Here Comes Peter Cottontail

It's Wednesday morning and already the week has been hopping (a little Easter pun).  Wow! As of this posting Cajun Stitchery has 225 fans on Facebook.  We need to get name recognition and it's looking good. 

The weather has been so beautiful that I can't seem to keep George indoors.  He has been working on the yard and in the garden.  I need to take pictures. 

One of the ladies who won our contest wanted a tablecloth to go with the napkins.  We ordered and received the tablecloth.  The napkins have been stitched out.  Oh, how lovely.  I'm bringing the tablecloth to her tonight and she will decide where she wants the designs on the tablecloth.  She wanted red napkins and tablecloth with a poinsettia and the name "Ballew".  On the tablecloth she wants the poinsettia on opposing corners and the name "Ballew" on opposing corners.  The only questions are: how big does she want the design and how far from the hem?  This will be a beautiful set when finished.

Sometime ago I ran across a place that sold "table in a bag" packages.  They included the tablecloth, over cloth, and chair covering.  That's a really cool idea but expensive.  We get our tablecloths from a factory in California and they seem to have nice napkins, tablecloths and all of the trimmings.  We can sell our own "table in a bag" package for around $100.00.  Embroidery would be an additional charge, of course.  The $100.00 is an approximation since table sizes and number of chairs and settings vary.  Our package would include the napkins, tablecloth, over cloth (in satin), and chair covering.  We can also offer table runners, chair sashes, and the over cloth in satin, organza or taffeta.  We can even get chargers.  I've always admired a pretty table.  Mine is usually covered in computers and notebooks.

Another contest winner debated on whether she wanted white napkins with a black "Z" or a pretty design that we put together with turtles and a "Z".  She finally saw the little turtle napkins that we did for another contestant and she ordered those.

The other contest winner had the red napkins with the conch shell and "Johnson" in script.  I believe those photos were posted earlier with the turtle napkins.

Last week we didn't have anyone enter the contest.  So far this week we have 3 entries.  Come on everyone, join in the fun.  There is no cost to you at all.  The winner gets a set of 4 napkins with napkin friendly embroidery of their choice.  All you have to do to enter is send me an email at peggyhenshall@yahoo.com and tell me a home remedy.  The home remedy could relate to health, housekeeping, gardening, whatever.  The winner will be announced on Friday.  This is our last contest for our anniversary month, so join in the fun.

We had a request for a slot machine design on a tote bag.  The customer found the design at Dakota Collectibles and we had the design in stock.  The problem was that the original design is about 2" square.  A design that small would hardly be noticable on a tote bag.  The rule is that you can usually take a large design and reduce the size, but the reverse is not true.  However, in this instance we increased the design to about 6" square and it looked fine.  Increasing the size of the design naturally increased the stitch count.  It went from about 11,000 stitches to 29,000 stitches.  Since embroidery is sold by the 1,000 stitches, this is an issue.  We then took the design back to the computer program and reduced the density a/k/a stitches.  The stitch count reduced to about 16,000.  Here are photographs of both.  Since this was a sample on density, the thin fabric used caused the registration (line and outlines) to be off considerably.  The registration will clean up when stitched on the proper fabric with the proper stabilizer and hooping.  That wasn't the issue at the moment.  Do you see the difference in the density?  The 29,000 stitch design has colors that appear more bold and bright and clearly delineated.  The 16,000 looks lighter.  It is a cute design.

Easter is coming up Sunday.  If you have any last minute baskets to get, please remember the environment and be eco-friendly.  Rather than plastic Easter grass, use shredded paper.  Avoid using plastic Easter baskets.  Be creative.  We still have some of the little garden totes, insulated lunch bags, and other totes that would make cute Easter baskets.  As corny as it sounds, George and I always color Easter eggs on the Saturday before Easter.  We love doing this and letting the child inside go wild:>)

C'est toute, mes amis.