Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 34

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 34 – September 7, 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.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Yippee!!!  George got Boudreaux to embroider on a structured hat.  It really turned out beautiful.

This week I’ve been working on a 33” wide by 27” tall embroidery design for a headboard.  This is a huge design that requires several hoopings, puff embroidery and metallic thread.  The digitizing was all done by me.  The design was taken from several designs on an antique bed cover.  Yes, it is gorgeous.  It sure is taking a long time to finalize.  The digitizing seemed to take forever.  Then I did several stitch outs.  The design involved lots of editing.  I am finally in the process of stitching out the large design to test for any kinks and fix them before I begin embroidering the final.  So far I have stitched out 4 hoopings, stopping to edit as I go along.  This has taken 2 days.  There are 11 hoopings.  Hopefully, this stitch out will be finished soon and I can get to the final.  You know I have a low patience threshold and I want this project finished but I do want to do it right.

Puff embroidery is embroidery using craft foam and embroidering over the foam to create height and texture in the embroidery.  With this project I learned that puff embroidery is not a new thing.  Puff embroidery has been around for centuries.  Of course, the antique puff embroidery did not use craft foam, but rather a build up of thread.  And I thought it was a new idea.  Ha!

I called Social Security this week for an appointment and was told that I completed the online form very well and that I don’t need to come into their office.  The check should arrive in December.  Woohoo!  Just in time for Christmas!!!!  I guess working all those years will finally pay off.  Plus, they told me that recipients are no longer limited to earning $800 per month before the earnings start to have an effect on the check.  Now recipients can earn $1,200 per month before the earnings begin to impinge on the check.  Good news to know. 

Our dishwasher died this week.  That dishwasher was almost 20 years old.  George tried to fix it, but it was fatal.  That dishwasher is not coming back.  So, George called the garbage collector and arranged to have the old dishwasher picked up the following morning.  He put the dishwasher on the side of the street, in front of the house.  When we awoke in the morning the dishwasher was gone.  It is what we call the midnight blue light special.  That is the height of recycling.  George called the garbage collector to tell them not to come but the girl apparently didn’t get in touch with the truck driver soon enough and there he was looking for the dishwasher.

George ordered a new dishwasher that was going to arrive the following day.  It turned out that we won’t get the new dishwasher until the 18^th or 19^th.  We are back to old fashioned washing dishes by hand.  Yep, there’s a sink full as I type.  I miss my dishwasher.  I think we may be dining out often until the delivery arrives.

This Sunday is the Splash Party.  The tee shirts have been received and embroidered.  All but 6 have been delivered.  The rest of the girls will get their shirts Sunday morning.  This party is going to be a real splash.  It begins at 1:00 p.m. at Paradise Bar and Grill on Pensacola Beach.  Boogie, Inc. will be our DJ.  We will have a dunking booth and lots and lots of raffles, including several big water guns.  Additional water guns will be on sale for those who forget to bring them, but the guns are limited so try to remember to bring your own.  Plus, we are going to have a 50/50 drawing.  At 3:00 p.m. there will be a live band, Victor Wainright.  Everyone is welcome, so please join us this Sunday.  Be prepared to get soaked.

I’ve already embellished my shirt.  George went water gun shopping and returned with two guns.  One shoots water 27 feet and the other shoots water 40 feet.  Yes, George has been outside trying the guns out.  No one in this neighborhood is safe from George and his water guns.  And that means those neighbors who are reading this and walk in front of the house frequently.  Beware of the man with the water gun.

The girls love to tease me about Facebook.  Well, this week is a banner week.  I now have 4,000 friends on Facebook.

Have a wonderful week.

S P L A S H!

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. 

The Code of Hammurabi is the earliest known example of a ruler publicly proclaiming to his people an entire set of laws, in an orderly arrangement, so that all of men might read and known what was required of them. Hammurabi was a ruler of ancient Babylon, probably from around 1795 B.C. to about 1750 B.C. His code was carved on a black stone monument, in 3,600 lines of cuneiform, standing eight feet high, and obviously intended for public view. This monument was discovered in 1901, not in Babylon, but in the Persian mountains, where it had probably been carried by some triumphant conqueror. It begins and ends with addresses to the gods and curses for anyone who neglects or destroys the law. It then goes on to list an organized code of laws and regulations for society. For example, a judge who makes a mistake in a case of law is to be expelled from his judgeship forever and issued a heavy fine. Any witness who gives false testimony is to be executed. All of the more serious crimes, in fact, are punishable by death -- even unintentional crimes. For instance, if a man builds a house badly, and it collapses and kills its owner, the builder is to be executed. If the owner's son was killed, then the builder's son is to be killed. Many believe the Code of Hammurabi or some similar code of laws to be the source of the Hebrew's edict of "an eye for an eye". The only escape for an accused person was to throw himself into "the river," the Euphrates. If the current carried him to shore alive, he was declared innocent. If he drowned, he was guilty. Although there were definitely earlier codes of law (their existence is even implied in Hammurabi's code), they have all disappeared -- leaving the Code of Hammurabi as the earliest surviving system of laws.

Found this at:  http://www.usefultrivia.com/history_trivia/history_trivia_001a.html

 

 

 

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. 3, No. 21

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 21 – May 27, 2011


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

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often. We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

It’s Memorial Day Weekend. Get out all of your red, white and blue. While you are enjoying the weekend at the beach, or having a barbeque or meal with friends, please take some time to remember those who have stood/are standing on a wall protecting us and providing the wonderful freedom that we all too often take for granted. God bless every one of them. If you see someone in the military, please say Thank You.

I’m reminded of a story about my step-father, Johnny. My dad died when I was 10 months old. When I was 3 years old, my mother re-married. For all intents and purposes, Johnny was my daddy. He was the only daddy that I knew. And he was a wonderful man. When Kim and I went to Louisiana last week and visited our cousin Roland, Roland gave me a picture of Johnny when he was in the Army.

Johnny was in Korea in the early 1950’s. There is an old movie called Pork Chop Hill about one of the bloodiest battles in the Korean War. Johnny used to tell me that he was in that battle. He said it was very cold and he wore every piece of clothing that he owned, layered, one over the other. He and his fellow soldiers walked up Pork Chop Hill. The battle raged on and soldiers were dropping like flies. They were hunkered in trenches. His friend to his left was shot and slumped over. His friend to his right was shot. Finally, a bullet hit Johnny. There was so much blood and death around him that he believed he was dead. The medics came and took the bodies of his two dead friends and put Johnny on a stretcher and hauled him down the hill to the medical tent. The doctor was peeling off his clothing where the bullet entered. Layer after layer was peeled off. About half way through his clothing the bullet fell out. He hadn’t even been scratched.

This week has been a week of can wraps. Some time ago, I made a can wrap with the Cajun Stitchery logo embroidered on it. I was talking to my friend, Charlotte, who drinks bottled beer. She said that I need to create a wrap that fits both cans and bottles. It needed to be something adjustable. Since that time, I’ve tried several designs but nothing that really pleased me, until this week.

While making the can wraps for the Proud to be a Union Thug orders, I kept pondering how to do this all ITH (in-the-hoop). There are several steps to the can wrap, cutting the fabric and stabilizer, embroidering, sewing the long side, turning, pulling the stabilizer through, sewing the ends and trimming. I digitized a rectangle the size of the can wrap. Then I digitized 4 eyelets, 2 on each end. The rectangle was digitized like I would for a patch. After embroidering the can wrap, I punched holes through the eyelets and used some very small elastic to run through the holes. After trying various combinations of threading the elastic, I happened upon the one that worked. Yep, it’s adjustable and fits both cans and bottles. Are there fewer steps? I hoop the plastic (yes, they are waterproof) and stitch out the first outline. Then I glue the stabilizer onto the plastic. Then I glue the fabric onto the stabilizer and the back side of the plastic. Back in the machine and stitch out the second outline. Once again I take the hoop off the machine and trim fabric and stabilizer on both sides and put the hoop back in the machine. At this point, I embroider the design, and then I finish the satin stitched outline of the patch. The thread ends and jump stitches are trimmed. The eyelet holes are punched and the elastic is threaded and knotted. Finis. I haven’t timed it yet to see if this goes any faster.

With the new ITH can wraps, I took some camouflage fabric and made some manly can wraps. One of the wraps has a pistol embroidered on it, another has a man shooting a rifle, and one has the silhouette of an elk. These have been listed for sale in the Etsy Shop. They would make great Father’s Day presents for any gun collector, hunter or sportsman. I also listed a couple of Proud to be a Union Thug can wraps.

Speaking of Proud to be a Union Thug, my friend, Sandy, says that she believes I am the first to do the slogan in embroidery. There are some sites with the slogan in screen printing but I’m the only one with embroidery and I think the only one with the slogan on can wraps. Google it and see. If you know any union members, please direct them to me or to our Etsy Store. I sure would appreciate it.

Speaking of referrals, if you refer a customer to Cajun Stitchery and they hire us, you will get a 10% discount on your next embroidery order. Just make sure you remind me.

This past Wednesday I was able to join my Wednesday night girls. I’ve missed Wednesday nights for 2 or 3 weeks. It was good getting back in the groove with my girls. Since I was bringing some items for various girls, I brought my new collapsible, hounds tooth market basket to carry the items. Some of the girls were looking at the market basket and we were talking about Sharon and her zebra print purchases. The vendor that I used for my basket and Sharon’s items does not carry the market baskets in solid colors. All of their market baskets are prints. However, I have another vendor that carries the solid colors, as well as some prints. These baskets are canvas and do not have the zipper pocket on the inside. While browsing through this vendor’s online shop, I found they have a whole bunch of zebra print items that the other store did not. In addition to the regular market basket, they have a mini market basket that is the next size down from the regular size and they also carry a selection of vinyl market baskets. They do carry the market baskets in purple. I was thinking how cool that would be to put krewe logos on purple market baskets. If I order from this company, I may just get myself a purple market basket for the Mardi Gras season. Ooooo, I could get one for each season; red, white and blue for patriotic picnics; red and green to carrying Christmas gifts and food items; orange and black for Halloween candy; and pastel colors for Easter baskets. If I’ve learned nothing else from my Nereids, I have learned that my attire must match. We could have baskets in every color to match our outfits. These baskets would also be great for business logos, which is exactly what I’m going to put on my market basket.

George is busy doing electrical work in the house next door. It is slow going when you are the only one remodeling an entire house but he is doing a fabulous job. I’m so proud of him.

Our sago palm had babies last fall and George potted them. We planted all that we wanted in our yard and had 8 or 9 left over. Last week I posted on Facebook that I was giving them away to anyone who wants to come and get them. There were a few people interested but when they learned that I live in Warrington, they never showed up. I just hate to throw them away. People pay good money for sago palms in Florida. My friend, Paulette, wants all of them. So, I will bring the sago palms to Paulette next Wednesday night. I’m so glad they are going to have a home.

The garden is beautiful this year. The carrots are ready to harvest. The tomatoes and peppers have flowers. We are harvesting garlic and onions everyday. I love to garden.

This week’s sale is an adjustable can wrap with your name or initials embroidered for only $5.00.

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.

Thank you Kathi for sending the following joke:

The judge had just awarded a divorce to Boudreaux’s wife, Marie, who had charged non-support. He said to Boudreaux, "I have decided to give your wife $400 a month for support." "Well, dat's fine, Judge," said Boudreaux. "And once in a while I'll try to chip in a few bucks, myself."

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French Phrase of the Week: The following was taken from LSU.edu regarding Cajun french differing from other french:

Here we have le déjeuner in the morning. (Traditionally in rural families, there was nothing petit about it. Folks needed sustenance after doing their early morning chores. The big meal of the day, le dîner, was taken at noon. This was because it was too hot to cook in the afternoon, and also because most farm families provided a noon meal for their hired hands.) In the evening, we still eat our souper. French Canadians use the same terms we do.

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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.