Cajun Stitchery

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 7

2012-02-24T12:24:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 7 – February 24, 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Mardi Gras 2012 festivities and parades are over. Last weekend was full of fun and frivolity. We partied with the krewe on Friday night but did not move ourselves to the beach until Saturday. The float and costumes were simply gorgeous. The whole krewe worked very hard on both float and costumes. I’m so proud of each and every krewe member and all of our wonderful helpers. Even our dance looked magnificent. We did walk away with the Grand Marshall award.

For those of you who are not familiar with the specifics of Mardi Gras parades, the krewes are required to line up at a specified time prior to the parade. That is when the krewes party together and look at each others’ floats and costumes. It is a fun time. Our parade began at 2 p.m. last Sunday. Line up began at 10 a.m. We had our float there by 10:30 and still were in the tail end of the parade.

Parade day is always a hustle and bustle from the time we wake up. Imagine 16 women (that was the count of Nereids riding our float) running around in the morning getting into costumes, make-up, wigs, etc. Everyone is trying to get a bite of breakfast (provided by one of our sweet Mermaidens who happens to be a professional chef). Everyone is present: our walkers, drivers, helpers and probably some on-lookers, too. Krewe Den is packed with people bustling around.

Then we all get on the float where some of the helpers and krewe have made our beads magically appear at our assigned stations. The truck starts pulling the float and there is simply magic in the air. The truck tows the float to line-up and parks. We begin the pleasant task of hanging our beads on bead racks and situating all of our throws. You would be surprised how much time that takes. Then we usually grab a drink and exit the float. We walk down the line looking at floats and meeting people. We exchange our krewe beads. We have lunch, which is usually fried chicken and/or sandwiches, at our float. We practice our dance. The music is blaring from each float and everyone is in anticipation of the parade beginning. Around 1:00-1:30 everyone starts gathering at their own floats and getting in their assigned stations. Then at 2:00, we begin to roll. Since we were towards the rear of the parade, it did take awhile for the floats in front of us to proceed to the point where we were moving. We are not allowed to throw until we hit the barricades. Instead, we wave to all of the people sitting in front of their homes or along the sidewalk. The mass of people begins to thicken the closer we get to the barricades. We place dozens of beads on our arms in preparation to throw. Finally, we hit the barricades. The noise level is deafening from all of the spectators. The music is loud and rocking. We begin throwing into the crowd. As do most of the krewe, George and I bring more than just beads. We have all sorts of throws from nerf balls with smiley faces, Mardi Gras panties, little mermaid dolls, hand puppets, and all sorts of stuff. Since my vantage point is higher than George’s, I keep an eye out for the little children and we try to get them some special throws. I’ll point to the child and George will walk over and hand the child the toy.

By the time the parade ends, we are all exhausted. At the end of the parade we exit our float taking all of our remaining beads, purses, drinks, and stuff with us. George usually has our car parked nearby and just puts our stuff in the car. Then it is off to the Pavilion. The krewes and spectators gather at the Pavilion. We are all gleeful and talking about how wonderful the parade was. Music is playing and many are on stage dancing. Then, our announcer, Bonnie, clears the stage and the Mystic Krewe of Nereids gather on stage as our music begins. We perform our dance for the audience. The next item on the agenda is the awards. We all listen intently to the various awards; then we hear, “The Grand Marshall award goes to … THE MYSTIC KREWE OF NEREIDS.” In total exhilaration, we run onto the stage and accept the award.

After our acceptance and the photographs, we returned to the audience where our friends were congratulating us. Some of us returned to our krewe den; others went to the local bars. The Island was celebrating and having a wonderful time.

We partied at krewe den for a few hours and then George and I came home. We were supposed to stay Sunday night on the beach but our dog, Evie, had an episode Saturday night and we needed to get home. Saturday night Evie barked and howled and caused concern in the neighborhood. The best we can figure is that she has never been left alone without Stinky before. One of our neighbors came to the house and brought her to his home for the evening and she was fine. Nevertheless, George and I felt that we should return home Sunday evening.

We returned to the beach Monday morning for Red Beans and Rice. This is an annual affair where the Elks Lodge and Women’s Club provide free red beans and rice to the public. Boogie Inc. is there to supply the music. This year the Mystic Krewe of Nereids performed our dance for the crowd. George and I enjoyed the event and returned home after the dance.

Tuesday night (the actual Mardi Gras) is the Krewe of Coma pub crawl on the beach. We missed it this year because we just couldn’t make that drive one more time. We were exhausted and had to work all day Tuesday. One of our lovely Mermaidens was crowned Queen of Coma. Congratulations Becky.

For our krewe, that is not the end of Mardi Gras season. Our season ends after we depart krewe den. This week is filled with returning our float and items to storage and cleaning the house. Sunday the keys are returned to the rental agency and Mardi Gras is completely over for us.

I’m going to try to attach several of our parade pictures onto this e-newsletter, but the video of the dance is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZt8nTfyruo.

During line-up for our parade, I was able to see several of the Bananimals’ jackets. They really turned out beautiful.

Next week Cajun Corner will return to embroidery.

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.

George’s mother used to make paper beads. It was fascinating to watch. Thought I’d share the following with you. Found the following at: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/better-blogs/article/-/6949252/make-your-own-paper-bead-jewellery/

Make your own paper bead jewellery

March 18, 2010, 12:06 pmbetterhomesgardens

We show you how to make these simple but beautiful beads

Most of us have a little stash of leftover decorative papers from projects and parties. But before you put your scraps in the recycling bin, take a look at what you can do with them. These colourful beads can be made from any paper – junk mail, magazine pages, used giftwrap or leftover stationery papers – and they’re so easy, you and the kids can whip them up by the dozen.

Paper beads

Gather your supplies

Paper; ruler and pencil; scissors; wooden skewers; glue stick; disposable plates or plastic container; gloss spray varnish; leather cord, for stringing; necklace findings (2 silver leather clamps, 2 jump rings and a clasp per necklace); needle-nose pliers

Note: For a triple-string necklace, make sufficient beads for 3 strands of beads. Each strand can be a similar length or you can make different lengths.

Here’s how

Step 1 Use Bead templates to choose the shape of your paper strips. Vary the width according to desired bead size (2-4cm), the length is determined by the thickness of your paper. For thin magazine pages, a strip 2cm wide across the bottom and 20cm long is ideal; for thick paper, about 15cm long. Rule strips on the back of your paper and cut them out.

Step 2 When you have cut a number of strips, you can start to roll your beads. Begin by rolling the thick edge firmly around a skewer. Then run the glue stick along the remainder of the triangle and continue wrapping the paper around the skewer until you reach the end. Make sure the paper is wrapped tightly on itself and the end is glued down really well.

Step 3 Continue to roll beads this way until you have covered most of the skewer. Then rest skewer ends on the edges of a plastic plate or container with beads not touching plastic to allow glue to dry. Repeat.

Step 4 Spray an even coat of gloss varnish over the beads. Rotate the skewers so the beads are evenly covered.

Step 5 When beads are completely dry, slip them from skewer and string together as desired on 3 leather cords. Using pliers and a leather clamp, join the 3 strands together at one end; repeat for other end. Attach jump rings to each clamp and a clasp to one of the jump rings. If you prefer, you can knot the strand ends together instead of attaching necklace findings.

FOUND AT: http://www.hgtv.com/gardening/14-simple-gardening-tips-and-tricks/index.html

Here, the latest tips and tricks from Paul James, host of Gardening by the Yard:

1. To remove the salt deposits that form on clay pots, combine equal parts white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture to the pot and scrub with a plastic brush. Let the pot dry before you plant anything in it.

2. To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you'll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can't collect beneath them. Then, after you've finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean.

3. To prevent the line on your string trimmer from jamming or breaking, treat with a spray vegetable oil before installing it in the trimmer.

4. Turn a long-handled tool into a measuring stick! Lay a long-handled garden tool on the ground, and next to it place a tape measure. Using a permanent marker, write inch and foot marks on the handle. When you need to space plants a certain distance apart (from just an inch to several feet) you'll already have a measuring device in your hand.

5. To have garden twine handy when you need it, just stick a ball of twine in a small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you'll never go looking for twine again.

6. Little clay pots make great cloches for protecting young plants from sudden, overnight frosts and freezes.

7. To turn a clay pot into a hose guide, just stab a roughly one-foot length of steel reinforcing bar into the ground at the corner of a bed and slip two clay pots over it: one facing down, the other facing up. The guides will prevent damage to your plants as you drag the hose along the bed.

8. To create perfectly natural markers, write the names of plants (using a permanent marker) on the flat faces of stones of various sizes and place them at or near the base of your plants.

9. Got aphids? You can control them with a strong blast of water from the hose or with insecticidal soap. But here's another suggestion, one that's a lot more fun; get some tape! Wrap a wide strip of tape around your hand, sticky side out, and pat the leaves of plants infested with aphids. Concentrate on the undersides of leaves, because that's where the little buggers like to hide.

10. The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the "vegetable soup."

11. Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep the pH of the soil on the acidic side.

12. Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray.

13. If you need an instant table for tea service, look no farther than your collection of clay pots and saucers. Just flip a good-sized pot over, and top it off with a large saucer. And when you've had your share of tea, fill the saucer with water, and your "table" is now a birdbath.

14. The quickest way in the world to dry herbs: just lay a sheet of newspaper on the seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, then roll up the windows and close the doors. Your herbs will be quickly dried to perfection. What's more, your car will smell great.

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 6 Mardi Gras Edition

2012-02-17T11:43:00.001-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 6 – February 17, 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

The Krewe of Bananimals’ jackets have been done. They are beautiful. Some had their names embroidered on the front, others had musical notes embroidered in metallic thread on the sleeves, there were a couple who had their Queen year embroidered on the back, and one had large music notes embroidered in metallic thread down the tail. Most of the tux jackets are white but there was a red and a black one, as well. We even embroidered the krewe logo onto some hand towels. This was definitely a fun project and I do hope more of these jackets come my way for embroidery.

Our parade is this Sunday. Since we are in the parade, we won’t get to see the Bananimals. Prior to the parade is the krewe parties at line up. George and I will try to find the Bananimals’ float so we can see all of the embroidery. Plus I have a few extra goodies for them.

Our float and costumes are pretty much ready for the parade. This is going to be a wild and crazy weekend. This afternoon is dance practice, followed by our own Cowboy Carl cooking up his famous chili for dinner. Tomorrow we will pack up all of our Mardi Gras stuff and head out to the beach around 4:00 or 5:00. The rest of the krewe goes to the Krewe of Wrecks’ breakfast and a street dance afterwards. By the time we get there, the party will be well on its way and the girls should be coming home to our Krewe Den to party the night away. Sunday morning one of our sweet little MerMaidens will cook breakfast and we should be in line-up by 10:30. The parade begins at 2:00. After the parade we end up at the Pavilion where trophies are awarded and our krewe dances. We will party Sunday night and we dance again on Monday at Red Beans & Rice in Casino Beach Parking Lot. Finally, George and I will drag ourselves home late Monday afternoon full of wonderful memories and anticipation of next year’s parade and festivities.

Last week was the Kids and Kritter Crawl. It is a mini Mardi Gras parade for the beach children and everyone brings their pets to parade. A friend of mine borrowed Stinky’s Mermutt costume from when Stinky was in the parade. It fit Daisy perfectly. In fact, we got tickled because my friend doesn’t have a dog but wanted to take one of her friend’s dog. When all was said and done, it turned out that the dog was Daisy. Daisy is the first dog, other than my own, who I had made a collar. Her owner asked me, at that time, if he could say that I was Daisy’s seamstress. I assured him that would be fine. That made the Kritter Crawl even more precious because, again, Daisy was wearing a Cajun Stitchery original.

Once Mardi Gras is over, it is back to my WBL group. I love and miss those girls, too. They have become such a wonderful support group. In fact, the Saturday after Mardi Gras we are cooking dinner for our CPA. I think we will have boiled shrimp.

Speaking of cooking, I saw a recipe on Pinterest for roasted chick peas. It is a healthy snack food. I made it yesterday. It was okay. It’s one of those things that you can’t eat just one. It did make a good snack and you cannot go wrong with chick peas instead of potato chips or nachos. The nice thing is that it’s easy to make.

The girls had a wonderful time at the Krewe of Wrecks Ball last week. One of the girls even won first place for her costume. The theme was red, white and blue and she dressed up like Rosie the Riveter. The evening became a slumber party at our krewe den. Many of the girls that were not attending the ball decided to have a slumber party. Some of the girls who did attend the ball came by krewe den afterwards and spent the night. I was not able to attend but I understand they had a wonderful, hilarious evening.

My favorite fabric store is closed. I had not been there for over a year. You will recall that I’m trying to use up all the fabric that I have. Now that I know it is true that my fabric store has closed, I’m panicking. I have looked and looked online but have found nothing impressive. Right now the best deal that I can get on fabric is at Wal-Mart. We do have a Jo-Ann’s on the other side of town but I’ve never been very impressed with Jo-Ann’s. There are a few designer type fabric stores around, but that’s not what I want. Then there is A&E. It is close to me and they do carry a huge selection. I like A&E but find them a bit pricey for my blood. I do go to A&E when I need something right away, but otherwise I’m stuck with Wal-Mart. I wish I could find a place where the fabric and notions are made in the USA and is easily accessible to me.

The weather this winter has been odd. We have had a few really cold days but not many. The garden thinks it is spring and then goes into shock when it does get cold. It seems that each week we have a day or two of very nice weather, then we get rain, and then it gets cold.

Because of our big Bananimals order, we finally broke down and bought a clothes rack. The clothes rack takes up a lot of room in the little studio but it is something we’ve needed for awhile and I’m glad we got it. It is on rollers, has 2 racks to hang clothes, and a bottom shelf for other things. It is also adjustable but not totally collapsible. It will come in very handy for craft fairs but also when customers come to the house, our stock shirts and jackets can now be displayed. In fact, we still have some stock items that we need to clear out.

Rhinestones have been the hit this season. Our Costume Committee is so addicted to rhinestoning that they are blinging just about everything in sight. One of the girls and I already had our rhinestone heating wands. The committee purchased two more. Once the girls begin applying the rhinestones, they just cannot seem to stop. Even some of the girls who stay away from the costuming have found themselves addicted. We’d look for a 12 step program, but we really don’t want to stop.

This year I made a couple of pennants for our float. I was so excited because I got to use my new grommet machine. I still want to get the snap machine but cannot seem to find one. It happened that one of the Krewe of Bananimals owns a local tool company and I was asking him about it. He said to call the company on the side of the grommet machine and see if they have the snap machine and if not, call one of our local canvas and sail makers and see if they can tell me where they get their snap machines. Great ideas. I’ll do that next week.

Have a wonderful Mardi Gras week and don’t forget to SMILE:>)

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

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.

Found at: http://www.ehow.com/way_5206164_ideas-recycled-crafts.html

Recycle, reduce and reuse. Using things destined for the recycle bin in craft projects is not limited to children's egg carton and paper tube crafts. There are plenty of adult ways to turn trash into treasure. Recycled crafts serve a dual purpose; they keep items from entering the landfill by giving them a second life and they are economical because new supplies don't need to be purchased.

Found at: http://www.ehow.com/slideshow_12217564_easy-start-indoor-herb-garden.html

Starting an indoor herb garden is a great introduction to growing your own edibles. It may take some light research, a little elbow grease and some patience, but you'll be rewarded with tasty herbs, plants that add ambiance and style, and a hobby that will last a lifetime.

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 5

2012-02-10T09:22:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 5 – February 10, 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

The Krewe of Bananimals has certainly come through for us this week. We have been embroidering jacket backs, names and some little metallic musical notes all week. There aren’t a lot of pictures to show this week because the whole week has been Bananimals. The people that I have met in the Bananimals are very nice and interesting. A couple of days this week there were so many Bananimals here that it was like a revolving door. That is a good thing. I did promise to search out their float on parade day to see them all in their jackets.

When I’m not working on Bananimal jackets, I’m working with the Costume Committee for our krewe. We are fitting each of the girls’ costumes and making the appropriate alterations. These costumes have served us well. This is our third year in the green costume and they still look beautiful. Each year there is something different and this year will have its own special look.

Twice each week I’m at dance practice. I really think I’m going to get this dance – hopefully before parade.

It seems like more of the krewe is showing up at Krewe Den this year. That makes it so much fun. There is definitely a bevy of beauties at that house most days. Some are working on the float and others on the costumes. This Saturday is the Krewe of Wrecks Ball and several of the girls are attending. They will be dropping by the den before and after the ball. These girls are so beautiful when they are all dolled up for a ball. It is fun watching them.

Tomorrow is also the Kids Parade and Kritter Krawl. That is always fun. We donated some beads for the kids and a costume for the Kritter Krawl. There is no reason that kids and pets shouldn’t enjoy the festivities, too.

I’m waiting on an order of thread from North Carolina but it appears that the scheduled delivery date is Monday. I will probably have to run out to one of the local fabric centers to get enough thread to last until my order arrives.

The garden is still looking good. We are eating carrots now. It sure seems to be a warm winter but once a week we hit a cold pocket.

By the time Mardi Gras is over, I will have a lot of work to do in our Etsy Store.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to SMILE:>)

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.

Craft Project (found on Pinterest):

Roundup five old pillowcases that you don't use anymore, because we all know it's much better to repurpose than buy new! Sew them together at the seams, leaving the openings clear so you can later insert pillows. Once they're all sewn together, insert pillows! You can either leave the sides open or better yet — add snap buttons so the pillows stay put, but are easy to remove when you need to wash the pillowcases. =========================================================

Another Pinterest find:

Homemade Carpet Cleaner:

1 1/2 quarts of hot (NOT boiling) water
1/4 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (it’s the regular hydrogen peroxide that you can get at any store)
1 1/2 Tablespoons of White Vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Dish Soap (we use Seventh Generation and it worked great)
About 1/8 of a teaspoon of your favorite essential oil(s) – either just one or a combination. Vanilla and lavender would be a good one. I had ginger and lavender on hand so I used those, but I’m going to get vanilla for next time.

Mix all of the ingredients together (be sure to add the dish soap to the water and not the water to the dish soap) and pour into your carpet cleaning machine… then clean like the directions tell you to.

I love knowing exactly what’s in the things I use in my house!

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 4

2012-02-04T11:55:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 4 – February 4, 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

This week has been filled with the Krewe of Bananimals. They seem to be a really fun krewe on the beach and have decided that Cajun Stitchery will do their jacket back embroidery. The design that they chose is so much fun and very colorful. So far this week we’ve stitched out two of the jacket backs. We are starting to get calls from the krewe for directions to the studio and lots and lots of questions. The most unusual question was if we could stitch the design on white fabric so the jacket owner can stitch the fabric onto the jacket. She was somewhat concerned that a white jacket would get ruined easily and she just hates to pay for the embroidery only to throw it away after a season. Her solution is to have me embroider the design on white fabric that she will attach to the jacket and then remove when she is finished with the jacket and put it on a new one. She didn’t request a patch, which would involve additional digitizing and embroidery stitch count. George actually came up with the best solution: when you are finished with the jacket, just cut the design out of the back and sew it onto the new jacket. Nevertheless, I explained to the lady that she would need to get some white fabric about the same weight and color as her jacket. It is easy to say you are going to get white fabric but truthfully there are so many shades of white. Getting the wrong shade of white is not very attractive. The whole concept of attaching the white fabric eludes me. But she knew what she wanted to do. If she has a creative vision, I certainly will not stand in her way.

The idea of being able to embroider for new customers is very exciting to me. I get to meet new friends and provide a service that comes from my heart.

From now until Mardi Gras I will be spending most of my weekends at Krewe Den with the Costume Committee. This year will mostly entail alterations of our costumes. There is also a special project that needs embroidering. You just cannot beat hanging out and working with special friends, on a beautiful beach, doing what you love to do. If this is a dream, please don’t wake me.

Last night was our Krewe Kocktail Party at Krewe Den. Last year was the first year we had the cocktail party rather than our usual ball. George and I could not attend because we had the flu. All year I’ve heard about the wonderful time everyone had. This year we definitely were going to attend and, indeed, we did. It was fabulous. It was everything the girls said. Although we did have music, it wasn’t the loud, blaring music that you would have at a ball. We were able to actually have conversations and enjoy getting to know people in a comfortable setting. One of the highlights for me is getting to know our Love Slaves and Mermaidens better. These people do a lot of work for us and they deserve to play with us, as well. The food, of course, was delicious and just kept coming. George and I brought our bottle of wine, but about my second glass, I noticed a punch bowl. I really think that “punch” is definitely the correct word to describe that drink. When I finally spilled my drink all over the floor and gathered napkins to clean it up, it was time to bid our farewells and go home. We had enough fun for one evening.

There hasn’t been a lot of time this week for playing on Pinterest, although I do try to look at the pictures when I can.

Our Etsy Store needs some work. In fact, December and January were the best two months that we have had at the Etsy Store. I really need to get to work on it and put some new blingy stuff in the store. I also want to work on more fashion scarves, Made in the USA, of course.

One of the joys of gardening is being able to share. A neighbor dropped by the other day and left with a pot of thyme and some hyssop plants.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to SMILE:>)

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.

Craft Project:

Take cheap, mismatched plates and glasses, glue together and spray paint. Voila! Unique cake stands. (Found this on Pinterest.)

Another Pinterest find:

How to fix broken powder makeup http://www.katrinalomidze.com/2009/06/fix-your-broken-powder-makeup.html

Here are the steps!

Add a few small drops of rubbing alcohol into your broken powder makeup compact or casing.

After you add the alcohol to the broken powder you will notice it seep into the powder causing it to become soft.

Smudge the soft soaking powder around, making it into a paste-like substance and re-form it by smoothing it out with your finger. You will know exactly what to do!

You can then smooth the surface out with the bottom of a spoon if you choose to, but remember that it does not have to be perfect to work perfectly.

Let it dry overnight for best results.

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 3

2012-01-27T09:59:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 3 – January 27, 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

The Mardi Gras season is definitely upon us now. We are getting our Krewe Den this weekend. All Nereids are to try on last year’s costume, put it on a hanger with your name pinned to it, attach a note saying if it needs to be taken in, let out, any rips or repairs needed, etc., and have your costume at Krewe Den in the Costume Department before next Wednesday.

The Nauga Brunch is tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. All of those attending please wear your animal print pajamas and join those Naugas for THE party of the year on the beach.

Last Friday was the Mystic Krewe of Nereids Moon pie Party. That was the best moon pie party that we’ve had since I became entangled with these crazy Nereids. The crowd was huge. The music was loud. The moon pies were all over the place. I know I danced so much that I worried that I wouldn’t be able to move the next day. Since this is our year of the Dancing Queen, she had us all on stage doing last year’s dance routine. It was pure and simple fun, fun, and more fun.

I’m still fascinated with Pinterest. One Pinterest item that I read a week or so ago said that rather than using a dryer sheet to get out the static cling from your clothes, lightly wad up a piece of aluminum foil and throw that in the dryer. We did it and it works. The aluminum foil comes out wadded tightly but there is no static cling AND you can use the foil over and over again. This reminded me of my daddy. I remember when I was a little girl living in Lafayette, one day my hair was standing on end with static cling. My daddy told me to go hold onto the metal plumbing pipe. I did and voila the static cling was gone. I think the aluminum foil in the dryer must be along the same principle as holding onto the metal plumbing pipe.

George and I have had a couple of really nice, big, carrot salads lately. Just mix shredded carrots, raisins, and a bit of mayonnaise. There simply is nothing like fresh vegetables right out of the garden. Right now we are harvesting carrots and have planted more. About now, Mama would be commenting on carrots being so good for your eyes. When I was little she would tell me to eat my carrots so I could see well. I’d eat them and she’d says, “What can you see now that you’ve eaten your carrots? You should be able to see really good now.” It is a shame that we’ve never been able to grow beets here. Mama loved beets, as I do. She would tell me to eat my beets so that I would get smart. We have some broccoli plants that have not begun to produce yet. This year we remembered to plant celery in January. I sure hope it grows. Oh yes, the sweet peas are growing, too. If that’s not enough, the camellias and snapdragons are blooming.

There is a bit of sad news this week. Our little white, spaniel mix dog was put down on Monday. Stinky was 17 years old. George got Stinky when he worked for the zoo. The wife of the owner of the zoo couldn’t keep Stinky anymore and asked George if he would like to have her. I don’t think she ever weighed more than 25 pounds and this last year she was less than 20 pounds. I remember the day George brought her home. She was sitting in the passenger seat of his black truck and the contrast between the little white dog and the black truck made her look so pretty. She was a beautiful dog. We had pizza for dinner that night and our other dogs were trained not to touch our food. I didn’t think anything about leaving my pizza on a plate in the living room while I went to get a drink. The next thing I knew this little white dog had my pizza in her mouth and was running across the living room floor. At Christmas she would lay down on the sofa next to me and as I would open presents, I would put the sticky bows on her head. She was adorable. One year we dressed her up as a MerMutt and took her to the beach for the Critter Crawl. We could tell that age was getting to her this past year. She began having tumors; her teeth were bad; she had cataracts; she had a bad back that atrophied, just a lot of old age problems. Monday morning she couldn’t walk. We took her to the vet and it was time. Normally, George would send me to pay the bill while they euthanized, but, I held her. I held her in my arms as they gave her a sedative and then THE shot. I still held onto her, petting and caressing her sweet little body. The vet listened for her heartbeat and told us she was gone. I continued holding her and stroking her soft, white fur. My little friend for so many years was asleep and peaceful. Tears were streaming down our faces. We said our goodbyes. There was a beauty about this. It is hard to explain. I know that she is in heaven running in a large field. She could run like the wind in her younger days. I do miss our little Stinky but I’m so grateful that she is no longer suffering. She is in a better place and I will see her again someday.

All of my work in our Etsy Store is beginning to pay off. Last month and this month have been our absolute best months ever with the Etsy Store. We still need to increase sales more, but these 2 months have been very encouraging. This week I received a call from a young lady who had made a purchase from us on Etsy. She has not received her purchase yet and she made the purchase on January 5^th. This is the first time we’ve had any problem with our Etsy customers. As it turned out, she gave us the wrong address. Apparently she moved from her last apartment to her new apartment during this time period. I told her to please see if the package arrived at the old address and if she did not receive it or had any problems, I would make her another. I want happy customers. Her demeanor totally changed and she said, “Really?” Yep, I want happy customers, period.

This year the Mardi Gras season is pretty short. Our parade on the beach is on February 19^th. One of the krewes from Pensacola contacted me wanting patches. Several ladies in this krewe are friends of mine from my legal career days. The krewe will be meeting at the end of January and deciding how many patches they want. Right now I have an order for one. One is a beginning. The krewe I the Krewe of Sirens and the patch is a mermaid. As I told a friend recently, I am up to my ears in mermaids and I love it.

I have several other projects on my plate right now. If they all come through we are going to have a very busy Mardi Gras season, indeed.

The krewes that have contacted me have all said the same thing that the Nereids are saying right now: “Oh my gosh, Mardi Gras is here and we aren’t ready!” Last minute orders are becoming the routine.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to SMILE:>)

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.

===============================================================

Thanks to Chuck Steele for this contribution:

Even if you're a non-believer you need to read this! BELIEVE IT OR
NOT, IT’S AN INTERESTING TALE!

Louisiana Ghost Story (true story)
This happened about 6 months ago on Louisiana Hwy 57, just outside of
Dulac, a little town in the bayou country of Louisiana, and while it
sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's real.
An Ohio businessman, Saul Rubins, abandoned his disabled vehicle on
the side of the road, and attempted to hitchhike. The night was pitch
dark in the middle of a thunderstorm. Time passed slowly and no cars
went by. It was raining so hard he could hardly see his hand in front
of his face.

Suddenly, through the sheets of rain, he saw a car moving slowly,
approaching and appearing ghostlike in the rain. It slowly and
silently crept toward him and stopped. Desperately needing a ride,
Saul jumped in the car and closed the door. Only then did he realize
that there was no one behind the wheel and no sound of an engine to be
heard over the rain.

Again the car crept silently forward and Saul was terrified, too
scared to think of jumping out and running... He saw that the car was
approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he
started to pray and beg for his life; he was sure the ghost car would
go off the road and into the bayou and he would then drown!

But just before the curve, a shadowy hand appeared at the driver's
window, reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car
safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared
through the window and Saul was alone again.

Paralyzed with fear, Saul watched the hand reappear every time they
reached a curve. Finally, scared nearly to death, Saul had all he
could take, jumped out of the car, and ran to town...

Wet and in shock, he went into Schmoopy's. Voice quavering, he ordered
two cups of coffee, black, and then told everybody about his
supernatural experience. The room became silent and everybody got
goose bumps when they realized Saul was telling the truth and was not
just some drunk. About 30 minutes later two Cajuns, dripping wet,
walked into Schmoopy's and one says to the other,

"Look, Boudreaux, ders dat idiot what rode in our car when we wuz
pushin' it in DA rain!!!"

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 2

2012-01-20T12:03:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 2 – January 20. 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

I do apologize about missing last week’s issue of Cajun Corner. There was simply too much on my plate to get it out. As they say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” so, I’m hoping all subscribers are really eager to read this issue.

Pensacola Beach experienced a sad and happy occasion recently. In order for many of our subscribers to understand, I need to give you some background information:

Jane Waters Cooper arrived on Pensacola Beach from her home in New Orleans in 1978. Among many things, she was a journalist. She owned the local beach newspaper and had her hand on the pulse of the island. Jane was one of the founders, if not THE founder, of Mardi Gras on the beach. She was instrumental in creating many community enhancements, as well as some frivolities. The most significant to me is the SOBs, Sisters of the Beach. Miss Jane, as she was known on the island, passed away recently. She was 90 years old. I don’t recall ever being formally introduced to her and I’ve only seen her a few times. Each year after our SOB brunch, several of the SOBs, including myself in recent years, would go to Jane’s home and serenade her with a Christmas carol. When I first began playing with the Nereids, my friend and sponsor, Paulette, made me read two books: (1) The Sweet Potato Queen book; and, (2) to the Beat of an Island Drum by Jane Waters Cooper. Jane’s book is a history of Mardi Gras on the island. Anyone interested in getting to know the islanders really should read this book. Initially the book didn’t mean a lot to me. I knew a few of the names. As time went by, I realized that I was meeting more and more of these wonderful, wacky people, and Jane’s book became more and more important in understanding this place called Pensacola Beach.

Jane has four daughters. One I’ve never met. One I recently met. One I’ve met a few times. And, one, Shelley, is a close friend of mine and owns the local beach newspaper, Island Times. (Everyone needs a subscription to this newspaper. It is the only newspaper where Cajun Stitchery advertises.) Over these past couple of weeks since Miss Jane’s passing, I had the privilege of getting to know and bond with Liz, who I had only briefly met once or twice previously. Lastly, but definitely not leastly, is Candy. I’ve heard about Candy but never had the privilege of meeting her until Miss Jane’s Memorial Service earlier this week. As it turns out, Candy is one of my neighbors here in Warrington. Small world, isn’t it? Candy is an engineer. That may not be significant to this story, but people who know me know that means I will not have the least bit of trouble bonding with Candy. Many people have told me that I should have been an engineer like my father, and uncle and all of my engineering relatives. In fact, Candy and I are already developing the SOWs, Sisters of Warrington.

But, I digress. I said this was a sad and happy occasion. The happy occasion is that within a few hours of Miss Jane’s passing, her great grandson was born. Is that the circle of life, or a miracle? What it appeared to me to be was just plain perfect timing. The sadness of losing Miss Jane was counteracted by the happiness of gaining her great grandson.

In addition to Miss Jane, I’ve been knee deep in Nereid frivolities. Last weekend was our annual bead trip to Mobile. We left Friday morning. Yep, the girls came into my house and poured my luggage, me and my cup of coffee into the car and off we went to Mobile. I am my mother’s daughter; therefore, I am not a morning person. The rule is: what happens in Mobile, stays in Mobile. Suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time and I do believe this was the best bead trip ever.

We returned on Sunday and attended Miss Jane’s memorial service on Monday.

You do recall that I own a business, Cajun Stitchery? I recalled that Tuesday morning when I realized that I have a lot of work to do. Playing around stopped and I began working in earnest. Okay, I did play with the Nereids Wednesday night but that was after hours.

Baby blankets take time but are a favorite thing for me to make. However, the custom baby blanket order that I received was nothing like the baby blankets I usually make. This one had the cross hairs from a rifle scope for the opening in the letter A of the baby’s name. The blanket order requested fleece as the fabric. The design was really cute for a boy. In the end, the fleece was a camouflage print with peace signs in a khaki green. What I loved the most was under the design for the name was: “Sniper in a Diaper.” How cute is that? I have to use that one again. With fleece all of the literature says that you use wash away stabilizer to hold down the pile of the fabric so the embroidery stitching doesn’t sink into the pile and vanish. I really don’t like wash away because I never seem to get it all washed away. I have found that putting some mylar underneath does just as good and adds a bling. The mylar would not have worked on this blanket for two reasons. One, I would never use mylar for a baby blanket. Two, a little boy with a camo blanket does not need bling. I ended up using plain tear away stabilizer and it worked just fine. Since I did the digitizing, I ended up with something like seven stitchouts. I was having a dickens of a time with the registration. The fleece really didn’t need it, but to get a nice straight edge, I serged the edges. After I was finished and folded the blanket many different ways, I thought it would look cute folded like a sleeping bag. Once I did that and I was looking at all of the stitchouts, I decided to make a bag from the stitchouts for the blanket. It did turn out very cute and I was able to use my new grommet press that I got for Christmas.

Another order this week that was a lot of fun was from our cute little ToucanSave lady. She wanted a couple of scarves to wear like a headband but with the tails coming down to her chest. This was kind of a 1960’s look. On the headband area, we embroidered the ToucanSave logo with some heavy stabilizer. Then just the area with the logo was sewn closed. One was done on a navy blue, stretch fabric, similar to jersey. The other headband was on a bright yellow/gold, silk fabric. They are adorable. I’m wondering if people who shop on Etsy would buy these headbands? Vintage and the ‘60’s look are really popular now.

More orders came in for the market baskets, so, I had to place another order for baskets. They arrived last night. It appears that the rhinestones and mylar are popular with members of our local krewes. The next one is going to be for a Queen.

George and I have been working in the garden. We harvested a bunch of carrots and George made a delicious carrot salad. The broccoli is growing as well as some sweet peas. We planted celery and bunching onions. Oh, how I love to garden.

This year’s design for my Krewe’s birthday gifts was a big success. The first gift was given and there were plenty of ooo’s and aaaaah’s. It is a large mermaid on a white beach towel. The mermaid’s hair is done in Mylar.

Since I have such strong feelings on buying local and buying MADE IN THE USA, I did a little research online and found that there are still a few remaining fabric mills. One is in Mississippi and looks like it is about a 2 hour drive from Pensacola. We may have a road trip ahead of us. I emailed the mill but haven’t received a reply yet. Another one is in Texas. No road trip there. Now I need to find out the prices and see if their minimum order is something I can manage. Since all of my thread is MADE IN THE USA, it would be nice to tout that my fabric is also MADE IN THE USA. Right now I don’t know where my fabric is milled. It could be the USA. I just don’t know.

My business consultant once told me that my niche will change with the times and I will probably end up surprised where my niche lands. Well, I think that one of my niches is going to be scarves. Since I did the research a few weeks back and found that China and India are #1 and #2 in the manufacturing of fashion scarves, it has just eaten at me. I know how to make scarves and it is not difficult. Given the right price on the right fabric, the right equipment, even I could compete – I think.

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.

===============================================================

Thanks to Bob Kruk for this contribution:

The Cajun Bic Lighter

Prejean and Boudreaux were fishing in the
Bayou when Prejean pulled out a cigar. Finding he had
no matches, he asked Boudreaux for a light.

“Ya, ma fren, I tink I haff a lighter,”
Boudreaux replied with a Cajun
accent, and then reaching into his tackle
box, he pulled out a Bic lighter 10 inches long.

“Holy shit, man!” exclaimed Prejean, taking
the huge Bic Lighter in his hands.
“Where'd yew git dat monster?”

“Well,” replied Boudreaux,
“I got it from my Genie.”

“You haff a Genie?” Prejean asked.

“Ya, ma fren. It's right here in my tackle
box,” says Boudreaux.

“Could I see him?”

Boudreaux opens his tackle box and
sure enough, out pops the Genie.

Addressing the Genie, Prejean says,
“Hey dere! I'm a good buddy of
your master. Will you grant me
one wish?”

“Yes, I will,” says the Genie.

So Prejean asks the Genie for a
million bucks. The Genie disappears
back into the tackle box leaving
Prejean sitting there waiting for his million
bucks.

Shortly, the Louisiana sky
darkens and is filled with the sound of
a million ducks....flying directly overhead.

Over the roar of the million ducks
Prejean yells at Boudreaux,
“What the hell? I asked for a million
bucks, not a million ducks!”

Boudreaux answers,
“Ya, I forgot to tell yew dat da Genie
is hard of hearing. Do yew really think
I asked for a 10 inch Bic?”

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 1

2012-01-07T07:46:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 1 – January 7. 2012

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Ahhh, a new year. First on the agenda is, Happy Birthday, Mama. She would have been 94 today.

The Mardi Gras season is upon us. Today at 3 p.m. at Paradise Bar & Grill on Pensacola Beach is our King Kake Party. Everyone is invited and sure to have a great time. There will be music, and, of course, King Kake. Most important, though, is we crown our krewe’s new king and queen. Come on out and party with the Mystic Krewe of Nereids.

My George has celebrated his birthday for nearly a week now. Happy Birthday, sweetheart. He is definitely a keeper.

Our fall garden is gone. The recent frigid temperatures in the 20’s finished those plants. We had harvested everything we could before the freeze. It was time. Ha! Of course, it was. First week of January every year, like clockwork, there is a freeze. We had a freeze for 2 days and now we are back in the 50-70 degree range. That was just the fall garden. We also have a winter garden. George took out all of the old plants and we are getting ready to transplant some broccoli and plant some celery. Our garlic and carrots are still growing, as is the catnip and parsley. I love gardening in Florida because you really can garden 12 months out of the year.

Last year may have been the year for Facebook but this year may turn out to be the year of Pinterest. What is Pinterest, you ask? Go to www.pinterest.com. I’m not really sure what you would call it. It is pictures. It helps you organize. Where some bulletin boards on the internet allow you to “post”; Pinterest allows you to “pin”. It is just their cutesy name for it; or, “posting” may be words where “pinning” is pictures. Who knows? You must be “invited” to Pinterest. If you would like to be “invited”, just let me know and I’ll be glad to send the invitation. This all sounds so dull. Let me tell you that from the first time I went to Pinterest, I was hooked. I simply could not stop looking at the pictures and reading the comments. It looks like it will be a good venue to post Cajun Stitchery items, and that is the real reason that I’m on Pinterest – but, I simply cannot stop looking at the pictures, and reading the articles. Once you are registered on Pinterest, you can have as many “boards” as you like. The boards are used for organizing. For instance, you can have a board for home décor, or recipes, or gardening, or whatever you like. You can have as many boards as you like. As you find things on the internet, or Pinterest, you can put them on the appropriate board for future reference. Let’s say you want to redecorate your living room. A search on the internet brings up several photos of your style, or a chair that would work perfectly, or a painting, or whatever. You would just “pin it” to your board with a tool that you keep in your favorites. As you collect photos, you can go to your board and start to define how you want to decorate your living room. You can also save arts and craft tutorials, a good article, whatever you want. I’m still trying to get used to the organizing of the boards and remembering to click the appropriate board for the items that I’m pinning, but that is just learning. People are visual. Pinterest is in our future. I do not see Pinterest taking the place of Facebook, though.

A friend that I met on Facebook ordered two of our flannel scarves. One was the “Party Girl” scarf – embellished with rhinestones, of course. The other was custom. She wanted a man’s long scarf in black flannel with gold fleur de lis. I was a bit worried that I would not be able to find solid black flannel, but there was nothing to worry about. I found the black flannel at the first store. A search on the internet showed me that men’s sporty, long scarves are the same size as women’s. They are about 72” long by 10” to 20” wide. The one I made for her was 72” long by 10” wide. The fabric was doubled to hide the back of the embroidery. In my opinion, it would have been too bulky if it were any wider than 10”. Nevertheless, the scarf turned out so beautiful that I’m making another one to list in our Etsy Store. After all, the Saints ARE going to the Super Bowl again this year, right?

Our end of the year Etsy sale was a lot of fun. Several items were sold. Scarves seem to be the thing that people wanted. Not only was the sale fun, but it gave me an opportunity to go through all of the items in our Etsy Store and do some extra embellishments here and there. I was also able to see some things that I want to take out of the store--forever.

The market baskets are still selling like hotcakes. The rhinestoned and Mylar Mystic Krewe of Nereids design is a hit. Personally, I think each krewe needs to have their own krewe’s design for market baskets since we all carry so much stuff. The latest market basket order did it up right. The customer ordered the Nereid design on one side of the basket with her name embroidered on the other side. It is perfect. What do you do if you already have a market basket but your basket isn’t purple, green, or gold? That’s easy. You get a market basket for Mardi Gras, patriotic holidays, Halloween, and Christmas. You have a purse to match different colors or seasons, don’t you? You also need a matching or holiday appropriate market basket, too.

I finally came up with the 2012 design for my Krewe’s birthday gifts. The design should be revealed today when our first birthday girl of the year receives her gift. After that, I will be able to show off the new design. I digitized it myself and I sure hope those girls like it.

Another friend of mine has started a website called www.stronglocalbusiness.com. She has some really good articles on her website and also has forums and several interactive things. It is worth a visit. The whole gist is to buy local and buy made in the USA, thereby creating and saving jobs. I cannot stress enough my feeling that the USA has an abundance of untapped talent. I’m not blind to the fact that we live in a world that gets smaller each day due to technology; that there are people starving in third world countries; and that the majority of US citizens cannot imagine living without conveniences that other people in the world cannot imagine having. However, in order to help others, we need to help ourselves. The caregiver must also take care of herself/himself to be able to continue being a caregiver. We all need to buy local and buy items made in the USA.

While making scarves, I did a little research and the number one country in the world that sells fashion scarves is, you guessed it,

China

. Number two is India. My scarves are handmade right here in the USA. Even our thread comes from a mill in North Carolina. We can do this, but we need to unite and do this together. We can turn around our economy and put ourselves in a healthier position to help others.

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.

===============================================================

Here is a recipe that I found on Pinterest. It reminds me of the larger than life chocolate cake that a dear friend of our’s made for George’s birthday. It also reminds me why I do not like to cook:

Salted Caramel Chocolate Fudge Cake

Yield: One 6-inch, 3-layer cake

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Yield: Three 6-inch round layers

Serves: 8+

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (180 g/6 oz) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups (300 g/ 10 oz) sugar

3/4 cup (90 g/3 oz) dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder – Extra Dark )

1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL/6 g) baking soda

1 teaspoon (5 mL/4 g) baking powder

1 teaspoon (5 mL/5 g) salt

1/4 cup (60 mL/2 liquid oz) vegetable oil

3/4 cup (190 mL/6 liquid oz) buttermilk

3/4 cup (190 mL/6 liquid oz) hot brewed coffee

2 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons (10 mL) vanilla (I use Nielsen-Massey Vanillas 8-oz. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract )

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (180°C). Prepare three 6-inch round cake pans with butter, parchment paper rounds, and cocoa powder. Tap out excess.

2. In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients and add all remaining ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splash-guard that comes with mixer) and pour into prepared pans. If possible, use digital kitchen scale and weigh divided batter in pans for even layers. Batter will be liquidy.

3. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans in oven. Cakes are done when toothpick or skewer comes clean–approximately 30 minutes. Try not to over bake.

4. Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes, then loosen edges with a small palette knife, and gently invert onto racks until completely cool.

Salted Caramel Swiss Buttercream (for filling)

Yield: ~4 cups

Ingredients

1 cup (200 g/7 oz) sugar

1/4 cup (60 mL) water

1/4 cup (60 mL) heavy cream

generous pinch of sea salt (and additional sea salt, preferably Fleur de Sel, for sprinkling), for example: Fleur de Sel De Guerande- French Sea Salt; 6oz

1 1/2 cups (340 g/12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large egg whites (120 g/4 oz)

1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

Method

The first step is making the salted caramel (you can also do a non-salted caramel by omitting the sea salt), to set aside to cool while you make the Swiss Buttercream. You then add the cooled caramel sauce it to the buttercream as the very last step. I haven’t tried buying ready-made gourmet caramel sauce and adding it, but I suspect it would taste nothing short of awesome.

1. Place 130 grams (5 ounces or 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) of the sugar and the water in a medium saucepan to a boil over medium heat. Brush down the sides of the pot with a dampened pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Stop stirring and cook until caramel is dark amber, gently swirling from time to time. Remove from heat, and slowly add cream, whisking by hand until smooth. It will be splatter, so be careful. Whisk in sea salt. Let cool.

2. Place butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (flat beater) and beat on medium speed (I use #4 on my mixer), until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

3. Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer clean with lemon juice, and place egg whites and remaining sugar into bowl over a pot of simmering (not boiling–you don’t want to cook the eggs). Whisk occasionally and gently until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160° on a candy thermometer.

4. Remove the bowl from heat, and place back onto the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form (about 5-6 minutes). Once the bottom of the bowl is neutral and no longer warm to the touch, reduce speed to medium-low, and add beaten butter, one cup at a time, whisking well after each addition.

5. Switch to paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add cooled caramel, and beat until smooth (about 3-5 minutes).

6. Prepare to taste the most incredible buttercream you will ever encounter.

*Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Caramel Buttercream

Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Yield: ~5 cups

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (45 g/1.5 oz) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I use Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder – Extra Dark )

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (90 mL/3 oz) boiling water

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks/341 g/12 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (63 g/2 oz) confectioners’ (icing/powdered) sugar

Pinch of salt

1 pound (454 g/16 oz) good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Method

1. Combine cocoa powder and the boiling water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, and stir until it cocoa has dissolved.

2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (flat beater), beat the butter, the icing sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy–about 5 minutes.

3. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add melted chocolate (cooled), beating until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Beat in the cocoa mixture until well incorporated.

Notes:

1. Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 1 month in an airtight container.

2. Before using, bring to room temperature (usually overnight on counter does the trick), and beat on low speed until smooth.

*Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 52

2011-12-31T12:41:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 52 – December 31, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Today is New Year’s Eve. I sure hope everyone can look back on this year and have many happy memories. May 2012 bring each of you good health, joy and prosperity.

Our family tradition is to take down our Christmas decorations on January 2^nd, George’s birthday. Out with the red and green; in with the purple, green and gold. I actually have some friends who take the Christmas decorations off of the tree and replace them with Mardi Gras décor for a Mardi Gras tree.

I must say that 2011 was certainly a Facebook year for me. I have made so many good friends via Facebook this year and met all kinds of people from everywhere.

The garden is still giving. It is unbelievable but wonderful. We have to harvest more peppers and tomatoes today. It’s time to plant celery, which I’ve never grown before and hope it does well. Sometime this coming week the spent plants will be removed and new seeds planted. We have some broccoli seedlings that need to go into the garden soon.

This has been a busy week. Everything in our Etsy store is now on sale. As I was putting the items for sale, I was upgrading a lot of things, especially the scarves and adding lots of rhinestones. I still don’t have everything that I’ve made on there but I really want to get rid of some of the items that have been around for a while so that I can make some new items. The sales are good until I take the sale off, which will be in the next couple of days. You should visit the store and browse a bit. I really slashed prices on the majority of the items.

The market baskets have been a huge hit this season. So, for the Mardi Gras season I’m doing some market baskets with the Mystic Krewe of Nereids in gold/topaz rhinestones and a couple of cute mermaids in mylar. I think all krewes should have these, especially since we carry so much stuff around. But Krewes aren’t the only people who should have market baskets. Many of my business friends should have them, too. Not only is it a fabulously unique way to advertise by having your company name embroidered on the basket, but these baskets are perfect when you are carrying your wares around, like Avon, Mary Kay, soaps, oils, embroidery, etc.

You know each year I give my krewe members the same but special gifts for their birthdays. One year I gave them personalized mermaid pillowcases; last year it was personalized mermaid bath towels. This year I have something else special but I’m stumped on what design to use. I’ve thought about several things but nothing has really grabbed me. January starts a whole new year and new birthdays, so I better come up with something quick.

We were able to get the red aprons at a super discount price during the Christmas season and have sold out. The sale is now closed and instead of $5 per apron, they are now $10.12 each.

We still have many items in stock that are on sale and have not been listed in our Etsy store. We have tee shirts, polos, jackets, napkins, caps, and other things. Call or email me if you are interested in looking at these items.

Happy New Year!!!

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Paulette Provost for the following:

Boudreaux and Thibodeaux were a couple of drinking buddies who worked as aircraft mechanics at de Estherwood International Airport . Mais one day de airport was fogged in and dey were stuck in de hangar with nuttin' to do.

Boudreaux say, 'Man, I wish we had someting to drink!'

Thibodeaux say, 'Me too. Y'know, I've heard you can drink de jet fuel and get a buzz. So dey pour demselves a couple of glasses of high octane gas and get demselves completely smashed.

De next morning Boudreaux wake himsef’ up and is surprised at how darn good he feels. In fack he feels GREAT! NO hangover! NO bad side effects. NUTTIN! Den de phone rings. It's Thibodeaux!

Thibodeaux say, 'Hey, how you are dis morning?'

Boudreaux say, 'Man, I feel great, how 'bout you?'

Thibodeaux say, 'I feel great, too. You don' have a hangover?'

Boudreaux say, 'No dat jet fuel is great stuff -- no hangover, nuttin’. We ought to do dis more often..'

Thibodeaux say, ' Yeah, well dey's just one t’ing.'

'What's dat?' says Boudreaux.

'Have you farted yet?' axes Thib.

'Mais No.' says Boudreaux.

'Well, DON'T - cause I'm in Shreveport!'

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 51

2011-12-23T12:24:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 51 – December 23, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

It is now Christmas Eve Eve. Do you have all of your decorations displayed in your home? Is the tree up and decorated? Have you purchased all of your gifts and wrapped them? Are all of the gifts under the tree? Have you done all of your grocery shopping for Christmas dinner? Are you having turkey or ham? Are you entertaining for Christmas? Or, are you visiting for Christmas? If visiting, do you have a hostess gift?

When George and I were first married, we began doing our Christmas shopping the week before Christmas because we both worked and any Christmas bonus that we would get from our employers came right before Christmas. We would take a day and head out to the stores. In the early days, that meant that we had the boys with us. We didn’t have cell phones and internet back then. No shopping online. That last week, and sometimes it was Christmas Eve, we would head out to the malls. Everything would be decorated. Christmas music would be piped in everywhere in the mall. Sure the shelves had been picked over but we always managed to find what we needed. The boys would visit Santa Claus. We would usually go out to eat and make it a festive, if not tiring, day.

We did this every year and panicked each year, thinking we may not get everything. As time went by, we began purchasing presents throughout the year, always with the goal of avoiding that last minute present buying extravaganza. One year we actually made it. We had everything done early in the year. You know what? We missed all of the hustle and bustle of last minute shopping. We had actually created a family tradition. So, as long as the boys were living with us, we always made a point of last minute shopping for Christmas. Nowadays, with the internet and online shopping, those last minute shopping extravaganzas are just memories. Instead, we find ourselves hoping this or that present gets delivered in time for Christmas. My, how times have changed.

This year we sent very few Christmas cards. Most of our friends and family are sending e-cards instead. I think that’s a great idea, very environmentally-friendly. Although, I wonder what that does to the Hallmark Company. Some aspects of Christmas have changed drastically with technology.

Last week’s Mystic Krewe of Nereids Christmas Party was the best ever. As planned, I did spend the night. I think I finally got to bed around 3 a.m. That was a blast. In fact, this entire Christmas season has been a blast.

Nothing was planned this past week. We wanted to make sure we were available for last minute orders. It’s been a stay at home week. That’s not to say we didn’t have visitors and customers. We truly enjoyed one of our neighbors dropping by twice this week for wine in the evening and chit chat. I love having company. With all of my newly acquired serving dishes, no one should hesitate visiting us.

I decided to do one final harvest this week and picked tomatoes and cayenne peppers. The peppers were boiled with vinegar and water for about a day. At the same time, I boiled and processed the tomatoes. All day I was stopping by the stove to give each pot a good stir with my trusty wooden spoon. No spices were used at all. I stopped at the tomato pot once and tasted and it definitely had the pepper bite to it. It wasn’t hot but you could taste the pepper. At one point I stirred the peppers and just touched my finger to the spoon and then my finger to my mouth. My tongue went numb it was so hot. After cooking everything, I put the peppers in the blender (yes, I was reading recipes) and blended the peppers into a puree. The pepper puree is now in the refrigerator in a glass jar for spicing up food. I instructed George to use only tiny servings. The recipe said that this will keep in the frig for at least a year. I did the same thing with the tomatoes and have a really nice tomato sauce. We may have spaghetti tonight.

A look outside of my kitchen and into my garden will show that we have more tomatoes and peppers to harvest. Wow! This has been a great gardening season. In fact, the carrots are looking like they are about ready to be harvested. We also have an eggplant that is ready to be picked and noticed that there are more eggplants growing. This is not eggplant season but don’t tell the plants that. The garden is flourishing and I know in just a week or two it will be over. Didn’t I say that a couple of weeks ago?

All of our Christmas orders have been done and the last customer is dropping by today to pick up her package. We have a few orders remaining but those are not for Christmas.

A new customer contacted me this week. Her son graduated from college and she wanted to give him some really nice business shirts for Christmas. She contacted the Eddie Bauer Company online and got a couple of very professional white shirts. Whoever she conversed with at Eddie Bauer told her that if she wanted to kick it up to the next level of classy, she should have his initials embroidered on the cuff. Eddie Bauer no longer provides embroidery services for apparel and suggested she find a local embroiderer. She found Cajun Stitchery via a simple Google search. I reviewed my handy dandy placement guide and found the proper placement for embroidery on cuffs and we were off. We did one in navy blue and one in black; although, you can hardly tell the difference in the colors. She was very pleased and, once again, I made a new friend.

Next week, the week after Christmas, is notoriously known for sales. I’ve written before about my friends who have their immediate family Christmas on Christmas day but wait until New Years for their large family gathering so everyone can take advantage of the sales after Christmas.

Cajun Stitchery has quite a bit of stock and so we are selling whatever shirts that we have in stock from $5 for short sleeve tee shirts to $10 for polo’s. Napkins are $2 each for napkins in stock. We have ball caps, sweat shirts, jackets and all sorts of stuff that is on sale. If there is anything that you are looking for, email or call and I’ll let you know if we have it in stock and I’ll give you a discount. Or, if you want to come to the house, I’ll be glad to set everything out and let you browse. All of our handmade cell phone holders have been cut drastically, some are only $1.00. In fact, I’m thinking about putting a lot of our handmade items on sale, too, so we can make all new things in 2012. Sorry the market baskets are not on sale but we do have lots of little totes to sell for $2 and some cute purses for $5. If you don’t like our prices, counter-offer. Who knows, you may get me at a very giving moment. As usual, call (850)261-2462 before you come. We always have a pot of coffee brewing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM Cajun Stitchery

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Paulette Provost for the following:

A Cajun calls up his lawyer and asks "Wit all dem lawsuits going on I'm
feelin' kinda left out.

How do I get in on some of dat action? I hears dat people are suing the
cigarette companies 'cause dey got
cancer and others are suing the Big Mac company cause dey got themselves
fat and all kinds of stuff"!!

His lawyer asks "And which one of those categories do You fit under?"
The dear ole Cajun, God bless his soul answers.....

"Neider cher, I just wanna know if I can sue Budweiser for all
dem ugly women I woke up wit...

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 50

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 50 – December 16, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Here we are a little bit more than a week away from Christmas. Do you have all of your shopping done? Are the packages wrapped and under the tree? Have you mailed all of your Christmas cards? Sent the out of town packages? I have done none of that yet.

This week has been filled with parties and gatherings. Tonight is the last party on my agenda and it is the biggy. Tonight is the Mystic Krewe of Nereids Christmas Party. I plan to spend the night and return home tomorrow sometime.

This has been a wonderful and busy Christmas season. I’m hoping and praying that all of our customers feel that shopping at Cajun Stitchery is a fun and easy shopping experience.

A perfect example of the ease of shopping with Cajun Stitchery occurred this week. I was on Facebook doing my usual marketing. I was advertising our market baskets as a means of advertising small businesses with logos embroidered on the side of the baskets. A sweet friend of our’s contacted one of her friends, all on Facebook, saying that she may need one of the market baskets. The lady who became my new friend did not need a market basket but needed a bag to carry her perfumes, which she sells. I happened to have a little carrying case that suited her needs perfectly. The carrying case was black with white polka dots and trimmed in hot pink. She wanted “Got Scents?” embroidered. I explained that although embroiderers do embroider directly on prints, I find that the embroidery usually gets lost in the print. I suggested that she might like to have the “Got Scents?” embroidered on an appliqué patch. She agreed. I created the computer simulated design and posted it for her to see. She loved it and ordered it. Then she asked if I might have a laptop case/satchel to carry her new 17” wide laptop. Most computer cases or briefcases are not wide enough for the newer laptops. As it turned out I did have a black laptop case in stock. She wanted her name embroidered in hot pink using the Chanel font. Another computer simulated design was created, posted and ordered. I sent her a PayPal invoice which she promptly paid. When the order was completed, I posted photographs of the actual items. Yesterday she picked up her order. It was so simple. Of course, anyone can shop online. And shopping online is simple. While shopping online, do you ever have a question about the item? Is there anyone at the store that you can ask? If you went shopping in person, you could ask the salesperson but who do you ask online? If you shop at Cajun Stitchery, you can ask me. Even if I’m not online at the time, you can leave me a message or send me an email and I will answer you promptly.

For me, the beauty of this is that I made a new friend. Our customers are not just people who come into a store, get what they want, and leave. Our customers become my friends. And I would never cheat or bamboozle a friend just to make a buck. My friends are people that I care about and I want them to get quality for their money. Now that’s something that you don’t find at Wal-Mart.

Speaking of the market baskets, those things are selling like hotcakes. I had to place two orders this week, alone, for them. The solid colored market baskets are $22.00 each. I will embroider a name or initials for $5 with purchase of the market basket. The polka dot baskets are a bit more expensive, $28 each. Yes, they have several designs and prints of market baskets. I sent one of the polka dot baskets to my daughter-in-law for her birthday last week.

At our party tonight, we will be exchanging gifts. My gift will be my latest idea on market baskets with bling. The basket is purple. The krewe name outline is embroidered in gold and the outline is filled with green rhinestones. Purple, green and gold. Yes, Mardi Gras season has also begun. I think these market baskets are adorable with Krewe names. I know the members in our krewe are always carrying fabric, decorations, food, and all sorts of things. These baskets are perfect. I have used mine in lieu of my purse and just put a little purse for essentials in the basket.

We also exchanged gifts at our Wednesday night party. My present was absolutely perfect. It was a silver colored serving tray with a silver colored spreading knife with a shell for the handle. This will go with my new accumulation of items required for entertaining at home.

The gift that I gave was a bottle of wine wrapped in one of our red Merry Christmas aprons with rhinestones. As it happened, the lady who received the gift is a chef. How perfect was that match. Of course, she loved the apron.

Last week was the Pensacola Beach Christmas Parade. I remember last year it was so cold. This year was perfect weather. We thought it might rain but it didn’t. It never rains on our parades.

The waffle weave robes have also been a big success. The customers who purchased the robes absolutely love them. I noticed that each of the robes had a tag on them which reads “Monarch www.monarchrobe.com”. Apparently this is the retail store. When I matched the style number from our robes with the retail robes, I found that the robes are selling for $60 each, retail. We are selling them for $50.00.

We still have all sorts of ready made items in stock, such as napkins, pillowcases, towels, shirts, jackets, totes, etc., plus handmade items that have not been listed in our Etsy Store. Please feel free to come by and look at all of the items for a unique Christmas shopping experience. And if we don’t have what you are look for, we should be able to find it for you. Call first to make sure I’m at home, though. The coffee is always ready at Cajun Stitchery.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays. Shop local and buy made in the USA.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

EVE'S SIDE OF THE STORY

After three weeks in the Garden of Eden, God came to visit Eve. 'So, how is everything going?' inquired God.

'It is all so beautiful, God,' she replied. 'The sunrises and sunsets are breathtaking, the smells, the sights, everything is wonderful, but I have just one problem..

It's these breasts you have given me. The middle one pushes the other two out and I am constantly knocking them with my arms, catching them on branches and snagging them on bushes. They're a real pain..'

And Eve went on to tell God that since many other parts of her body came in pairs, such as her limbs, eyes, ears, etc. She felt that having only two breasts might leave her body more 'symmetrically balanced'..

'That's a fair point,' replied God, 'But it was my first shot at this, you know. I gave the animals six breasts, so I figured that you needed only half of those, but I see that you are right. I will fix it up right away.'

And God reached down, removed the middle breast and tossed it into the bushes.

Three weeks passed and God once again visited Eve in the Garden of Eden.

'Well, Eve, how is my favorite creation ?'

'Just fantastic,' she replied, 'But for one oversight. You see, all the animals are paired off. The ewe has a ram and the cow has her bull. All the animals have a mate except me. I feel so alone..'

God thought for a moment and said, 'You know, Eve, you are right. How could I have overlooked this? You do need a mate and I will immediately create a man from a part of you. Let's see....where did I put that useless boob ?'

Now doesn't THAT make more sense than the rib story ? =================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 49

2011-12-10T11:18:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 49 – December 9, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Last night we entertained friends with dinner and a fire in the chininea. I made enough gumbo for an army. The evening was a delight. In fact, George and I worked all day preparing for the evening. I cooked and George cleaned the house and put out the Christmas decorations. We were laughing and saying that if we entertained each week, we would be sure to give the house a good cleaning at least once a week. A couple of friends of mine gave me lovely trays and bake ware for my birthday because they knew that I had begun entertaining at the house. All of that came in very handy yesterday. I even made dessert from scratch. We had an éclair cake. It was actually a no bake recipe that I happened upon and turned out wonderful. You take a 9x13 dish and put a layer of graham crackers down; then you make 2 little boxes of instant vanilla pudding and put a layer of pudding on top of the crackers; then a layer of whipped cream; then another layer of graham crackers, pudding, whipped cream, and top it off with a layer of graham crackers. Then you take 1/3 cup of cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and put that in a saucepan. Add a little vanilla, a stick of butter, and ¼ cup of milk. Bring that to a boil and boil for one minute. Let it cool. Then cover the cake with the chocolate and put in the refrigerator. You want to leave it in the refrigerator long enough for the moisture to soften the graham crackers, about 2 hours.

I think I’ve mentioned before that the word éclair is a French word that means lightning.

Tomorrow is the beach Christmas parade. I will be an elf, as usual. I sure hope it is not too cold. Last year George and I froze. If you are nearby, please come to our parade tomorrow at 2 p.m.

The waffle weave robes came in and to my delight were very high quality. For those readers who have received Cajun Corner for the past 3 years, you know how I have tried to figure out how to purchase quality towels and such on-line. Throughout the existence of Cajun Stitchery, I really have only had one order for towels that was disappointing and that was the first order. Apparently the key is to look at the weight. Since this was my first attempt at purchasing robes, I had my fingers crossed. I had looked at several wholesalers. These particular robes come in white and beige, weight is 3 lbs, and they are exquisite. I washed and dried them upon arrival and decided that if anyone else buys one, I’m getting one for myself. You know when you go to a hotel and use one of their robes how it is so warm and comfortable? This is that type of robe. The difference is that this is waffle weave and not terrycloth. When I first heard of waffle weave robes, I thought they were little, light, summertime robes. They are not. They are equally as snuggly and warm as a terrycloth robe. These particular robes are 48” long, one size fits most. They are a cotton/poly blend which I, personally, like because it doesn’t shrink as much. I can always order these robes and sell them for $50 each. It takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Of course, we can always request a rush shipment for an extra fee.

A friend of mine contacted me recently saying she was getting a teenage girl, who she is helping out, a winter jacket and was wondering if we could embroider on it. The girl loves dolphins. I immediately began thinking about the dolphin design that we did on the placemats earlier this year. We wanted to add some bling to it but not too much. I’ve noticed in the professional magazines some over-the-shoulder designs. Yes, the embroidery begins in the normal, left chest area and continues over the shoulder. On the back the design can be seen just at the shoulder. It is a really cool technique. The jacket came in and all I can say is Wow, what a cool jacket. It is a blue car coat. She got the jacket from LL Bean. The lining is a fleece jacket that comes out and can be worn when the weather is not freezing or the fleece jacket can snap and zip inside the car coat for a soft lining. We decided to embroider the fleece jacket as well. I used the Mylar underneath the embroidery to hold the stitching up on the fleece and give a bit of sparkle. Then I used the same design on the car coat with the Mylar only in the splash area. Then we applied rhinestones to the car coat. The pictures don’t do it justice. It was difficult to photograph because it went over the shoulder onto the back.

Another fun project that we’ve done this season is the Christmas aprons. One is listed in our Etsy store. They are red aprons with an embroidered Christmas tree and above the tree is “Merry Christmas” done in a candy cane font using green and white thread. Then red rhinestones were applied to the tree. They are really cute and I have an order for another one. They are $20 each, complete with embroidery and rhinestones.

The Christmas stockings have been big this year. I’ve made bunches of them.

The can wraps have turned out to be a good stocking stuffer or hostess gift. Since LSU and the Saints are having such a good year, the fleur de lis items are going. I can always make more. They are selling for $10 each on Etsy. I will sell them to newsletter recipients for $7 each. Just tell me you saw it in the newsletter.

This year’s lagniappe has been seeds. We bought a whole lot of seed packets in the spring to use as lagniappes. We are out of seeds until next spring. I have to be pretty creative coming up with lagniappes right now.

Next week is my daughter-in-law’s birthday. I took the last market basket and embroidered it for her. She should receive it today. I sure hope she likes it. I think it turned out really nice. That was the last we had in stock, but I can always get more. The solid colored baskets are $22 each + $5 for name or monogram.

We still have all sorts of ready made items in stock, such as napkins, pillowcases, towels, shirts, jackets, totes, etc., plus handmade items that have not been listed in our Etsy Store. Please feel free to come by and look at all of the items for a unique Christmas shopping experience. Call first to make sure I’m at home, though. The coffee is always ready at Cajun Stitchery.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays. Shop local and buy made in the USA.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Sandy Goodman for the following:

A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

"Not a chance," says the husband, "it is 3:00 in the morning!"

He slams the door and returns to bed.

"Who was that?" asked his wife.

"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.

"Did you help him?" she asks.

"No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!"

"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself! God loves drunk people too."

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you still there?"

"Yes," comes back the answer.

"Do you still need a push?" calls out the husband.

"Yes, please!" comes the reply from the dark.

"Where are you?" asks the husband.

"Over here on the swing set," replies the drunk.

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 48

2011-12-03T10:41:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 48 – December 5, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Last Saturday on Buy Local Day, Cajun Stitchery had a table at the Perdido Bay Golf Club. One of my WBL ladies manages the place and generously offered vendors a means of getting their wares to the public. This was not just your run of the mill craft fair. She had a generously sized table and chair for Cajun Stitchery right in front of the door from the bar/restaurant to the golf course, covered, of course. Then she had hors d’oeuvres served periodically throughout the day. The crab cakes were to die for. You couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. Several ladies from WBL had tables and I met several new friends. It was a wonderful day. I would definitely do this one again, if the opportunity arises.

I finally worked with the boring needle. Oh, that is a nice addition. In the past when I make the can wraps, I have Boudreaux stitch out the design and included in the design are 4 little eyelets to enable me to run the elastic. After the can wrap is embroidered and taken off the hoop, I take a hammer and hole punch to get the fabric out from the inside of the eyelets. The hammer and hole punch method is a real pain and time consuming, not to mention that there always remains bits of fabric in the holes. With the boring needle, I can stitch out the design but when it gets to the eyelets, it does a circle with the boring needles, which takes out that inner fabric, then, the machine stitches the satin stitch for the eyelet. I do have to stop the machine each time the boring needle punches a hole and remove the little fabric circle, but that is much easier and cleaner than otherwise.

The other new method of removing those little eyelet holes is grommets. I have had and have used the grommets for eyelets in golf towels. The problem with that is you have step one, which is to hammer the die to create the hole, then, step two is to hammer the grommet into the hole. The grommets are usually loose at first. I keep hammering to tighten the grommet, frequently smashing it. This week we received our newly purchased grommet machine. It is not the big automated one. It is manual. You place the grommets in the dies, then put the fabric in between and press the handle and voila, you have a grommet attached with a hole. This machine was pretty expensive but Cajun Stitchery can use it and it sure makes the process easier and much more professional looking.

The next machine that I want isn’t a machine at all. It is snap dies for the grommet machine. With the snap dies, I can attach snaps to items. I guess the real purpose of the grommet machine is for tents and sails and other canvas type items, but it will work on my items, too.

We have gone a whole week without problems with our U-verse. However, this week we have been working with AT&T on our smart phones. For all of the years that we each had the little razer phones, we never dropped a call. Now, with the smart phones, George will call me from Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc, and I either get his voice garbled or we cannot make a connection until he goes outside the building. He has always been able to call me from these stores with the little razer phone without any problems. Also, now I seem to be dropping calls a lot. When we look at the little bars on the phone that indicate the wave strength, we only get one or two bars and sometime none. So, we have spent a good portion of this week on the phone with AT&T. Yes, in the middle of talking with the AT&T lady the call was dropped. They tell us that the issue was turned over to one of their engineers and should be fixed by Tuesday. We’ll see. In the meantime, we are still learning to use the phone.

Speaking of the phone, the main reason we got the smart phones was so that we could use The Square to accept credit card payments. I took The Square to the Buy Local Day event at Perdido Bay Golf Club but never needed to use it. One of my customers did pay with a credit card this week, though. It worked and was simple to use. Now that, my friends, is one pretty cool little device.

I received a belated birthday gift from a dear friend of mine this week. Earlier this year, she and her husband had taken a cruise in the north Atlantic to whale watch. On the cruise they went to Quebec and Nova Scotia. While in Nova Scotia, she located some craft ladies who she had make me a scarf. She wanted to give me something from my ancestral homeland. I cried when I received it. It is so beautiful and delicate and I will wear it with pride.

A lot of my time this week has been spent listing Christmas items in our Etsy Store. Please browse the store and, of course, if you have questions, just ask me. We have 3 or 4 more items to list and that’s it for Christmas.

We are gearing up for the next holiday season and that is Mardi Gras. Yes, I’m still making the custom Christmas Stockings, aprons, etc. We are just not making anymore Christmas items that are not custom. We’ll sell what we have in stock now. I do have some ideas for Mardi Gras items so stay tuned.

If anyone is interested in bath robes, let me know. I ordered some waffle weave robes, 48” long, hotel quality, one size fits all. They are going to cost about $50 each, plus shipping. Of course, the more I purchase, the lower the shipping rate.

We still have all sorts of ready made items in stock, such as napkins, pillowcases, towels, shirts, jackets, totes, etc., plus handmade items that have not been listed in our Etsy Store. Please feel free to come by and look at all of the items for a unique Christmas shopping experience. Call first to make sure I’m at home, though. The coffee is always ready at Cajun Stitchery.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays. Shop local and buy made in the USA.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Boudreaux staggered home very late after another

evening with his drinking buddy, Landry. He took off his shoes to

avoid waking his wife, Betty Lou.

He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the

stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom

step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung

around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each

back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.

Managing not to yell, Boudreaux sprung up, pulled

down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt

cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box

of Band-Aids and began putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood.

He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and

shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.

In the morning, Boudreaux woke up with searing

pain in both his head and butt and Betty Lou staring at him from across the room.

She said, “You were drunk again last night weren't

you?”

Boudreaux said, “Why you say such a mean thing?”

“Well,” Betty Lou said, “it could be the open

front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs,

it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be

your bloodshot eyes, but mostly ..... it's all those Band-Aids stuck

on the hall mirror.”

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 47

2011-11-26T01:46:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 47 – November 26, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with friends. It was the usual fair of eating until you could barely breathe, took a walk, and then we played an enticing game of Scrabble. It really was a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much for which to be thankful.

We are still learning our smart phones and still having issues with our U-verse. Earlier this week the internet went down, again. This time they sent a repairman who seems to think the problem is in the AT&T wires and not our home wiring. The internet came up again and we were happy. It went down again today requiring us to call, again. We are back on the internet now. It comes and goes. I sure wish they would fix the problem.

Today I received The Square. The Square is the entire reason we got the smart phones and the U-verse in the first place. The Square allows Cajun Stitchery to accept credit cards. I must have Wi-Fi available so it should work at the house. I’m going to the Perdido Bay Golf Club this afternoon where we will have a booth with other local small businesses. I sure hope we can get Wi-Fi there so I can accept credit cards.

Buy from local small businesses day is a great idea. There has been a lot of publicity. I’m thinking that most shoppers want to buy from local small businesses but the prices that many small businesses have to charge is more than people pay at the Wal-Mart type businesses. In addition to that, it is the day after Black Friday when shoppers are really hyped about getting bargains. Cajun Stitchery has drastically reduced the price on many of our items that we will be selling today. We are also looking into various machines that will help us produce a better product and be able to reduce prices at the same time. The problem, of course, is that the machines cost a lot of money that we would have to recoup.

The boring needles came in. I’m a little nervous about using them and I’m waiting for my friend to try her’s first. I read as much literature as I could find on them, including watching some videos. It just appears that an attachment is necessary. I contacted the manufacturer of our machine but they never returned my call.

If anyone is interested in bath robes, let me know. I’m getting ready to place an order for some waffle weave robes, 48” long, hotel quality, one size fits all. They are going to cost about $50 each, plus shipping. Of course, the more I purchase, the lower the shipping rate.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Walking into the bar, Boudreaux said to Charlie

the bartender, “Pour me a stiff one - just had another fight with the

little wife.”

“Oh yeah?” said Charlie, “And how did this one end?”

“When it was over,” Boudreaux replied, “She came

to me on her hands and knees.”

“Really,” said Charles, “Now that's a switch!?

What did she say?”

She said, “Come out from under the bed, you little

coward.”

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 46

2011-11-18T22:52:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 46 – November 18, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

This week has been spent with a new internet Wi-Fi system and new smart phones. All of which I’ve been tempted to throw out the window at least a couple of times this week. It all began when my friend showed me The Square. The Square is a little one inch square, plug-in mechanism to enable me to accept credit card payments. It plugs into the top of a smart phone. The phone has The Square App (program) and voila, I can accept credit cards. But you do have to have a smart phone. I can accept credit cards via PayPal but not all of my business is over the internet. Customers come to my house, or I go to them, occasionally. There is always the issue of craft fairs and the like. I rarely carry cash on me and expect others are the same. With The Square I just need to have a Wi-Fi connection and I can sell my wares on the go. I’ve never had the credit card machine because there is a monthly fee, a fee for the machine, and a fee per transaction. It is expensive. I’ve noticed in the past year or two more and more businesses, especially the government, accepts credit cards or debit cards but they charge you a fee to use credit. That is because of the fees charged to them. The Square is absolutely free and there is no monthly fee, only a small per transaction fee, similar to PayPal. I expect people will start seeing The Square often because it is just such a good deal all the way around.

The first thing was to get the smart phone. George and I still had the little Razor cell phones and our old Cingular phone plan which was grandfathered into our AT&T bill when AT&T consumed Cingular. Other than our cell phones, we still had our land line and our DSL for our computers. I held off getting rid of the land line for a long time. After Ivan hit in 2004, our cell phones didn’t work because all of the air waves were over loaded with all of the calls, but our trusty land line worked like a charm and I was able to call FEMA and our insurance company as the hurricane was passing by. It was time now to get rid of the land line. It has been seven years since Ivan and I’m sure the over loaded air wave issues have been remedied with all of the new technology. So, we called AT&T and got rid of everything we had and put in a new U-verse internet system and smart phones.

As the days went by waiting for the new hardware, we worried about what problems we would have setting everything up ourselves. We read the AT&T tutorials. When we first had the DSL installed, I ended up in tears talking with the AT&T tech that was helping us. It was pure exhaustion. This time I went ahead and called the AT&T tech before we even got the equipment trying to troubleshoot the “what ifs”. Finally, the U-verse arrived. We couldn’t install until Monday when a real, live person came to the house to do something with our wiring. As he left, he told us that we were ready to install the U-verse and to go ahead. He left. We installed. It worked. Unbelievable! We received the smart phones the same day and the box had a message to fully charge the battery before turning on the phone. We plugged them in. Then we needed to transfer our phone numbers from our old SIM card to the new one. Well, how do you do that? One way was to get online and read the tutorial. At that time, we did not have internet yet. The other way showed us a step-by-step set of instructions. We followed each step. We got to a point where it asked if we wanted to “override”. We didn’t know if we did or not but it looked like a good thing to do, so we did. Oops. We wiped out our numbers. So, if I had your number, I don’t anymore. Please call and give me your number – or email me.

We finally got the smart phones working. Not sure they are as smart as they claim to be though. The first thing we decided is that we needed to know how to place a call and receive a call. Amazingly, that was a monumental task. Once we figured out how to place a call to the other one, then we couldn’t figure out how to answer the call before it went to voice mail. And God only know how to locate voice mail. Luckily, that evening we were meeting with neighbors and everyone had to see the phone. I received so much instruction on that phone and it was all going in one ear and out the other. The more we played with the phones, the more we began learning. We still have a long way to go but we can place a call, answer a call, find voice mail, and insert contacts from numbers that call us. We can even get online via the smart phone. Hooray!

Then on Tuesday our computers showed a page that said our Wi-Fi was not working and that we need to put a filter on whatever is on our phone line such as a fax machine or security system. Hmmmm. The only thing on our phone line now is the Wi-Fi that is not working. The page on the computer suggested going to other websites. Hellooo, the computer is not working. We cannot get online to go to any websites. We called AT&T. These calls to AT&T are a minimum of an hour and sometimes 3 hours. We had to take George’s laptop upstairs and physically connect it to the U-verse box and type in a bunch of numbers and, I guess, reset the whole thing. “Mr. and Mrs. Henshall,” said the tech, “you should be good to go now.” Indeed, we were back online. Until Thursday, when we got the same page on both computers and we were, once again, down. Try as we may, we couldn’t get back online. So, we called AT&T, again. They got us back online. “Mr. and Mrs. Henshall,” said the tech, “you should be good to go now. Do you have any other questions?” At this point, I said, “I just need to know if we are going to have to call AT&T once every day or two in order to get back online. If that is the case, I need to include you on my calendar of things to do.” By this time, George began overriding me and telling the gentleman, “Thank you for all of your help.”

Yes, we have lightning speed Wi-Fi internet now – that comes and goes – and smart phones that are so smart we cannot always figure them out. For instance, when I open up the phone, there are several icons to press for whatever I want to do, such as, contact, phone, email, apps, browser, market, and other things. A friend of mine put a “gallery” on that page so I could see my photos. Did I mention the phone takes pictures? Well, now in addition to the “gallery” there is a “mini diary”. Where did that come from and why? I think the phone wants me to keep a diary. I’m thinking that phone is so smart that it just wants to know all of my personal stuff and laugh at me. No way am I keeping a diary on that phone. It’s probably the AT&T tech that I wised off to that wants me to keep a diary. Uh-uh, buddy. You are not going to see my personal stuff.

Alas, I did order The Square. The only reason we put up with AT&T this week was to get The Square. I now have an app on the smart phone that is awaiting The Square. I guess it will be arriving in the next week or two and I will finally be able to accept credit cards.

My embroidery tech friend who lives in Orlando called me the other day. She found the boring needles and is sending me two of them. Each of these needles costs $25. That’s right folks, $25 per needle, and that is discounted because she bought a bulk package of 10 needles. These needles bore holes in fabric for cutwork or eyelets. This should not only automatically cut the eyelets out of my can wraps, but make the eyelets much neater and prettier. When I get the needles, I need to learn how to use them. Boudreaux does have a boring needle setting. I just need to learn how to use it. I’m very excited about this. In fact, I don’t think a lot of embroiderers use boring needles.

All of the AT&T interaction backed me up in my work significantly. I had planned, and paid for, a spot at Gallery Night. I needed to make Christmas stockings to sell and have been working on them all week. I was only able to make 5 or 6 stockings between everything else this week. Also, I created a new can wrap. This one has a pocket. Then came the can wraps with initials. In the meantime, I was filling various orders. Since I didn’t make Gallery Night, all of this is for sale. The stockings are $15.00 each, fully lined in red with “Merry Christmas” embroidered on the cuff. You are not going to find Christmas stockings like this anywhere else. The can wraps, of course, are $7.00 each. So, pretend that we are at Gallery Night and let’s start shopping:>)

I’m lined up to have a booth Perdido Bay Golf Club on November 26^th. Don’t forget to buy from local small businesses on November 26^th. It would be nice if there were areas set up all over town to spotlight our local small businesses.

Yes, we are still celebrating my birthday this week.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas. Now I’m going to have to design a smart phone holder.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

A Parish priest is driving down to New Orleans

from Alexandria and gets stopped for speeding . The state trooper

smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine

bottle on the floor of the car.

He says, “Sir, have you been drinking?”

“Just water,” says the priest.

The trooper says, “Then why do I smell wine?”

The priest looks at the bottle and says, “Good Lord!

He's done it again!”

=================================================================

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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 45

2011-11-12T00:23:00.000-06:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 45 – November 11, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Veteran’s Day is coming to an end. The Blue Angels Air Show was right over our house today. It was a fabulous celebration. The air show continues tomorrow, as well.

I’m lined up to have a booth at Gallery Night on November 18^th in downtown Pensacola and at the Perdido Bay Golf Club on November 26^th. Don’t forget to buy from local small businesses on November 26^th. It occurred to me this week that the reason people shop at malls is because all of the stores are under one roof. Just telling people to shop local small businesses is not good enough. How are people going to find small businesses who work out of their homes, like me? So, I made a suggestion to our wonderful Women’s Business Luncheon group that we need to find places to gather and have booths on the 26^th. I really thought the perfect venue would be our Small Business Development Center. I asked if we would be allowed to set up in their parking lot, which is just on the outskirts of downtown. I still haven’t received a response. In the meantime, another member has arranged for us to set up at the Perdido Bay Golf Club from 1-5 p.m. She set aside a table and chair for Cajun Stitchery. So, that’s where we are going to be. If you are in the area, come on over to Perdido Bay Golf Club on Saturday, November 26^th between 1-5 p.m. Meet some of your local small businesses and do your Christmas shopping. Of course, it would be nice if there were areas set up all over town to spotlight our local small businesses.

It is getting busy now. I’ve been working with several friends trying to learn how to make cold calls. It really all started last weekend. I was messaging a friend and was still pondering why people loved my merchandise at the craft fair, they touched, they commented, but then would walk away without purchasing anything. I’m thinking that I am doing something wrong. So, while we were messaging, she decided that I need to meet a lady who owns a new local small business. Before the conversation was over I had an appointment for Tuesday. Tuesday arrived and I did meet with the lady. I made up a packet of information about Cajun Stitchery and embroidery, including my price list. I brought one of my catalogs and even created a sample embroidered logo for her to see my work. I walked in wearing my black fleur de lis scarf with rhinestones. Another friend happened to be there and she really did all of the work for me. She told the owner how she orders her embroidery from me and is a completely satisfied customer. The rest was just chit chat. Once her logo is done by her graphic designer, she is going to send it to me to have digitized and embroidered on aprons and smocks. She also wants some scarves made. We had a very pleasant conversation and have even arranged to meet again next week. It was a good meeting.

Later, I thanked my friend and was telling her about the meeting when she decided that I needed to come to her office and practice cold calls. While we sat and chatted I told her that was probably the first cold call that I’ve ever made. In disbelief she asked how I got business. I said, “I have a lot of friend and I talked about embroidery a lot.” In fact, all of my business is via word of mouth. At this she said that I needed to meet with a friend who is some sort of executive at Circle K. That was humorous because that night George and I were going to our weekly Scrabble game which included a friend who is an executive at Circle K. She wants me to put my can wraps on consignment.

That evening I talked with my friend who said this probably is a good idea. If I can get this lady to put my can wraps in her local Circle K stores on consignment, then we will be able to see how they sell. I sent the introductory email to the lady today but so far have not received a response. So, say a prayer that this works. In fact, George and I are talking about printing out labels saying, “Made in the USA” to put on the can wraps and everything else that I make. The nice thing about the can wraps is that they already have their own Can Wrap Rap by 2-Short Cajun Mama.

While I was on my first cold call, the lady showed me The Square. Right now the only way that I can accept payment via credit cards is through PayPal. The reason is because the credit card machine cost money, there’s a monthly fee, all in addition to a percentage taken from each credit card swipe. The Square, however, is a little one inch device that plugs into the top of a smart phone. It is the credit card swiper. There is still a percentage charged for each swipe but no bulky machine and no monthly charge. Now I can accept credit cards at craft fairs, home parties, wherever I am at the time. I would rather carry a debit or credit card on me than cash. I assume others feel the same way. So, George and I have ordered 2 smart phones from AT&T which should arrive on Monday. We have rearranged our phone package so don’t be alarmed if I’m off line and without phone service on Monday.

My birthday carried over into this week. I finally had to quit eating completely except for all of the wonderful dinners and wine that I’m receiving. My Wednesday night ladies were wonderful, as usual. Our little nurse was still wearing her nurse’s hat from last week. I received even more birthday presents this week. As George says, “Looks like this birthday is going to last all month.” Sure hope so.

Before I forget, I still have the box for non-perishable food for the homeless shelters. If you are in the area, drop off some non-perishables. The food drive is going on to December.

I still have some red and white, regular furry Christmas Stockings, approximately 17 inches long. I will be glad to embroider a name on them for $7.00 each (includes the stocking). I also made a pattern for a regular Christmas stocking, same size, which is pretty simple. I’ll make the stocking and add the name for $12.00. Let me know if you are interested. They are fully lined. Fabric will change depending on what I have available at the time of the order.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

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.

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Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Boudreaux opened the morning newspaper and was

dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He

quickly phoned his best friend, Landry.

“Did you see the paper?” asked Boudreaux. “They

say I died!!”

“Yes, I saw it!” replied Landry. “Where ya callin' from?”

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 44

2011-11-04T13:43:00.000-05:00

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 44 – November 4, 2011

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

Halloween, as usual, was filled with laughter. George sat out front adorned with a pirate’s hat and skull mask; his body covered in his black rain poncho, leaning against the front door with a bowl of candy on one side and a glass gallon bottle of what appeared to be whiskey or rum on the other side. As the children approached, he did not move, but as their hands went into the candy, he would say, “BOO”. Kids and grownups, alike, jumped. We didn’t have too many children; probably about 20 or so. It was fun. Our neighbors were out, too, which increased the fun. Afterwards, George and I stoked up the chininea and had a glass of wine by the fire. It was a wonderful evening.

Of course, the next day was my birthday. We went out to Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch but didn’t do much else. My birthday present this year from George was getting my car repainted. We took my 16 year old Geo Metro to Peach Paint & Collision on Monday and picked it up on Wednesday. The car looks brand new. It is really pretty. I cannot imagine a better birthday present. That’s the best car I’ve ever owned and the only one that fits me like a glove.

Wednesday night with the girls was hysterical. Of course, my birthday was celebrated and I received some wonderful gifts. The biggest gift is their friendship and the laughter they bring into my life. Our hostess has been caring for an ailing friend who has been at her house since he got out of the hospital. He was in the bedroom sleeping. All 11 of us girls were trying to be quiet because we didn’t want to disturb the patient. Well, that didn’t work, but when Happy Birthday was sung in a whisper, we all fell out laughing.

A little sideline to this story is that we had been teasing our friend about nursing her patient. This particular lady is probably the last person on the face of the earth that you would ever consider a nurse. She decided that she wanted a nurse’s hat and wanted me to make one for her. I found a site on the internet with instructions for making a nurses hat and sent it to her. She whined and whined because she said she couldn’t make it. Then I found an instructional video on YouTube on making a nurse’s hat. During the video the lady said that she had been bit by a bug on her eye was making the hat using only one eye. I forwarded the video to my friend, telling her that if the lady in the video was only using one eye to make the nurse’s hat, she certainly could make one. She whined and whined. It was just hilarious reading all of the whining emails. So, George and I went to the dollar store and picked up some poster board and Tuesday night we made 6 nurses hats. When I arrived on Wednesday night, I handed out the nurses hats. They were such a source of entertainment. We laughed until we cried. When she went to administer her patient’s evening medicine, he said, “Where’d you get that hat?” The following morning when he awoke and walked down the hall to the kitchen, he passed by all of the hats hanging on the coat rack. He laughed. At least it brought laughter to her patient and, after all, laughter is the best medicine.

Thursday evening we went to another friend’s home for dinner. We usually have Thursday evenings set aside for a game of Scrabble. This friend, who used to live next door to me but now lives in Gulf Breeze, was my neighbor when Mama was living with me. Mama would go next door and play Scrabble. When Mama would play Scrabble and get a tile that she couldn’t use, she would drop it on the floor. We hadn’t really noticed her doing that until after the first game when my friend went to clean her house and found the tiles on the floor under the table. We have always laughed about Mama playing Scrabble.

But this Thursday evening was a birthday party for me. She made all of my favorite dishes. Neighbors joined us for the occasion. We drank wine, talked, opened presents and enjoyed playing our game of creative Scrabble. It was a delightful evening. My friend likes to play Scrabble by the rules. I look at it as a “game” and endeavor to enjoy myself. I spend the time making up words and try to convince her that they are really words. For instance, if anything is on the internet, and everything is, then it should be acceptable to put an “I” or “e” before each word. Such as, “e” mail, or “I”phone. It would make perfect sense, to me, at least, that you could use the word “igames”. Those are games played on the internet, distinguished from games played in person. And so, our Scrabble evenings go. The more wine we drink, the better the words and explanations.

TGIF! So, today is Friday. At this point, we have no plans for this evening. I don’t think I can eat another bite of food. In just this one week, I think I have outgrown all of my clothes. Although I still have my gift certificate for Bonelli’s which is my favorite Italian restaurant.

One gift that I received this week was a pair of tickets for a dolphin glass bottom boat tour out of Orange Beach. Now that sounds interesting. The girls were telling me that I need to get out of the house. Of course, I teased them. We will definitely be using these tickets, and probably within the next few weeks. This just sounds like a wonderful outing. I’ll let you know how it goes.

How much work did I actually get done this week? Not nearly as much as I should have.

I am, however, starting to attach stories to our items in the Etsy store. We now have Nauga Gloves and Charlotte’s Towel. More will come.

Before I forget, I still have the box for non-perishable food for the homeless shelters. If you are in the area, drop off some non-perishables. The food drive is going on to December.

Also, I have some red and white, regular furry Christmas Stockings, approximately 17 inches long. I will be glad to embroider a name on them for $7.00 each (includes the stocking). I also made a pattern for a regular Christmas stocking, same size, which is pretty simple. I’ll make the stocking and add the name for $12.00. Let me know if you are interested. Attached is a photo of one of my stockings. They are fully lined. Fabric will change depending on what I have available at the time of the order.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner. Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

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.

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Boudreaux was in New Orleans.

He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic

cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic

and shouted, “Okay, pedestrians.” Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.

He'd done this several times, and Boudreaux still

stood on the sidewalk.

After the cop had shouted, “Pedestrians!” for the

tenth time, Boudreaux went over to him and said, “Ain't it 'bout time

ya let the Catholics across?”

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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.

Nauga Arm Warmers

2011-10-30T22:48:00.000-05:00

Last week my business consultant from the local University told me that I need to start telling stories with my embroidery items. Within a day or two of that conversation, I read one of the Etsy articles that said that people who list items for sale should include a story about the item. Since both are telling me the same thing, I guess it must be so. This pair of arm warmers was my first attempt at doing just they. The arm warmers are on sale in my Etsy store for $15.00.

Measurements: 17 inches long, 12 inches around
Care: Wash in cool water and tumble dry

Here in Pensacola we love to celebrate Mardi Gras. We have every size and shape of Mardi Gras krewe. One of our favorite krewes is the Krewe of Nauga. They do not have a float. They do not parade. What they do have is one party each year, but what a party that is. The theme is always animals and animal prints.

The story about the Krewe of Nauga is that many years ago the local hair salon on the beach had their chairs recovered in naugahyde. A local gentleman happened by and was shown the new chair covering. In absolute disgust he said, "Do you realize how many naugas had to be killed so that you could have your chairs covered with their hyde?" The owner was mortified at the idea that she caused any creature to be killed. Of course, we know that there is no such thing as a nauga. But at that moment, she did not. It became such a local story on the beach that the hair salon created the Krewe of Nauga with the animal print theme. Yes. We believe in naugas on Pensacola Beach. lol

This one of a kind pair of arm warmers is dedicated to those wonderful, crazy naugas on the beach. The leopard print fabric is a light, silky, stretchy, tricot with that satin type sheen. The white lightning bolt is appliqued and curves around the front of your arm. For a bit of razzle dazzle, the crystal rhinestones were added because, really, is there anything more bright and shiny than a lightning bolt. The three inch opening for your thumb is also embroidered in white with a tiny hint of floral design around the edge. The fabric is doubled creating a lining of the same fabric for a bit more elegance.

Wear these arm warmers and people are sure to stop you to inquire. Tell them the nauga story but sadly this is a one of a kind, handmade item that they will not be able to purchase elsewhere. Of course, if you must part with them, this would make a fabulous gift.

C'est tout, mes amis.