Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 21 – September 7, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 21 – September 7, 2014

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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

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

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.my-catalogs.com/cajunstitchery

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

This has been a very rough week.  Most of the Labor Day weekend was spent working on a rush order for a left chest logo that was needed on Monday.  Tuesday was going to be our Labor Day holiday.  When Tuesday arrived I received a disturbing call from one of my Nereid sisters telling me that one of our youngest members was in the hospital.  She suffered from a cardiac arrest Monday morning and had been in an induced coma ever since because of the time she went without oxygen to her brain caused swelling in her brain.  I sat at the hospital on Tuesday with the family and one of my fine finned sisters.  Although she was still in a coma, the medical staff was bringing her out of the coma.  I was able to visit with her, although she was still comatose.  The medical staff brought her out of the coma on Wednesday morning and the neurologist was able to perform an EEG which revealed a complete lack of brain activity.  Since one of her brothers suffered from kidney failure and was on dialysis, the family decided that her kidneys should be donated to him.  The protocol for that procedure took a day or two and turned out that they were not a match.  The family then decided that her kidneys, and other salvageable organs would be donated and she would be able to help at least 3 additional people.  She was taken off of life support this past Friday at noon.

Needless to say work was not a top priority this week.

A few orders did come in from our Etsy store which, of course, were filled and shipped.

This weekend I have gone through all of the items in our Etsy store and placed 94 items in a Sale category.  A lot of the sale items are marked down at least 50%.  If you are looking for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers, please browse around the store.

This year we have had a few issues with the post office not delivering our items.  The only way I know to track through the mail is via priority mail.  The policies in our Etsy store have changed.  The default is 3 day priority mail, and first class mail upon request.  Shipping to Canada remains the same, first class mail, because priority mail is outrageously expensive to Canada.

Another addition to our Etsy store are a few fall and Halloween items.  Only a couple of Christmas items have been listed at this time but I do plan to list more.

All in all, I just want to get rid of the old stuff in order to make room for newly created new stuff.  As always, I am open to ideas and critiques.  So, bring it on.  What do you like about the shop and your shopping experience?  What don’t you like?  Got any ideas on improvements?

George found two old dining chairs that were left over from the previous homeowner or somehow got in our garage.  He took the seats off and painted the chairs white, at my request.  I plan to recover the seats with, of course, embroidery.  I just have to decide on the design.  You can never have too much seating.

Last year I was looking for large bolts of fabric to make curtains for the studio.  I found an online site out of New York that seemed to have what I needed.  All I wanted was plain, white muslin.  I purchased 100 yards of plain, white muslin and received a fabric that did not appear to be muslin.  It turned out that it was 100% polyester muslin.  That was pretty difficult for me to understand.  In my mind, muslin is a 100% cotton fabric.  I went back to the site and found they offer 100% cotton muslin and 100% polyester muslin.  After a little research I found that you can purchase about any kind of fabric you want in polyester or a poly-blend.  The polyester fabric is, of course, cheap.  The truth is that I’ve just about used up my 100 yards of white polyester muslin on a myriad of items.  It is strong but doesn’t have the nice cotton feel to it.  However, it goes against my “all natural” side.  I later purchased 75 yards of 100% cotton, red muslin from the same company and I am satisfied with that purchase.  I really like the company because although they are the middle man, they state that they purchase only from mills in the USA.  Their fabric is all made here.

The same issue appeared recently when I purchased chiffon scarves from a different wholesaler.  The caption stated that they were 100% chiffon.  When they arrived, I found them to have the same feel as chiffon.  The tag says “100% poly – Made in China.”  I suppose they are 100% poly-chiffon.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 

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Natural Nail Polish Remover:

Pour equal parts vinegar and lemon juice into a small bowl and soak a few cotton balls in mixture. Meanwhile, soak your hands in a basin of warm water for 10 minutes to loosen the polish a bit. Apply the cotton balls on the nail and leave on for 20-30 seconds. Wipe off the polish gently. Repeat if needed.

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. 42

 

 

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 42 – November 4, 2012

 

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

 

ΘΘΘΘΘ

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

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

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.

Usually George dresses in costume to hand out candy to trick or treater’s.  This year he really didn’t feel like doing that until a neighbor asked if he was going to use the same costume as last year.  He got out his old black poncho and hat from last year and found a really scary foam mask at Wal-Mart.  He even scared me.  Then he sat outside by the bushes with his cauldron of candy. 

It was still light outside and there were a couple of women strolling a baby around the park.  I had my witch’s hat on and was setting George up.  Apparently the ladies didn’t see George moving around and thought that he was something that I constructed and put in the yard.  About their third time around, the ladies and baby strolled over to tell me that they had been watching me set up for Halloween.  They thought the monster/creature was really cool and we all laughed – until George moved and scared the bejeebers out of the ladies and child.  We had fun that night.  There were more than the usual number of children but not a lot.  Our neighbors were handing out candy and it was nice mingling with them.  All in all, we were inside by 8 p.m.

Our usual tradition is afterwards we stoke up a fire in the chiminea and enjoy a glass of wine.  This year was no different.

The following day, of course, was my birthday.  By the end of the day, I had over 400 birthday wishes on Facebook.  I love my Facebook friends.  One friend later told me that she was late getting on FB to send me a Happy Birthday wish.  When she did, she got a message that my Facebook page was full and she couldn’t place the message.  I didn’t know they did that.

The day was pretty quiet and peaceful.  I had some embroidery work to do.  George gave me a great present.  I walked into my studio to find a new, adjustable, swivel, and rolling chair, with a back on it, placed at my embroidery machine.  Very nice. 

I told George that I would like a steak dinner.  He cooked a wonderful meal and afterwards we relaxed, with wine, in front of the chiminea.  Obviously, the chiminea is one of my favorite places.

This may not seem like a very exciting birthday, but George understands that I don’t celebrate a birthDAY.  Oh no, my celebration entails a birthMONTH.  We have to pace ourselves.

Saturday we attended the memorial services for our friend who passed away recently.  It really was a lovely service.  Tears were flowing.  A good friend will be missed.  The memorial was at the Elks Lodge on the beach.  After the service everyone went to the food and bar.  We visited with many friends.  Many thanks go out to our wonderful SOB ladies who planned, prepared, hosted, and cleaned for this memorial to a wonderful man.

Hurricane Sandy killed 11 people in Cuba and proceeded along its path north until it collided into 2 additional storms and hit New York and the surrounding areas.  It was only a category one hurricane, but the combination with the other storms and hitting in the location that it did, was devastating.  Our thoughts and prayers have been with all of those people.  Sandy closed down New York City.  We watched the news and all of the photos on the internet.   Memories of Hurricane Ivan kept flooding our thoughts. 

A friend of mine posted a question on Facebook today:  “How long would you survive where you live if utilities and transportation STOPPED? No water, sewer, electricity or food coming to the stores?”  Interesting questions.  I don’t think we would have too hard a time.  In Florida you can always dig for water.  It is there.  The garden and knowing what plants are edible would suffice for food, not to mention fishing and seafood.  We even have the bamboo that we could use for fishing poles.  If there is nothing to buy at the store, there is little need for transportation other than walking or bicycling.  I even have my grandmother’s treadle sewing machine.  Aside from fire, there is solar cooking and heating.  Our big problem would be cooling and finding coffee.  The biggest problem, I think, would be crime.    People who do not know how to survive tend to loot.

This week I have spent hours surfing the web and scouring Pinterest for handmade Christmas gift ideas.  Good gosh, the internet has tutorials on everything.  If you don’t like to read a tutorial, there are plenty of tutorial videos available.  There is no need to ever throw away fabric or paper.  The internet is littered with uses for these.  Aluminum cans have a million recycled purposes, as well.   There are all kinds of craft projects using plastic of every kind.  If that’s not good enough, there are crafts projects for organizing all of these craft supplies.  It is just so amazing what the internet has done for everyone.

With that said, it is time to be thinking of Christmas presents.  What to make?  What to purchase?

·         Cookies, cakes, fudge, bread, etc., are always wonderful gifts.  Print out the recipe on pretty cardstock and tie with a nice bow.

·         Do a theme present such as kitchenware.  Buy or make a potholder mitt and fill it with wooden spoons, whisk, spatula, etc.  Tie a pretty bow around the middle.

·         A set of napkins with pretty napkin rings.  These are easily made and there are many tutorials online with a wealth of design ideas.

·         I recently saw a cute idea.  Place settings for the table included a burlap pocket with a flower on top.  The silverware was inserted into the burlap pocket and all was placed on top of the napkin.

·         Burlap, muslin and linen with their earth tones are very popular right now.

·         Cool looking spice dispensers.

·         Garden apron with packets of seeds in the pockets.

·         A basket for the garden with a handle, insert seeds or plants, gloves, potting soil, fertilizer, seedling pots, small hoes or rakes and garden utensils.  Even an outdoor thermometer or rain gauge.

·         Soaps, bath salts, scrub cloth, towel, lotions, etc.

Yesterday a lady contacted me for heirloom looking handkerchiefs for her Nana’s birthday.  Of course, they were made and initialed in the corner using a small diamond shaped monogram.  They looked very nice and the customer was please with the results and that we could get this done so fast.

Have a wonderful week.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 

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

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Taken from Pinterest:  Homemade toothpaste! Here's a cheap and much better alternative to commercial toothpaste. Supplies: -5 Tbs baking soda -4 Tbs coconut oil -About 10 drops of essential oil. (I used peppermint) -Container (Make sure it has a lid. Baking soda will absorb smells if left to open air.) -*You can also add a bit of stevia or other natural sweetener if you're used to a sweeter toothpaste.

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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.