Cajun Corner - Vol 1 No 28

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 28 – DECEMBER 4, 2009
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
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One of my friends mentioned to me that it was unfair that I charge sales tax on the gift certificates and then when the recipient uses the gift certificate, another sales tax would be applied to that as well. I called our friendly Department of Revenue gal, Tracy, and sure enough I had been mistaken. Tracy explained to me that a gift certificate is basically exchanging cash for cash. I should not apply sales tax to the gift certificate. I am supposed to apply the sales tax when the gift certificate is redeemed. You learn something new everyday – at least, I do. Think about giving gift certificates, cash for cash. No taxes. And you have a lovely present that can be redeemed for something they really want. No guesswork involved.

The neighbors who invited us to the Thanksgiving Day festivities have three little Yorkies, Kizzie, Pogo, and Gigi. My neighbor and I decided a few months ago that I would make outfits for the dogs for their annual Christmas party. Last Saturday my neighbor and I went shopping for the fabric and embellishments. The instructions to me were to make the outfits as festive as possible. The total results are not in yet but what has been done is out of this world. I have discovered that I love making dog clothes. Mama would be so tickled because when I was a little girl she and I would make doll clothes all of the time. I usually put my doll clothes on the nearest cat.

Kizzie is the mama of Pogo. Pogo is about three times the size of little Kizzie. We purchased a cotton fabric with all of the colors of the rainbow for Kizzie’s outfit. The pattern we purchased for Kizzie was a regular dog coat with a hood.

Gigi is the smallest of the little Yorkies. We purchased a bride and groom pattern for Gigi’s and Pogo’s outfits. Since we do not actually want to end up with a wedding gown and tux, the fabric for Gigi’s dress is a pattern of blues resembling water. The fabric for Pogo’s tuxedo has a dark blue background with a sprinkling of stars.

As I write this issue of Cajun Corner, Kizzie’s and Gigi’s outfits are complete. Pogo got a coat with hood as a bonus. I still need to finish Pogo’s tuxedo. The reason Pogo gets the extra outfit is that I confused the dogs and thought the coat went to Pogo. By the time I realized my error, I simply finished the coat for Pogo. There was plenty of fabric. Always buy more fabric than needed for any project. As Mama would say, “en tout cas” (just in case).

The pretty rainbow fabric was used on Kizzie’s coat with hood. I covered some webbing with the fabric to make the belt. The belt is secured onto the dog via Velcro dots. That’s the basic pattern. Then we embellished. My neighbor had purchased a couple of bags of a variety of colors of some pom poms with metallic strands. The pom poms were sewn onto the back where the belt was sewn onto the coat. Pom poms were also applied around the edge of the hood. I then took some thin, red satin ribbon and made a chain of tiny bows and sewed those around the pom poms on the edge of the hood. My neighbor had also purchased the thin satin ribbon in every color in the fabric. I took long strands of each of those ribbon colors and made a simple bow with long tails and attached the bow at the point of the hood. Then I sewed more pom poms on top of the bow, onto the point of the hood. Pom poms were also applied to the end of each tail of the bow. Talk about festive!

At this point, I brought Kizzie’s and Pogo’s coats for the first fitting. They fit but were a bit tight. You simply never want your projects to be uncomfortable. I added a gusset under the neck of each of the coats and at the second fitting they fit perfectly.

Gigi’s dress was the next project. Although we purchased white lace, I already had a bunch of 3” baby blue lace that matched the fabric. The dress is secured at the chest area with Velcro dots. It has arm holes for the front legs, no sleeves, no collar, and then the skirt attaches to the bodice. I trimmed and gathered the blue lace for around the neck area, the arm holes, and the bottom of the skirts, and attached. My neighbor had purchased some very pretty white satin with pearls trim which I applied around the neck and waist. My neighbor also purchased a few cards of tiny lavender and white roses. I sewed the tiny roses sporatically over the skirt. The final touch was two (one pink and one aqua) medium sized rhinestone buttons which were sewn onto the bodice back. Voila! The dress fit perfectly at the first fitting.

The only outfit remaining is Pogo’s tuxedo. The pattern is for an extra small dog. Pogo is large for a Yorkie, about the size of one of my full grown cats, maybe a tad larger. I will have to re-size the pattern to fit Pogo. In addition, the tuxedo pattern has more pattern pieces than either of the finished outfits. The tuxedo will take a bit of time to complete. At least, they each have an outfit to wear now.

Garters still need to be done. When the Saints won last week’s game against the Patriots, it became apparent that Saints garters would be in demand. I’m sure we could sell a lot of those. I have to be so careful not to cross over the copyright line. I decided to do garters saying “The Saints Are Marching In,” but I’m still hesitant about the use of the “Saints” name, even if it’s not “Who Dat” or some other associated phrase. I think I will simply embroider a gold fleur de lis on a black garter. George saw someone with a fleur de lis embroidered on the back of their jacket, except the fleur de lis was upside down. What does that mean? If anyone knows, please let me know.

Christmas orders are still coming in. Everyone seems to want the little personalized tote. We have a bunch of the totes in stock. The tote with a name or initials embroidered for $5.00 plus tax. Order them while we still have the totes. They make such a unique and personalized gift container.

The Mardi Gras orders are beginning to come in. We can do the Mardi Gras (purple, green and gold) garters with your krewe name for $10 each. Each garter is hand made by me.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.
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One day Boudreaux walked into Thibodaux's house & asked him may what's that in ya front yard?? Thibodaux said "may it a helicopter." Boudreaux says "may a helicopter. What it do?" Thibodaux say "come see I show ya." They walk in the yard. Thibodaux gets in and takes off strait up into the clouds. After a while Boudreaux hears a loud noise and Thibodaux and helicopter come crashing down. So Boudreaux walks around and finds Thibodaux laying on da ground all cut-up. Boudreaux asks "may Thibodaux what happen? " Thibodoux say "may Boudreaux I was going up in dat helicopter der and it got cold so I turned off the fan!!!!!!" :)

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French phrase of the week: pelote (n.f.) [PLAWT] ball. jouer à la pelote to play ball.

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Reprinted from www.nationalgeographic.com

For many, Christmas wouldn't be the same without a live, fragrant Christmas tree in their home. Today nearly all of the trees sold at seasonal Christmas-tree lots are grown on tree farms. So forests aren't hurt by choosing a cut tree, said Jeff Olson, the vice-president of marketing and development for American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation nonprofit.

While potted trees might seem like a green option, they often don't fare well in unseasonably warm homes. "The last thing you want to do is bring it into the house," Olson said. He plans to get a potted tree this year and keep it outside for the holidays.

Artificial trees, he noted, consume significant energy and petroleum-based materials during their manufacture.

But Lilienfeld, the Use Less Stuff co-author, noted that a one-time purchase of an artificial tree can save gas otherwise used for annual trips to the local tree farm.

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

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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 new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.