago about the Festival's logo.  At that time, I hadn't seen it.  In jest, I came up with Cajun Stitchery's version of the logo.  So, what do you think?  I like it.

The Junkanoos are back.  This order came in from one of my Junkanoo friends.  She has wanted shirts with the Junkanoo logo for awhile.  She finally brought me a shirt.  We changed thing around a bit. Took off the green and purple background, used a different font, put the krewe name at the bottom, and the member's name was placed at the top.  I like it. 

George asked me last night when was I going to embroider a pillowcase with "Hers" on it to match "His"?  I told him probably the next time I do laundry and find an unembroidered pillowcase.  Monday is laundry day.  I guess today is that day.

A request came in from a friend recently.  She is interested in neck wallets.  Neck wallets?  I had never heard of such a thing.  I haven't taken the picture yet but I have made one.  First, I had to do a bit of research on the internet to find out what they were.  Basically, they are simply a pouch that hangs around your neck like a name tag on a lanyard.  My friend works on the beach cleaning up any oil and observing the wildlife.  She works at night and would rather have her cell phone around her neck.  You can have just about anything you want in a neck wallet.  You can carry your phone, notepad, pencil, money, ID, credit cards, or whatever.  My friend just wants it to hang around her neck, but some people use them to put under their shirts for safety reasons.  Kind of like the old money pouch in the bra thing.  Pouches of any kind are pretty simple to make.  The one I made last night has a 4"x5" pouch, then a 4"x3" pouch/pocket in front of that, then a 4" by 2" plastic sewn in for ID or whatever.  The flap is 4"x4" and folds over, only revealing the plastic pocket at the bottom.  The strap/lanyard is 32" long and rather than coming to a point and hooking on a single D ring, this strap is sewn into each side of the pouch, like a purse strap.  It is actually very cute.  The one I made is plaid (red, blue, black and white).

Now let me tell you a bit about the plastic.  On my neverending quest to reuse, recycle, and reduce, I realized that there is plastic in various colors, like Wal-Mart bags and then there is clear plastic, like dry cleaner bags.  I used a piece of dry cleaner bag -- clear plastic -- for the ID holder.  I'm not totally pleased with the look of the plastic but it has given rise to some ideas that I will hopefully be able to work on at a later date.  The plastic on the neck wallet opens at the top, 4" wide.  Over time, that may sag.  I'm thinking of framing it and then attaching the frame.  Wonder how that would work? 

I have this very delicate white veil kind of fabric.  I love it and it's so soft.  I took a couple of yards of this fabric and did a mountain of embroidery in black on it.  Ooooh la la!  It turned out to be a beautiful scarf.  I was practicing aligning repetitive designs in a straight line.  Both ends have the floral design with the lovebirds and the word "Amour" above.  The opposing sides have a floral design - my practice project - repeated over and over again.  The middle kind of looked empty to me, so I added butterflies.  The repetitive embroidery along the sides caused puckers which look like gathers.  I like of like it.  The puckers gives it texture and dimension.  Anyway, I ended up listing the scarf on Etsy last night.  We'll see if others like it, too.

I'm letting George sleep in this morning.  In the middle of the night, my dog, Evie, decided to start barking.  We were up.  She never barks at night and we were alarmed.  The best we can figure is that she was irritated with one of the cats.  I went directly back to sleep but George was up.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Cajun Corner Vol. 2, No. 36

Cajun Corner – Vol. 2, No. 36 – September 17, 2010


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

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Don’t forget to visit our catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.

Well Boudreaux is certainly alive and well this week. He has stitched more than half a million stitches this week and he is purring like a kitten. It must be those shrimp he’s been stitchin’. He stitched out two 10 foot banners for the Cajun Stitchery tent, plus a lot more things. Since the banners require more than embroidery, we moved my sewing machine onto the kitchen table. Oh cher, that machine is about 35 years old and still kickin’.

Speaking of my old Kenmore a/k/a Singer sewing machine, I have a funny story. Several years back, I decided that the sewing machine should be thoroughly cleaned and oiled because it was old. George and I took this machine apart, down to its basic structure. We took plates off from everywhere. We took the belt assembly off, the bottom, the top. We cleaned and dusted it really good. Then we oiled it at every joint that moved. Finally, we put her back together. Then I began sewing. Clanka, clanka, clanka went the machine. It should have been humming. Ooooh, that was one loud sewing machine. We started reading manuals. I got online to figure out the problem. Well, cher, I used 3 in 1 oil and not sewing machine oil. I will tell you that there is definitely a difference. We pulled the sewing machine completely apart, once again, and tried wiping off all of the 3 in 1 oil that we could. We re-oiled with sewing machine oil. That clanka, clanka, clanka went on for a few weeks until the 3 in 1 oil was used up and the sewing machine oil kicked in. I mean to tell you that it was loud. We were embarrassed because we just knew the neighbors could hear it. So, when I would sew, we would shut the windows. We learned a big lesson about the value of sewing machine oil. The machine still purrs like a kitten. That’s one good sewing machine, cher. You know, I’ve never named this machine. I think I will name her Clothilde. While I’m at it, I think I will name the serger, Marie.

You know my goal of using up all of the sewing STUFF by October. Mais cher, I don’t think we are going to reach that goal, no. There was a lapse of control this morning. Now that George has finished the embroidery on the two 10 foot banners, we were discussing how to attach the banners to the tent. I have an “Idea” book (that’s what I call them), that a good friend gave me, filled with sewing projects. One section of the book has a tent and a banner, although their banner is decals. Nevertheless, they attached it with Velcro. I don’t have twenty feet of Velcro. Off to one of my favorite online stores, Cheaptrim. They, of course, had the Velcro and I purchased spools of it. They now require a minimum order. Look out shopping spree, here I come. I ordered Velcro in black, Velcro in white, two different spools of eyelet lace, venise lace, and sequin and beaded lace. Maybe if we do not count this new influx of STUFF, I can continue with my quest to use the other STUFF.

This morning we had a surprise at our Etsy store. A lady bought the red, white and blue set of koozies. George is off to mail them as I type this. These are actually the first koozies that I’ve sold. I don’t know why. I think those koozies are beautiful and functional. However, I have friends that tell me that they don’t fit the beer bottles, or they don’t fit the glasses that they use. They do fit soda and beer cans and they do have a bottom. I’ve made some sleeves for cans but I like something with a bottom to absorb the moisture and not leave a wet spot. Anyway, I may have an idea that makes everyone happy but I haven’t actually digitized it yet. It’s still in my head.

The Etsy store still needs a lot of TLC but I have been working on it this week, as evidenced by the sale this morning. I have sold handkerchiefs, cell phone pouches, totes, and now koozies. The thing that surprisingly didn’t sell was the hand towel with the Muwaa kissing lips. That will be for sale at the upcoming festival. There are some things, like the kissing lips, that are novelty type items and really don’t sell that well. What they do well is bring customers to the store to view the other items. It is not a loss.

I still haven’t finished the ribbon luggage tags. I need to but I don’t like them. In the meantime, the other luggage tags are fun and seem to be a hit. Some people want their names on the luggage tags and others do not, but simply want a design. Everyone seems to agree that they want the tags bright and colorful. I do suggest that when purchasing these luggage tags that you get the same design for each piece of your luggage, with an extra one for your purse. If there is ever a controversy over which piece of luggage belongs to you, you can pull your matching tag from your purse to match with the luggage. Since they have an eyelet for the ribbon or clip, just hang the extra one on your key ring for the duration of the trip. These luggage tags are approximately 3” round and we are charging $5.00 each or $7.00 for personalized tags. I used one the other day as a name tag on a birthday present. It was received well and now my friend has a luggage tag for when she travels.

Mama used to always put a red ribbon tied around the handle to her luggage. Eventually, enough other people realized what a good idea this was, and they began doing it, as well. I remember the last time I picked Mama up from the airport there were several bags on the conveyor belt with red ribbons. Now luggage tags are all en vogue. I’m telling you, my Mama started this trend.

The towels came in. We now have red, green, white, yellow, and hot pink fingertip towels. We also purchased “standard” bath towels. I was disappointed when I first pulled out a bath towel but then noticed a handwritten note on the shipping paper that said, “Towels are machine compressed to save on shipping. Wash and fluff.” I washed and dried one and just as stated, it fluffed. Who would have figured? It is a very nice towel but nothing that I would describe as luxurious. They will make very nice embroidered gifts. In fact, I’m pleased enough with them to embroider one for myself.

George’s wreck is now a thing of the past. The car is fixed and I have a happy husband once again.

The seeds did arrive and our fall garden is planted. We did plant radishes, which we said we would never plant again because we don’t eat them. But they grow from seed to harvest in just 20 days. They have already sprouted. Besides, I read someplace that they are a good bug repellant. Worth a shot!

I mentioned earlier about my girlfriend’s birthday. Her pillowcases were extraordinary. I am so proud of them. When I got home, I wanted to post the pictures. I could swear I took pictures of those pillowcases, but apparently not. I did post a jpg of the embroidery design but it’s not the same. My girlfriend loved her pillowcases. She is our Wednesday night cook and she loves to cook as much as I love to sew. The design was called Bon Appétit and was an Italian chef with a merman tail carrying a plate of steaming food with her last name embroidered to the side with steam coming off the name. It was beautiful.

Christmas is coming and customers are starting to do their Christmas shopping at Cajun Stitchery. Get this out of the way as soon as you can. For all who have businesses out there, remember that we also sell gift baskets.

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 night, a torrential rain soaked South Louisiana; the

next morning the resulting floodwaters came up about 6 feet

into most of the homes there.

Mrs. Boudreaux was sitting on her roof with her neighbor,

Mrs. Thibodeaux, waiting for help to come.

Mrs. Thibodeaux noticed a lone baseball cap floating near the

house. Then she saw it float far out into the front yard,

then float all the way back to the house; it kept floating

away from the house, then back in.

Her curiosity got the best of her, so she asked Mrs.
Boudreaux, "Do you see that baseball cap floating away from

the house, then back again?"

Mrs. Boudreaux said, "Oh yes, that's my husband. I told him

he was going to mow the lawn today come Hell or high water!"

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French phrase of the week: Il s'a saoulé hier au soir. (He got drunk last night.)

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From: http://www.planetpals.com/eco_craft_ideas.html

Things to do with paper, gift wrap or cardboard:

Use it to cover and protect your schoolbooks

Make your own paper dolls be a fashion designer and design doll clothes

Cover the walls in your dollhouse with gift wrap for wallpaper

Use bags or newspaper particularly colorful comics, for gift wrap....

Use old gift wrap, comics or wallpaper to cover boxes or cans

Use the back side of bags or gift wrap as practice paper for painting or studying the alphabet

Use your practice paintings as gift wrap-they can be colorful and special!

Cut it in squares and use it to make origami

Make a book, or album - paper pages and cardboard cover-use string or ribbon to tie it together

Make homemade paper....we will be posting the recipe for paper soon-you can also get it from the library!

Make paper mache projects-we will be posting the recipe for paper mache soon-you can also get it from the library!

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 catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

SALE OF THE WEEK (Good through Thursday, September 23, 2010)

SALE: Heavyweight Blend Long Sleeve Tee with embroidered name or initial = $18.00 plus tax/shipping

Jerzees T's and Fleece - #29LS

Heavyweight Blend Long Sleeve Tee

Colors: birch, black, forest green, maroon, oxford, true navy, red, royal blue, white

5.6 oz. 50% cotton/50% polyester. 1x1 ribbed crew neck collar & cuffs. Cover seaming on front neck. Taped shoulder-to-shoulder. Set-in sleeves. Tubular. Two-needle hemmed bottom.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Banners, Pillows and COLORS

George has been working on our banners for out tent at the Arts & Wine Festival.  You may recall that last year we took photos and later realized there wasn't one thing that said we were Cajun Stitchery.  Ahhh, learning experiences are so much fun.  Ha!  We will have two 10 foot embroidered banners saying "Cajun Stitchery" on the 2 sides of the tent.  Inside will be the Cajun Stitchery pillows hanging from the back.  "Cajun Stitchery pillows?" you might ask.  Yes, that has been my project.  I have made little pillows for each letter of C-a-j-u-n-S-t-i-t-c-h-e-r-y.  Each letter is about a foot square, I guess.  They have D rings in the top and we plan on suspending them from the back of the tent.  If that isn't enough, this year we are bringing our CD player and playing cajun music.  That is all in addition to the Cajun Stitchery aprons we wore last year.  See.  We can learn.

When I finally got to the machine yesterday, I stitched out some Who Dat luggage tags that we plan to sell at the festival.  I have a few more cell phone pouches to make but that should do it for the cell phone pouches.  Then we are all into luggage tags.  There will be several designs but I do plan on having several Who Dat tags, gator tags, and possibly some Vietnam Vet tags.  Then I need to make the bottle aprons.

George has some more ballcaps to embroider.

All of that is on top of and keeping up with our day-to-day orders and trying to stay on top of the Etsy store.  Yes, it's a lot of work but we love working together and we love what we are doing.  We really can be quite creative, given the chance. lol

While I was waiting on the machine yesterday, I was piddling on the sewing machine and made some, shall we say, unusual handkerchiefs.  Two of them have been listed on Etsy.  I plan on listing the last one later today. 

I'll be leaving early this evening, actually late afternoon, to attend COLORS at the Grand Marlin.  COLORS stands for something that I never remember.  It really is just an excuse for the beach people and friends to get together once a month at different bars and restaurants on the beach. 

After COLORS we are going to our usual Wednesday night girls dinner.  Tonight is one of the girls birthdays.  I am so excited because I can finally give her the pillowcases that I made for her and then, later, show pictures of them on the internet.  When I embroider for gifts, I am free to go all out and not be constrained by the price of the stitches.  George and I worked it out and the embroidery alone on these pillowcases would be over $88.  They are unique and beautiful.  That leave one more set of pillowcases that I haven't been able to share over the internet and those should be delivered next week.

Stay tuned.
C'est tout, mes amis.