Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 40

 

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 40 – October 20, 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.

About six months ago one of my cousins moved to Pensacola.  We have been trying to get together ever since she moved here.  It is always one thing or another preventing us from meeting face-to-face.  Finally, this week we met.  Her daughter, my 3^rd cousin, is going to be a flower girl in a wedding today and her dress needed to be altered.  They came over on Wednesday and we finally got to meet each other.  I must say that I was captivated by five year old Claire who was inquisitive and into everything and could charm the socks off of you, as she did me.  They returned on Friday to pick up Claire’s now altered dress and she proceeded to charm George. 

Claire was quite taken with the mermaids at the house and I told her that once a year, on Mardi Gras, I turn into a mermaid.  She is no dummy and questioned the possibility:  “So, do you have powers?” she inquired.  “Yes, I do,” was my answer.  “Show me,” she said.  Her mother piped in and told her that when you have powers you only use them when necessary and you never abuse your powers.  I explained that I only have powers once a year on Mardi Gras.  She walked around and played, then came back and asked why I had so many mermaids hanging on my walls.  Her mother came back with an absolutely fabulous explanation by saying, “You know how we have pictures of our family at our house?  These mermaids are her family.”  That seemed to satisfy little Claire who is now waiting for Mardi Gras so she can see my powers.

Cajun Stitchery made some new purchases lately.  The first one is called Peggy’s Eraser.  It is almost identical to an electric razor but used to remove embroidery stitches.  We had purchased a regular electric razor but decided that it doesn’t remove stitches as well as one made for that function.  Besides, Peggy should have one named Peggy’s Eraser.  It just seems right.  Peggy’s Eraser has not arrived yet but should in the next week or two.

The other recent purchase that we are waiting to receive in the mail is a 6”x12” hoop for Clothilde.  Boudreaux has all shapes and sizes of hoops but poor Clothilde has some very large hoops and only two sizes of smaller ones.  A few months back we purchased fast frames for Clothilde.  Now we can embroider those market baskets, totes and various object that are hard to hoop.  The new hoop is adjustable.  It can be 6x12 or 12x6.  There are several reasons that this is a good idea.  One is that used as a 6x12 hoop, we can hoop pant legs and sleeves.  That opens up some really cool embroidery ideas and possibilities.  As a 12x6 hoop, it gives more stability to smaller designs and monograms.

We had our first fire of the season in our chiminea this week and are planning more as the weather permits.  In fact, tonight might be perfect.

Another recent purchase was a solar smart phone charger.  You know I love alternative energy things.  It arrived and not only charges the smart phone but also can be used as a LED light.  That is pretty cool to have in my purse when I’m out at night.  I haven’t tried charging the phone with it yet.  They say that it does take some time to charge via the solar charger but I’m pretty impressed with it.  I know they have solar chargers for laptops.  Maybe I’ll save up my pennies and buy one of those next.

Last night was our krewe’s monthly meeting.  Our meetings are held at a different krewe member’s home each month.  This month the décor was Halloween and the house was decorated quite cute.  It turns out that our hostess is another Pinterest addict.  She turned so many of those cute ideas on Pinterest into reality. 

Speaking of Pinterest, I found an item on Pinterest that said to take a bottle of vinegar, poke holes in the top, and put it in the toilet tank.  The vinegar is a non-toxic way of cleaning the toilet bowl and with the extra mass in the tank, you save on water.  We tried it.  It took a few days for the ring around the bowl to start fading but it does seem to be keeping the bowl clean. 

Don’t forget to get your Christmas shopping done early.

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.

SURVEY:

What type of item category would you like to see most at Cajun Stitchery?

a.                   apparel

b.                  home décor

c.                   beach

d.                  gift ideas

e.                   trending

f.                   other (please explain)

What type of designs would you like to see most at Cajun Stitchery?

a.                   Cartoon

b.                  Children

c.                   holiday

d.                  heirloom

e.                   sayings

f.                   monograms

g.                  other (please explain)

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. 19

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 19 – May 19, 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.

We’ve been working a bit on our Etsy Store this week and it has begun to pay off.  Two handkerchiefs were sold.  Each sale, of course, has a different story. 

The first one was a black and white handkerchief made from a cotton blend fabric with a white background and black spots.  One corner was embroidered separately and attached.  Two of this type of hanky was in our stock; each one had a different corner design.  When the order was placed, the handkerchief stock was searched; the black and white hanky was located and mailed out.  A day later the hanky that was ordered was in a stack of handkerchiefs in a box.  Uh-oh, the wrong hanky was mailed.  An email was immediately sent to the customer with our apologies and the correct hanky was then mailed.  The customer ended up with two handkerchiefs for the price of one, but it was our mistake.  The customer never responded to my emails.  We can only hope that they are okay with this.

The second handkerchief sale came as a real surprise.  It was the blue lace handkerchief that was made last week and listed.  This is the fastest turn around that Cajun Stitchery has ever experienced.  Apparently handkerchiefs are a popular item.

A tutorial of sorts was posted on our blog this week on the making of a handkerchief in the embroidery machine.  The handkerchief has been listed in our Etsy Store.  It used an animal print fabric with the heads of various African animals.  The head of a lion was framed with embroidery and turned into a handkerchief.  If you like animal prints and browns, this hanky is for you.

There is still a lot to do in our Etsy Store.  Many of the items have expired; some remain from Mother’s Day.  Since Memorial Day and July 4^th are around the corner, more patriotic items need to be listed.  And on and on.

Last night the Mystic Krewe of Nereids celebrated another birthday.  Our gift, of course, was this year’s krewe beach towel.  Now that my Amaya technician is not here, I couldn’t figure out how to make the special background feature of the name repeating itself.  A few emails and telephone calls later and we were back on track.  Another beautiful mermaid has been presented.

A young lady contacted us last week about making a pillow for her anniversary.  She provided a picture of what she wanted.  The picture showed a pillow with “The” on one line, then “Johnsons” on the next line, then “Est.” and the anniversary date on a separate line at the bottom.  All of this was in a block type font.  In the background was a huge “J” in script.  The design was not a problem at all.  She approved it immediately.  But she asked if I could make the pillow.  I did suggest that she contact a seamstress because Cajun Stitchery does embroidery.  It just seemed so much trouble for such a simple item.  So, I did offer to make the pillow at my hourly rate.  She would be required to purchase the fabric and filling.  She purchased a dark brown fabric and we chose a light yellow and tan thread.  She was elated with the end result. 

This young lady, as well as several other people lately, said they found Cajun Stitchery via a Google search.  All of the internet work is finally paying off.

Tigger is still on his Prednisone and drooling profusely.  He is walking, eating and drinking, as usual.  However, when you look at him one eye has a slit for a pupil and the other pupil is wide open.  The Prednisone must be doing this.  His next veterinarian appointment is Monday.  There is a new lump and his purr sounds more like a dove cooing than a purr.

Sam the puppy has been spending a lot of time this week playing with Evie.  This is amazing because Evie is gentle but has always been fairly aggressive toward other dogs.  She is not aggressive towards Sam.  She plays until she is exhausted and lies down.  He is usually still running and jumping on and over here.  Sometimes she gets tired of playing and just runs for the back door while Sam is still following and playing.  The puppy has endless energy.

We are still harvesting broccoli, asparagus, lettuce and carrots.  Sadly, we don’t always eat them.  Tonight we are going to have salad with the vegetables from the garden.  Yum.  Rather than throwing up stalks of flowers, our garlic this year is growing and then the leaves turn brown.  We have garlic just no flowers.  The new beefsteak tomato plant is really growing.  I sure hope it produces big, sandwich sized tomatoes.  The little cherry tomatoes are fine and we love to grow them, but it would be nice to also have a nice, big tomato.

Friday was the WBL meeting.  I was so proud to announce to my friend, Dr. Roe that I’ve completely gotten off of the Sweet N Low at home and substituted our own, home grown, stevia.  The problem is that the stevia is sweet but has some bitterness.  After telling her that I still use the artificial sweetener when I go out to eat and I still drink Diet Coke, she said that plain processed sugar is better for me than those things because of all of the additives.  I was amazed.  I always thought sugar was about the worse thing you could eat.  She said it doesn’t have that many calories and no additives.  So, I have begun to use the stevia as normal, but adding less than a teaspoon full of sugar.  The bitterness is completely gone.  She also said that there are some studies that show that the artificial sweetener actually prevents some people from losing weight.  I wonder if that is why I can diet and diet and lose very little weight.  We will see how this goes.  Even though the stevia plant is a perennial, I’m going to propagate it and start giving it to friends.  This is a fabulous plant.

One of our granddaughters stopped by the other day on her way from Arkansas to Tampa.  She is the one who is carrying our great granddaughter, Makayla.  She could only stay for 30 minutes or so because she had to get home in time for work the next day.  It was so good to see her and her little belly.  She looks great and says she feels great, too.

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. 

I read an article the other day that I cannot find now.  So, I’ll summarize it.  

How to get rid of mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes (and ticks) are attracted to CO2.

We exhale CO2.  Hence, Mosquitoes and ticks are attracted to us.

Yeast also creates CO2.

Take 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water and boil until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Once the sugar is dissolved, take 2 cups of cool water to cool the sugar water down but still very warm.

Add a teaspoon of yeast to the mixture.

Take a plastic liter bottle and cut the top off where the plastic goes from straight up and down to beginning to curve inward for the spout.

Now you have the liter bottle in 2 pieces.

Put your sugar and yeast mixture into the bottom of the bottle.

Invert the top and tape or glue or somehow attach it to the other part of the bottle, creating a funnel.  Make sure there are no openings around the edges.

Put the bottle in a shady area.  The article mentioned that mosquitoes and ticks like dark and shade and suggested that you may even want to paint the bottle black, or cover with black construction paper.  

The mosquitoes and ticks are attracted by the CO2 and go into the funnel but cannot get out.

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Use a dustpan as a spout extender to fill up something that doesn't fit under the sink!

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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.