Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 35

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 35 – September 2, 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, catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

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

Wow!  What a week! 

The Splash party last Sunday was, well, it was a splash.  The weather was hot and the cool water, some ice water, from the squirt guns felt so good.  The turnout was wonderful and as far as I could see a good time was had by all.  If you missed it, you missed a great party.  Make sure you don’t miss it next year.

It is September.  Can you believe it?  We are coasting into fall.  Next on my agenda is the Pensacola Beach Arts & Wine Festival.  Our booth is going to be in the parking lot of the Visitor Information Center.  I should be able to see the Gulf of Mexico from my booth.  You don’t get a sweeter site than that.  George and I have been putting our heads together on our booth all week.  We are sprucing it up.  I don’t want another ugly booth.  We are also limiting our wares to 5 or 6 categories.  We can keep that much neater and people won’t get too overwhelmed.  I am looking forward to it but there is a lot of work to be done in the meantime.

Last night a couple of our neighbors dropped by.  They are wonderful neighbors and I had been asking the guy to help us put a password on our Wi-Fi.  Last night was the night.  He and George got together while his wife and I enjoyed a pleasant evening on the deck.  By the time they left we didn’t have internet service at all.  Bless his heart, he was really trying to help and he is very knowledgeable about computers but our system beat him.  It happens.  On top of everything else, he was tired and stressed out for other reasons.  My genius husband stayed up all night working on the computers and had them all up and running this morning.  Plus, we now have a secure Wi-Fi.  Woohoo!

Today was my speech day at our WBL meeting.  I’ve been working up to it all month.  I think it went well.  I didn’t say everything that I had to say.  I was limited to 5 minutes.  The topic was the steps to getting an item embroidered (1) design, (2) digitize, and (3) embroider.  You’d be surprised at how many people don’t understand this process.  I had my handy dandy who, what, when where, how, and why outline and that helped out a bunch.  Thank goodness I printed it before the internet went out because the internet is where I store that document.  There was a large attendance today.  It was surprising there were so many women because it is the Friday before Labor Day.   

I met another new friend on Facebook this week.  I don’t even remember how it all started but we began messaging each other and before I knew it, we were great friends.  She is a REAL artist.  Her work is beautiful.  She works with MADD.  She makes soap.  And she creates glass art.  One of her pieces is in a local art gallery.  She is so far out of my league that it is not even funny.  She is very encouraging and just a wonderful, pleasant lady.  We actually met, face-to-face, this past Wednesday when I attended, at her request, a local business meeting.  She was just as pleasant in person as over the internet.

Speaking of meetings, the Wednesday business meeting was really nice.  Although my heart belongs to WBL, it was interesting to see the differences in meetings with both men and women.  I believe the name of the group is Pensacola Christian Business.  The speaker was a local prison ministry preacher and he gave an awesome speech.  I left there very happy that I had attended

Next week I’m hoping to attend the Gulf Breeze Toastmasters noon meeting.

I received an email from a gentleman in Memphis last week.  He said that he had purchased some of our Christmas tea towels last year at the Arts & Wine Festival and enjoyed handing them out to his friends.  He will be visiting his condo again this October, but not in time for the festival.  He has ordered 6 tee shirts with various beach type designs.  He actually sent the tee shirts to me via Fed Ex and will pick them up when he arrives in October.

I’m so glad that our Proud To Be A Union Thug can wrap customer received his order in time to take it with him on his Labor Day weekend trip.  He emailed me when he received it and was just elated.  He loves it and that makes me so happy.

We’ve had several inquiries this week into birthday gifts and various gifts.  One lady wanted to order something for a co-worker who loves the Saints and does a lot of entertaining during football season.  I suggested a set of 2 black tea towels with a gold fleur de lis embroidered.  I think that would be beautiful.  Her other co-workers suggested that she get the lady a black scarf with a fleur de lis.  I don’t have any scarves like that in stock but I told her I would check with my wholesalers and see what I could get.  It turned out that I actually found a scarf wholesaler.  Yes, that is all they sell.  I would never have thought that scarves would be that popular an item.  They have some really good prices on some beautiful scarves.  The only problem is they have a minimum.  I’ve got to say that I didn’t think I would find a black scarf.  Not only did I find the long, black scarf, but they also carried a long black scarf covered with gold silk screen printed fleur de lis.  The customer decided to find a scarf locally and get back with me.

In the meantime, I pulled out some soft, black, knitted netting that I have and I made a scarf.  I needed to see how loose the embroidery would need to be.  It didn’t turn out great but it didn’t turn out bad, either.  I’ve made adjustments to the design and if I make another scarf, it will turn out much better. 

That is precisely why embroiderers do a sample stitch-out before stitching on the customer’s fabric.  In fact, I told George that since most of the stitch-outs turn out perfect, rather than doing them on scraps, we need to get little items for the stitch-outs and sell the ones that turn out good.  The bucket hats in the photos are a perfect example of stitch-outs.  If anyone wants these bucket hats, I’ll sell them for $5 each.

Remember that I got the ad in the Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association 2011-2012 Directory.  Today at the WBL meeting my friend from Ballinger Publishing presented me with a copy of the directory.  Sure enough, there was my ad.  It is on the inside of the back cover.  That is a wonderful spot for a half page ad.  They did a great job and gave me a great price.  I know that I got a deal.

SALE (good through 9/8/11):  Whether it's a grand party or just a social with friend and family, our table covers will be perfect for your event. Old and unsightly tables will no longer be a problem with our table covers on top.

Each Measures: 90"
100% polyester. Stain & wrinkle resistant.
1 piece, seamless design
Edges are folded & then hemmed
Please note: High-quality material used, weight of this item is very heavy.

Colors:  white, ivory, black, purple, eggplant, fuchsia, chocolate, navy blue, orange, red, royal blue, sage green, silver, turquoise, willow green

$18.00 (normal retail price is $20.33) (price is without embroidery)

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Unbelievable, I know.  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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An excerpt from the book Gumbo Ya-Ya, written in 1945, Chapter:  The Cajuns, Page 184:

“A Cajun woman’s life is of course a failure should she not capture a mate, and this dreadful prospect causes her much worry.  The Cajun old maid is so rare as to be the object of both scorn and pity.  From the time she is about fourteen her family begin to nag her about getting herself a husband.  Each night many Cajun girls examine their heels for any tinge f yellow, for such a sign is a certain portent of spinsterhood.  Tante Therese – herself a horrible example – will remember mournfully that at the age of seventeen the fatal yellow tinge appeared on her own heels, and here she is, well into her thirties, and of course without hope, since no man along the bayous wants such an old woman.  Tante Therese reports that eighteen is just about the latest a girl may have hope of marrying.

“But, says Tante Therese, there are many ways of rendering a man susceptible, though they didn’t work in her case.  Powder made from a green lizard dried in the sun, when thrown upon the object of a girl’s desire, makes him her victim.  Or she might ask him to dinner and put the scrapings from the four corners of the dinner table into his coffee.  She may also put parings from her fingernails into his pockets, or write him a letter in her own blood.  For an immediate proposal, she should tie a rooster under her porch, seat the man in a rocking chair right over the fowl, sit beside him, and wait.  He can’t help but fall in love with her then.”

Cajun French Phrase of the Week:

Je vais the passer une callotte= I will give you a slap
Mes pied sont trempe= my feet are wet
Joie de vivre= Joy of living

Taken from:  http://www.acadian-roots.com/cajun-names.html

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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.

In-The-Hoop Pot Holders

It dawned on me recently that our annual Arts & Wine Festival on the beach is just a few months away.  It is usually the first weekend in October.  I found some tutorials on making potholders in-the-hoop but they just don't seem big enough.  I'm on a quest for the perfect embroidered potholder done completely in-the-hoop.

Potholders were probably the very first item that Mama taught me to sew when I was a little girl.  She would lay a piece of fabric down and then we would use our scrap material, neatly layered over the fabric until we felt it was thick enough.  Finally, we would lay another piece of fabric on top of the layers and start machine quilting.  Anything is fine.  The point is to sew around to hold all of those little scrap pieces in place.  We would sew straight lines across, usually at one inch intervals; then up and down.  After the quilting was done, we trimmed the edges to make them straight, sewed around the edges and finally, add bias tape around the edges.  Potholders are great beginner projects for children.

A few decades down the road from those early days and I'm still making potholders.  The embroidery machine is funny about how many layers of fabric it will stitch.  I am working on that.  I started off hooping some plastic.  The heavy plastic is sturdy and after the satin stitches are applied, you can pull the item away from the plastic with a clean edge.  I sew a single stitch line around the shape of the potholder.  Then I apply 2 layers of fabric.  Put that back in the machine and sew another line around the shape.  Take the hoop off the machine and trim the excess fabric.  This is just like an applique.  Then put the hoop back into the machine and stitch the middle design.  Depending on the size of the middle design, you may want additional quilting.  This is the time to stitch the stipple.  Then take the hoop off the machine and add a couple of layers of fabric to the bottom.  I just pin the fabric to the plastic but make sure the pins are far away from the path of the needle.  Put the hoop back in the machine and sew another outline.  Take the hoop out and trim the edges.  Then I take 2 pieces of fabric, folded in half and pin them so that the folded edges meet in the middle on the back of the potholder.  Pin in place and sew another outline and trim.  Finish with your satin stitch.  The reason for the folded pieces is to put your hand inside, creating a mitt.


Yep, that's a lot of trimming and putting the hoop in and out of the machine.  You can save time and effort by not doing the "mitt" and just pin all of your layers of fabric on the bottom before the quilting and let the machine run to the end.  I'm still working on more layers of fabric.  Yes, I know I could and should probably use batting.  In fact, the machine doesn't have a problem with batting at all and I would get the thickness much easier.  Let's face it, I'm stubborn and I want to use up that scrap fabric.  Anyway, I'm still perfecting the process and hope to have lots of beautiful potholders on sale at the Arts & Wine Festival this year.

C'est tout, mes amis

Splash is over; Arts & Wine is next

Despite the rain, the Splash Party was a huge success. Not a lot of kids joined us, though.  I'm sure that's because of the rain.  But the place was packed.  Have you ever seen grown men acting like children?  They all did at the Splash Party.  It was hilarious.  I had the best seat at the party.  I sat in the tiki bar selling hats and tickets.  It was amazing to see all of the different types of super soakers.  Since I was near the water sources, those guys kept coming by to reload their soakers.  When the dunking booth opened, I could hardly keep up with those tickets. This was definitely a successful party with such delightful, fun loving people.  We still have a few caps and visors left if anyone would like one.  Just call or email me and you too can have your own Splash Party cap/visor.  Sorry but the pink visors sold out early.  We have some great black visors, though.

The next big event on our calendar is the Arts & Wine Festival the first weekend in October.  We have a little over a month to get ready.  There is so much to do.  Remember last year our booth looked like it was simply an extention of the SOB booth?  This year, I want to have embroidered banners saying Cajun Stitchery. 

One of the items we are going to sell this year is going to be luggage tags.  I love making them.  Yesterday I began embroidery on ribbon.  I'm putting a monogram of each letter of the alphabet on ribbon and then plan to make each monogram into a luggage tag for the Festival. 

I think we will also have wine bottle aprons.  If you have read this blog for awhile, you might know my fascination with wine bottle aprons.  They are adorable and everyone seems to want one -- excect me.  Maybe one day I'll make one that thrills me.  But everyone likes them and I love to embroider.

The poor Etsy store.  I think the last thing I listed on Etsy was the cool, aqua ballcap on Friday.  I've decided that I need to start limiting the different items that I list to about 5 different categories, rather than one of this and one of that.  I know that there will be handkerchiefs, scarves, cell phone holders, and I have to decide on a couple of other items. 

So much to do; so much to say; but the phone is ringing and the emails are coming in, and this little Cajun girl needs to get to work.

C'est tout, mes amis.

July 8, 2009

This computer virus issue keeps coming back to haunt me. After I thought everything was resolved, yesterday afternoon I got a pop-up saying I'm at risk and there are more Trojan Horses in my computer. Well, I had broken down and bought AVG (the creator of AVG, so I understand, is the same guy who originally created Norton -- clever fella). Yes, I paid hard cash. Now I have real technicians to help me. Apparently, they don't do telephone calls and only work off of email. Well, as long as the email is working, I'm okay with that. The technicians and I worked to 2 a.m. (for the second night) on this thing. We've been emailing them since first thing this morning, for day #3. It's comforting to have a technician that you can email and send files and they sound like they know what they are doing. I wonder if they need their logo embroidered on their shirts?

These technicians are really nice and polite. I remember years ago when we were trying to set up mine and George's computers on DSL for the first time. I was on the phone for nearly the entire day. At one point the guy, who spoke only broken English, had told me to unplug George's computer, which I did. Hours later we were still working on it and ready to rock and roll and nothing happened. The guy was telling me to do this and that. Finally, I said "shouldn't I plug this machine in?" He was obviously exasperated with me and said, "M'am, how in the world do you think this computer is going to work without it being plugged in?" I didn't know I was supposed to plug it in. I thought he would tell me, just like he told me to unplug it. I fell apart and started crying and we ended our session. I guess we were both tired and frustrated. Funny that since then we have learned to connect everything to computers and network and everything else. That's probably why the technicians work with you over email, rather than over the phone.

I did, finally, get batteries for my camera yesterday and was able to take photographs of my black and white project. This bag has 2 of the 13" palm trees on it with 3 vertical rows of ric-rac. The coconuts in the trees are beautiful beads that look like Mother of Pearl. The same beads are used at the ends of the pull strings. The double pull strings (on each side) was a favorite of my mother's. She would get annoyed if there was only one pull. The inside is lined in black silky type fabric. This would make a lovely tote for any occasion. It's on the large side and you could easily put a beach towel in it with you other beach stuff like suntan lotion, sun glasses, a book, etc. It would also be good for shopping. The black and white is very en vogue these days.

This morning we looked out our kitchen window to see the 2 red tailed hawks that have taken up residence in our trees. One was perched on our pergola very close to the house. How lucky are we that the hawks would perch so close to humans! Nature is beautiful, as long as we don't mess it up.

We had to order a few more orange t-shirts, which should arrive tomorrow. All of the others are done. We sacrificed the little bowling logo on the front and the words "bowling team" in order to make the words larger. The names are in a semi-circle above "V D L" which is a straight line, on the front, left chest area. I wanted the letters large to give the team a better chance of actually seeing the words, rather than just feeling. Of course, the back has the big bowling ball and pins. No mistaking these are bowling shirts.

It's been a few days since we practiced on the big multi-hooping design. We are ready to start the table cloth now but we both feel we need a little more practice before the final. We were ready to go with it, but since we took the time to get the orange shirts done, we need to get back in the flow for the multi-hooping. It's one of those things where precision is so key that it unnerves us. Especially since this is our first multi-hooping display tablecloth. Someone is paying us good money for this and I want it perfect. The only thing that really worries me is that on one hooping the logo ends with an "i" on the bottom and the next hooping picks up with the next letter in the word, which is an "l". That "i" and "l" will be next to each other and need to be on the exact same line -- not a hair above or below or it will be very noticeable. I'm sure if we did this type of project on a regular basis we not only would be good at it, but we wouldn't be freaking out so much. It's just that this is our first big multi-hooping project.

Until next time.

Palm Tree Project

Love this palm tree! We actually did the palm tree for a display tablecloth but I liked it so much that I have used it to make this tote bag. The palm tree itself is 13" tall. The fabric is a polyesther and has a black silky lining. The handles are made from the same fabric as the tote. This tote has a pleat on each side at the bottom (similar to plastic store bags), thus allowing extra room.

July 3, 2009

Cajun Stitchery is a home based embroidery company. We do embroidery on ready made items that we can purchase for you. Some of the items might be t-shirts, polo shirts, ball caps, aprons, napkins, tote bags, beach bags, towels, etc.

You have a graphic artist onboard. If you have an idea of your own special design but need an artist to take your design from an idea into art that you can see, our talented graphic artist can do this.

You have a digitizer at your disposal. Our digitizer takes the artwork from either you or the graphic artist and turns it into embroidery stitches in a computer file readable by the embroidery machine.

Then you have the embroiderer. Our embroiderer takes the embroidery computer file from the computer to our commercial embroidery machine and onto whatever ready made product you have requested.

Voila! Your ideas and dreams can become a beautiful, embroidered item.

What about your child's drawings? Yes. This type of art can be digitized.

Logo? Of course, that can be digitized and embroidered.

That drawing that you hid in the closet. You know, the one that you drew and loved but just stashed away. Your art can be embroidered onto a table runner or an assortment of items of your choice.