Kitty Cat Blanket

Kitty Cat Blanket

I was contacted by a friend who volunteers at a local cat rescue and asked if I would make a blanket they could raffle off to make money for the rescue.  Of course, I said yes.

    My friend loves this kitten design, so, I decided to make this design the center of the blanket.  The design was originally just a tiny outline about 2" tall.  The blanket required something a bit more massive.  When I made the design 15" tall, it just didn't look right without some detailed features.  After looking at many cat pictures, trying to find the same or similar pose, a few details were added.  Concerned that the design would be too heavy if I made it a solid color, I opted for the more zig-zag look for the fur. 

    After the kitten was embroidered, I finished the blanket, ruffles and all.  Rather than the usual quilting, the butterflies were going to hold the blanket together.

The original design had the kitten looking and pawing at a butterfly.  I wanted a lot of butterflies.  Back to looking at pictures.  This time it was butterflies, and a Monarch was chosen.  I digitized the butterfly and stitched it in several different colors and many angles.

At this point, the whole design seemed to be missing something which turned out to be flowers.  After searching through many of my store bought designs, I found the perfect flower design.  To be specific, sun flowers.  Now our kitty is sitting in a field of bright yellow sun flowers, playing with multi-colored butterflies.  Life is good.

I liked the design, but felt I could, and should, do better.  After all the rescue organization needs something eye catching and special to get those big bucks flowing in.  The 3D butterflies had been on my mind for awhile but I hadn't been able to find the perfect project for them.  Ah, this is the project.  Several butterflies were made in different colors and fabrics.  I made them like you would make a patch but before I tore them off of the stabilizer, I embroidered the body between the wings and then pulled off the stabilizer -- carefully.  To adhere them to the blanket, I measured the body of the butterfly and created a straight stitch a little shorter than the body.  Then I turned the straight stitch into a small zig-zag.  I would go to the placement site on the blanket, stitch the straight stitch, place the butterfly on top of the straight stitch and stitch the zig-zag.

Looking good.

Still something missing.  I can do better than this.

Rhinestones!

The rhinestones seemed to do the trick

I had changed the bobbin thread to various colors when doing the flowers and butterflies.  When you look at the back of the blanket, albeit no kitty, the design is still pretty.

As my little Cajun mama used to say:  "Fini."  This blanket was given to the cat rescue organization.  I'm not sure if they've raffled it off yet or, if they have, how much they made.  I certainly hope this unique, OOAK, blanket brings them some well deserved funding.

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 13 – May 17, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 13 – May 17, 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.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.

Spring has brought beautiful weather to our area, along with all of the plants and flowers; but this year we have encountered some surprises, too.  Early this Spring George bought a half whiskey barrel to put in the front yard.  He was going to plant a papyrus plant in the barrel, which he did.  Since he also took apart our raised garden and rebuilt it, he used some of the soil from the garden in the barrel.  The papyrus began growing happily as did several other plants that we thought were weeds.  Many of them were weeds except we recognized some Johnny Jump Ups.  So, we left those alone.  Then we recognized a tomato plant. We let that plant grow, as well.  Then a familiar looking plant began growing.  It was an eggplant plant.  I guess there were lots of seeds still in the garden soil that decided to grow.  The papyrus is very happy and getting tall.  The Johnny Jump Ups are a beautiful purple, green and gold.  The eggplant is growing but hasn’t had a flower yet.  The tomato has flowers and now is sporting some small fruit.  How about that for simply planting a papyrus in a half barrel?

Of course, the new garden has shallots, lettuce, carrots, radishes, and lots of plants.  The shallots are almost ready to harvest but the rest are still growing.   He planted pots of all kinds of peppers and more tomatoes.

The gladiolas seem to travel and we have a few gladiola patches here and there in the yard.  The gladiolas that have bloomed are a shade between red and orange, more like a deep coral.  They are beautiful. 

The roses are blooming, as are the gardenias, bottle brush and jasmine.  The yard has a wonderful fragrance.  The hydrangeas are turning a beautiful blue and the bushes are covered in these flowers.

We are enjoying sitting outside with the fragrances and colors.  It is so soothing.

It turns out that the blackberries are not blackberries at all.  They are dewberries.  They look and taste exactly like blackberries but have less seeds.  They are also bountiful this year.  The blueberries are not ripe yet but we will have a nice harvest when they do ripen.

Everyday is a joy to sit outside, especially in the mornings, with a hot cup of coffee and enjoying nature.

Sometimes I will list items on Etsy that I really never expect to sell.  Sometimes it is something funny; sometimes beautiful; and sometimes very expensive.  When it comes to really fine embroidery with lots of stitches and very time consuming, the price tends to get high.  Sometimes it is just difficult to price items.  Nevertheless, I had a beautiful white handkerchief listed.  It has a hefty lace border and is very elegant.  I listed it several months ago for $60.  I knew it would never sell but I wanted to show what we can do, as well as get people to visit the store to see what kind of hanky would cost $60.  As it turned out, a few weeks ago a gentleman made an appointment to come over and look at ladies handkerchiefs for a special occasion for his daughter.  He bought the lace handkerchief for $45.  I gave him a discount because he really liked the hanky and he was a nice guy.  Rather than take the handkerchief off of Etsy, I made another one.  It sold last week for $60.  I was pleasantly surprised, again.  Maybe there is hope for the $90 hanky that is listed on Etsy. 

Lately I’ve been working on my continuous embroidery skills.  Continuous embroidery is where you hoop a design and stitch it.  The design is too large for the hoop, so, after the first hooping, you re-hoop to stitch the continuation of the design.  I’m working on some beautiful edges.

It started when I purchased the European pillows from my friend, Pandora de Balthazar.  They needed pillowcases and I didn’t have any that fit.  So, I made a set.  Pillowcases are easy to make.  The edges of the pillowcases needed to be finished and such special pillows deserved some special pillowcases.  I used some heirloom designs and a bit of creativity and voila we had pillowcases.  They were so beautiful that I took photos and posted them on FaceBook.  Almost immediately we got an order.

Another project with the continuous embroidery is a scarf that I finished this past week.  It is just a poly blend kind of fabric but the embroidered edges and ends are gorgeous.  Again, it is done in white on white.  I figured out the cost and listed it in our Etsy Store today for $150.00.

Lots of embroidery has been created lately.  Beautiful baby bibs, pillows, and patches, but I’ll save that for another issue.  In the meantime  . . .

HAVE A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY

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.

 

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. 6, No. 8 – March 16, 2014

Cajun Corner – Vol. 6, No. 8 – March 16, 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.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.

This past week was spent in a whirlwind of rush embroidery for a client’s very special project.  There were a few late nights at the embroidery machine.  It all turned out well and as far as I know the project was completed beautifully.  I know the embroidery was beautiful.

The weather continues its rollercoaster ride from cold to warm, rain and sunshine.  However, I do believe we have now seen our last cold spell.  Spring here we come and I definitely have Spring fever.

It has been delightful watching the little plants break through the earth and begin to grow.  Our Johnny Jump Ups have jumped up, even in places where they were not planted. The colorful flowers are a welcome change to the bare limbs of winter.  We’ve been pruning out as much of the dead branches as we can.  The oak leaves have rained down.  George has raked and raked.  The camellias are blooming.  We have mostly red camellias but one very prolific pink camellia bush, too.  The birds are chirping and I do believe Spring has sprung.

After a hiatus of a week, the girls got together again this past Wednesday evening.  It is always good to spend an evening with friends.

Several items that have been just hanging around the studio were finally put on Etsy.  Some were handkerchiefs but there were ball caps and towels as well.

A friend of mine was asking for donations for prizes for her mother’s bingo group in Tennessee.  She thought some Mardi Gras items would be a refreshing change for the group.  This gave me the opportunity to cull the herd in my attic.  My friend came over and went through all of the Mardi Gras paraphernalia that has accumulated in the attic, as well as some arts and craft items.  She took a car load home.  My side of the attic is clean.  George is a very happy man.  Now I need to go through my clothes and clear out stuff so I have room to get new stuff.

I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call this week from one of my California cousins who was headed back to Louisiana after spending a few days with my aunt in Niceville.  It happened that I also read on FaceBook this week that another cousin is moving from New York City to California.  Sure hope the California cousins are all able to get together at some point.

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. 

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.

Thank you, Bob, for all of the jokes:

An elderly woman was on the deck of a cruise ship hanging on to her hat with both hands as the wind was quite strong. A Gentleman approached her and says "Excuse me but do you know that the wind is blowing your dress up in back, And your rear end is showing?" "Yes," replied the woman, "but my rear end is 85 years old and I just bought this hat yesterday!"

* * *

Moe and Sam, who were both 90 years old, loved baseball, and they had their entire life. One day, they were sitting together on a bench in their neighborhood when Moe turns to Sam and says: "Will you promise me something? Promise me that if you die first and go to heaven, you'll come back and tell if there's baseball there." Sam agreed, and made Moe promise the same. 3 months later, Sam died, and the next week Moe woke up in his sleep with someone calling his name. "Who's there?" he called out. "Moe! It's me Sam!" "Sam! It's so good to hear you! How's heaven?" Moe asked. "It's great, but I've some news, some good and some bad" Sam told him. "Well tell me the good news first" Moe replied. "Ok, the good news is that, there is baseball in heaven." "That's great." Moe exclaimed, "What's the bad news?" "Well, the bad news is that I was reading the lineup, and you're pitching on Friday."

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 My Easter Bonnet, With All the Frills Upon It

Saturday was a blast at the Easter Extravaganza on the beach.  I got to spend some time with friends, laugh and cut up.  I wore my Easter bonnet that I made on Thursday and Friday. 

I thoroughly enjoyed making that Easter bonnet.  Of course, I didn't want anything "normal."  I decided to fashion my bonnet like old Americana, or even old Cajun bonnets.  I created the pattern, which was very simple.  Then added blue lace around the edges.  That's part of that bolt of blue lace that I bought several years ago and I'm still trying to use all of it.  Then I had this adorable ric-rack that has all of the pastel colors fading in and out of each other.  I sewed the rick-rack underneath the bonnet to hide the stitching from the blue lace.  I liked that ric-rack so much that I sewed some more on top, over the stitching attaching the blue lace, too.  Then I decided to take the round part and see if I could hoop it.  That wasn't even a problem.  I embroidered the bunny with "Hoppy Easter" and the Cajun Stitchery logo.

At this point I wanted to use some of the many 3D techniques that I've been yearning to use.  The fringe flowers turned out perfect.   The butterflies were basically done like the patches.  Rather than sewing the outside of the butterflies to the fabric, I only did a zigzag stitch over the body of the bug, leaving the wings to flutter in the breeze.

There was one piece of the thick, white ric-rack in my stash and it was just long enough to go around the back of the bonnet.  Then I noticed that I had some little rabbit stickers which I glued with Elmers to make sure they didn't fall off. 

Once the bonnet was complete, I began gluing rhinestones.  The rhinestones just made the bonnet pop in the sun.

Although George wanted me to put ribbons to tie the bonnet onto my head, I did not do this.  I have a very short -- almost non-existing -- neck and I really don't like things tied around my neck.

I am very pleased at the result of the bonnet.  If I had more time, I could have put more things on it but it looks fine the way it is. 

C'est toute, mes amis.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 2, No. 23

Cajun Corner – Vol. 2, No. 23 – June 11, 2010


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.

Tar balls are on the beach but that hasn’t stopped or even closed down the beach. I read one article that said the tourists are taking their little sand buckets out and picking up tar balls, too.

Wednesday night we attended the Fiesta Ball. And we had a ball. There are pictures taken by our wonderful photographer, DJ, on the web. If you are on Facebook, go to the Krewe of Wrecks page to see the great pictures. This year the Fiesta Ball was at the Corrine Jones Center on Johnson’s Beach. I hadn’t been to Johnson’s Beach since before Hurricane Ivan. What a difference a hurricane makes. The apartments and condos are all gone. Corrine Jones Center is now a beautiful, large center with picture windows overlooking the bay. It is simply beautiful. The Ball tickets were sold out weeks ago. The only down side to the ball was that everyone who wanted to attend, couldn’t. We were lucky and had our names on a waiting list. We got the call a week ago that there was a cancellation and we did get tickets. I wore my green Mardi Gras costume and George wore the matching bowtie that I made.

I had a couple of visor and cap deliveries to make Wednesday and it just happened that the customers were going to be at the Ball. Yep, we brought the orders to the ball and one customer wore her hat the entire evening. Great PR for Cajun Stitchery, don’t you think?

Needless to say, Thursday morning arrived much too soon. It was slow moving Thursday morning. The infamous DJ started posting Ball photos and there is a good photo of George and me. Later in the day she posted, with my permission, the cutest picture of me dancing with a nice, young Marine (cigarettes and drink in hand). Oh yes, and a cute little sailor taught me to moon walk. My heart just melts over a man in a uniform. I took my sailor home with me about 40 years ago.

The wholesale company where we buy our hats has a monthly sale. We have been able to take advantage of their monthly sales since we began embroidering ball caps and we are able to pass those savings along. The patriotic visors are an example of one of their sales. The normal ball cap or visor would sell for about $10 but we are finding that we can sell the ones on sale for $5. Good deal for everyone. Of course, when the sale is over we can still get the caps or visors but at a higher price for us, and hence, a higher price for our customers. So, take advantage of those sales. We still have a few of the patriotic visors remaining. Don’t forget Flag Day is June 14th and the 4th of July is just around the corner. This week we have the $5 sale on a couple of colors of the ponytail caps: the burgandy cap and one with a green bill and khaki crown. The $5 sale, of course, is without embroidery. We’ll be glad to embroider on it, but that is an additional charge.

The garden just gets prettier and prettier. We have been harvesting tomatoes every day this week.

I’m still working on Etsy. I’ve rearranged our store on Etsy several times. I’m trying to get a new item on their everyday, although some days I don’t. Now I’m reading the forums and participating in that way. Etsy says that by participating in the forums you get your name out to other Etsiers and that’s a good thing.

I do have a special order for a “droid” holder. She wants a mermaid. I made one prototype that is for sale on Etsy now. I have other ideas. Please visit our Etsy shop.

Today we have to fill some more cap/visor orders and I’m finishing up some pillowcases. Hope I don’t forget to take pictures.

We still haven’t decided what plants to put in Mama’s Garden outside the embroidery room. We’ll get it done eventually. At least the hydrangea is out there and has lovely blue flowers.

Our monthly Nereid meeting is tonight and I’ve embroidered a beautiful set of pillowcases for one of the girls whose birthday was a week ago. Sunday we are having a birthday brunch for another Nereid. Next Thursday is my son’s 42nd birthday. And in a couple of weeks is another birthday. On top of everything else, I’m busy making birthday presents.

I better get back to work. Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

One day Boudreaux saw Thibodeaux and asked him why he was so bruised up. Thibodeaux replied that he had been riding a bull, and his foot got stuck when he fell off. The bull kept dragging him around until the Wal-Mart manager came and unplugged it.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

French phrase of the week: Marie s'a engagée à nous trouver une place pour rester. (Marie took on the responsibility of finding us a place to stay.)

ΘΘΘΘΘ

From: http://www.dailyecotips.com/

Here are just some of the ways to do eco-friendly Spring cleaning.

• Garage sales: Instead of just throwing things away, hold a garage sale. If you don’t want to hold one on your own, then see if there are people in the neighborhood that want to have a garage sale with you.

• Donate: You can use Freecycle or donate your used items to your local church. This can include household items, computer equipment, cell phone and even building materials.

• Sell Items: If you have items that you don’t want to just give away, use eBay to sell your items. You can also use Craigslist or some local second hand shops buy used items.

• Reuse those Ziploc bags by washing them out and letting them dry.

• Use the library where you will find books, movies and cds available for borrowing.

• Set up a neighborhood share program that allows you to share items like lawn mowers and ladders.

• When cleaning up dust in the house use plant based cleaner to make them better for the environment and the health of your family.

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.

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.

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.

SALE OF THE WEEK (Good through Thursday, June 17, 2010)

PONYTAIL CAP SALE!!!

We have one dozen of each of the burgundy and green bill with khaki crown ponytail cap styles in the photographs. This sale is for these 2 dozen visors. First come, first serve.

The ponytail caps have a brass slide closure.

Sale: one ponytail cap without embroidery is $5.00 plus tax/shipping. We will be glad to embroider on the cap, upon request. Most embroidered names or initials are only $5.00.

(Note: We still have a few of the patriotic visors for $5 each, first come, first serve, until the are gone.)

See attached photograph.