Sunday, March 30, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 9 – March 30, 2014


 
Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 9 – March 30, 2014

 

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

 

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit us at www.cajunstitchery.com, www.flickr.com/photos/cajunstitchery, and, www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



Spring is in the air.  George and I have a bad case of spring fever.  George is busy taking apart our old garden raised bed and making new ones.  I’m busy potting anything that I think might grow.  We are totally in love with our columbine flowers and want the yard full of them.  They are absolutely beautiful.  Now is the time to be amazed at the plants that lived through winter and looked like they were dead as a door nail.  All of a sudden they are alive, again.  However, our giant lemon tree isn’t showing any signs of life.  I guess we’ll give it a few more weeks to see if it starts to come back.  Luckily, I saved the seeds from the last lemon.  Maybe they will grow.  The beautiful blackberry flowers are everywhere.  Looks like we might have some blackberry cobbler in a few weeks.  Yum!

On the sewing/embroidery side, I have been teaching myself to make baby booties.  To be so small, they are a little bit of a challenge.  I’ve made enough of them now where I have the method down.  My problem is making the toe/front of the little booties curve properly. 

The whole bootie adventure began with me wanting to use up some scrap fabric.  I have bags and bags of scrap fabric that I simply cannot seem to be able to toss.  So, I started looking for projects to use up the scrap.  When I hit onto baby booties, I got stuck.  There is reasoning behind my obsessive/compulsive bootie behavior.  Way back when I began Cajun Stitchery, I touted that customers could come to me for gifts for any occasion.  A lady contacted me about a baby shower. At the time I had nothing for her.  I was embarrassed and determined that will never happen again.  It won’t.  I have lots of baby tee shirts and bibs.  I want to add baby booties to these accessories.  So far the booties take about 3 or 4 hours to make.  To be able to price the booties would make them more expensive than anyone that I know would be willing to pay.  I’m still working on that.

At that point in the bootie escapade, I needed to create a way to cut down on time.  Cutting out patterns is not one of my favorite things to do in the sewing process.  On top of that, the booties are so tiny and I, of course, want to embroider on them.  It would be much easier to embroider on the booties before cutting them out so I can hoop a larger piece of fabric.  It dawned on me that I could combine the cutting and the embroidery into one step.  I scanned in the bootie pattern pieces and digitized them to fit into one hooping.  There was a lot of trial and error.  Now that it is all digitized, I can include the embroidery design in the same hooping.  When cutting the fabric it helps to have the cutting outline directly on the fabric.  The tissue paper pattern always seems to move around on me.  There’s more.  Since I have the boring needle on Clothilde, the machine outlines the pattern, then embroiders the design, and yes, then cuts it out.  Woot!  Woot!  There was one more thing that I decided could be combined with this step.  Two pattern pieces required an inner fabric to be placed between the bootie fabric and lining and is simply stitched onto the back of these 2 bootie pieces.  I included that step, as well.  After the embroidery machine, the only thing to do is tear off the stabilizer and sew the pieces together.  A bonus to this method is that the fabric pieces are cut out with precision, including the little right/left, front/back notches.  On the other hand, it is easier to do this with larger pieces of fabric, rather than scrap. 

We can now embroider on all pieces of the bootie, including the sole.  Think about it.  The child’s monogram could be embroidered onto the front/toe of the bootie, and the date of birth on the sole of the bootie.  Voila!  A keepsake.  Wouldn’t that make a terrific gift?

Still the booties take awhile to make and are very expensive.  My thought process was to perhaps add baby accessories that are not so time consuming so the price of the 2 or 3 items together would make a nice gift and not be too expensive since it is more than one item.  A matching baby bib would be nice; especially, one our new heirloom-like, scallop edged bibs with the baby’s monogram in the middle. 

Then I thought of a bonnet.  I do have a bonnet pattern and they are pretty easy to make.  I took out the pattern pieces and they are just too big to fit in a hoop, or even to scan.  So, I began doing some research on the internet.  I do think we will be able to accomplish the bonnet in the hoop.  I just need to give it more thought.

We’ve come a long way with the baby accessories, but wait!  I still have bags and bags of scrap.  Oh well, that’s for another day.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK
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. 

No time to read Cajun Corner?  Visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com and click the Odiogo button to hear the computer read the blog.

Thank you, Bob, for all of the jokes:

A cop pulled me over the other day for speeding. After giving me the ticket, he teases me a bit about my out of state plate and the fact that I'm driving a car that's in my Dad's name. He points to my dash and asks, "Is that a radar detector I see?" I said "I don't know it's my Dad's car. It's just always been there, but it does let me know every time I pass a Krispy Kreme." He smirked and said, "Good one. Now slow down."

She was admired for her sweetness and kindness to all. One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea. As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a cute glass bowl sitting on top of it. The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated, of all things, a condom! When she returned with tea and scones, They began to chat.. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist. 'Miss Beatrice', he said, 'I wonder if you would tell me about this?' Pointing to the bowl. 'Oh, yes,' she replied, 'Isn't it wonderful? I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground. The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that it would prevent t he spread of disease. Do you know, I haven't had the flu all winter?'

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462
P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 8 – March 16, 2014


Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 8 – March 16, 2014

 

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

 

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit us at www.cajunstitchery.com, www.flickr.com/photos/cajunstitchery, and, www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



This past week was spent in a whirlwind of rush embroidery for a client’s very special project.  There were a few late nights at the embroidery machine.  It all turned out well and as far as I know the project was completed beautifully.  I know the embroidery was beautiful.

The weather continues its rollercoaster ride from cold to warm, rain and sunshine.  However, I do believe we have now seen our last cold spell.  Spring here we come and I definitely have Spring fever.

It has been delightful watching the little plants break through the earth and begin to grow.  Our Johnny Jump Ups have jumped up, even in places where they were not planted. The colorful flowers are a welcome change to the bare limbs of winter.  We’ve been pruning out as much of the dead branches as we can.  The oak leaves have rained down.  George has raked and raked.  The camellias are blooming.  We have mostly red camellias but one very prolific pink camellia bush, too.  The birds are chirping and I do believe Spring has sprung.

After a hiatus of a week, the girls got together again this past Wednesday evening.  It is always good to spend an evening with friends.

Several items that have been just hanging around the studio were finally put on Etsy.  Some were handkerchiefs but there were ball caps and towels as well.

A friend of mine was asking for donations for prizes for her mother’s bingo group in Tennessee.  She thought some Mardi Gras items would be a refreshing change for the group.  This gave me the opportunity to cull the herd in my attic.  My friend came over and went through all of the Mardi Gras paraphernalia that has accumulated in the attic, as well as some arts and craft items.  She took a car load home.  My side of the attic is clean.  George is a very happy man.  Now I need to go through my clothes and clear out stuff so I have room to get new stuff.

I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call this week from one of my California cousins who was headed back to Louisiana after spending a few days with my aunt in Niceville.  It happened that I also read on FaceBook this week that another cousin is moving from New York City to California.  Sure hope the California cousins are all able to get together at some point.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK
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. 

No time to read Cajun Corner?  Visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com and click the Odiogo button to hear the computer read the blog.

Thank you, Bob, for all of the jokes:

An elderly woman was on the deck of a cruise ship hanging on to her hat with both hands as the wind was quite strong. A Gentleman approached her and says "Excuse me but do you know that the wind is blowing your dress up in back, And your rear end is showing?" "Yes," replied the woman, "but my rear end is 85 years old and I just bought this hat yesterday!"

* * *

Moe and Sam, who were both 90 years old, loved baseball, and they had their entire life. One day, they were sitting together on a bench in their neighborhood when Moe turns to Sam and says: "Will you promise me something? Promise me that if you die first and go to heaven, you'll come back and tell if there's baseball there." Sam agreed, and made Moe promise the same. 3 months later, Sam died, and the next week Moe woke up in his sleep with someone calling his name. "Who's there?" he called out. "Moe! It's me Sam!" "Sam! It's so good to hear you! How's heaven?" Moe asked. "It's great, but I've some news, some good and some bad" Sam told him. "Well tell me the good news first" Moe replied. "Ok, the good news is that, there is baseball in heaven." "That's great." Moe exclaimed, "What's the bad news?" "Well, the bad news is that I was reading the lineup, and you're pitching on Friday."

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462
P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 7 – March 8, 2014


Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 7 – March 8, 2014

 

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

 

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit us at www.cajunstitchery.com, www.flickr.com/photos/cajunstitchery, and, www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



Okay.  I apologize for not writing the last two weeks.  Mardi Gras was either overwhelming or I’m getting old.  Perhaps it was a combination of both.  We paraded last Sunday and it was wonderful.

We did finish our costumes in time.  The Friday before our parade was a frenzie.  I went to krewe den around noon that Friday and got home around 10:30-11:00 p.m.  It was crazy.  Most of the girls came in for a fitting.  Our little krewe den was jammed with girls.  The sewing machines were humming.  There were girls hand stitching, on sewing machine, pinning, and every other aspect of sewing that you can imagine.  By the time it was over all of the costumes were done except for one, and she was one of our seamstresses who came in the following day and finished her costume.

Our float was also amazing.  I must say that was the prettiest float that we have had since I became a member of the krewe.  Our krewe den this year was on Via De Luna which made getting in line up very easy.  The float went across the street and down less than a block.  We were the third float in the parade.  When I walked out of krewe den to go to the float, it looked like a pretty birthday cake and really stood out from all of the others.  The float was another team effort.

I’ve been to the parade in Pensacola, day time parade and nighttime parade.  That parade goes for many, many blocks.  Our little beach parade is only a few blocks long, but so much fun.  Over the years this parade has grown tremendously.  In fact, this year we decided that rather than staying on the beach for the weekend, we would go back and forth from our home.  Normally that is a 30 minute trek, one way.   When we finally got in our car to go home, we had two friends that we were dropping off.  The first one lives on Ft. Pickens Road.  The police wouldn’t let us turn left out of the parking lot into Ft. Pickens Road.  Instead, we had to turn right and go through a bumper to bumper parking lot to get us headed in the proper direction.  That took about 30 minutes.  We finally dropped off one friend and headed east to drop off the next one.  By this time it was 5:00.  As we traveled east on Via de Luna, we could not see the end of the traffic trying to get off the beach.  There are only 2 ways off the island.  One is in Pensacola Beach and the other in Navarre beach, several miles away.  After dropping off friend number two, we decided that it might just be faster to go east to Navarre to get off the beach than to sit in westbound traffic in Pensacola Beach.  Traveling east was beautiful.  The sun was beginning to set on the Gulf of Mexico.  The sand comes right to the edge was the road.  It was beautiful and no traffic.  Well, no traffic until we approached Navarre where we sat in miles of stop and go traffic with the other people who apparently had the same idea we did.  Yep, we got home at 8 p.m.

Our krewe did win “Best Costume.”  The award is sitting in the front room of Cajun Stitchery.  I haven’t had time this week but I’d like to do some kind of display for the award with my costume hanging next to it. 

It is time to say goodbye to Mardi Gras 2014.  Hope everyone enjoyed the season. 

It is now Lent.  I asked one of my good Catholic friends what she is giving up for Lent and she said that she is giving up giving up.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK
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. 

No time to read Cajun Corner?  Visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com and click the Odiogo button to hear the computer read the blog.

Thank you, Bob, for all of the jokes:

A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet, and have dinner with her parents. Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time. The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it's his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex. At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he'd like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack. The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all. That night, the boy shows up at the girl's parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door. "Oh, I'm so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!" The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl's parents are seated. The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head. A minute passes, and the boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down. 10 minutes pass, and still no movement from the boy. Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girlfriend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, "I had no idea you were this religious." The boy turns, and whispers back, "I had no idea your father was the pharmacist!"

* * *

A couple in their 80's were having problems remembering things, so they decided to the go the doctor for a checkup. The doctor tells them that they are physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember. Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. His wife asks, "Where are you going?" "To the kitchen for a drink," he replies. She asks, "Will you get me piece of cake?" The husband says, "Sure." She gently reminds him, "Don't you think you should write it down so you don't forget it?" He says, "No, I can certainly remember that!" Then the woman says, "Well, I'd like some strawberries on top. You'd better write it down because I know you'll forget it." The man replies, "I can remember that! You want some cake with strawberries." She adds, "I'd also like whipped cream on top. Now I'm certain you're gonna forget that, so you'd better write it down ok." Irritated, he says, "I don't need to write it down woman! I can remember that! Cake with strawberries! And whipped cream!" He then grumbles into the kitchen. After about 30 minutes the old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "Where's my toast?'

* * *

In my neighborhood pet supply store a customer wanted to buy a red sweater for her dog. The clerk showed a few sizes and models to her and suggested to bring the dog in for a perfect fit. "I'm afraid I can't do that" the lady replies to the clerk. When he asks why, the lady says "The sweater is a surprise gift!"

* * *

The engineer found himself at the pearly gates. St. Peter looked him up in the book, and found that he was destined for the other place. The engineer protested that this must be a mistake, and that he had lived a righteous life, going to church every week, being faithful to his wife etc. to no avail. About 6 weeks later God reviews the lists and realizes that the engineer has been sent to the wrong place. So he rings up Lucifer and demands that the engineer be sent up. Lucifer says "NO WAY. This guy was the best thing to ever happen here. He's got the AC working, we have running water and cable now too, and next week he thinks we will get internet access and an ice cream machine." God is pissed and yelling says "I'll sue". Lucifer says "ya okay, but where are you going to get a lawyer?"

* * *

A woman was sipping on a glass of wine while sitting on the patio with her husband. She says, "I love you so much. I don't know how I could live without you." Her husband asks, "Is that you or the wine talking? " She replies, "It's me... talking to the wine."

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462
P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.