Cajun Corner - Vol. 5, No. 49

 

 

Cajun Corner – Vol. 5, No. 49 – October 6, 2013

 

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 mid-week TS Karen was noticed as a potential weather issue for the Gulf Coast.  People in our area prepared.  I know this because the stores were crowded, cases of water were displayed, and the stores were starting to run out of the essentials.  Still Karen was a tropical storm, not a hurricane.  As the week progressed there were threats of Karen becoming a hurricane.  Jim Cantore arrived on Pensacola Beach, which is never a good sign.  However, after a lot of praying Karen simply became disorganized.  This morning was the first sign of rain in the Pensacola area and so far it has only been a few drops now and then.  The weather alerts have dwindled to only alerts for rip currents.  Rain should arrive today.  The forecast for tomorrow is sunshine.  As Shakespeare said, “Much ado about nothing.”

This past week was a light work week.  When the time is available it is always a good thing to prepare for the upcoming seasons.  There is always so much to do. 

The peacock pillow was stitched out and looks great.  The design is a bit smaller than our usual designs though.  Nevertheless, it is beautiful.  The mermaid design has not been completed.

The living room/entrance room in the studio house is pretty empty.  The idea was to create an embroidery display room.  Displaying is not as easy as originally thought.  Searches on Pinterest for display ideas have produced many ideas.  Since we already have a few sheets of foam board, triangles were cut from the foam board and attached to each other to create a Christmas tree, in an abstract kind of way.  The various embroidered Christmas ornaments that have been made were pinned to the tree.  It kind of looks nice.  There is more room on the tree for additional ornaments, even after embroidering lots of lace ornaments. 

It was surprising to find how many ornament designs we have.  Most of the ornaments are lace.  Lace embroidery always means lots and lots of stitches.  No doubt it is beautiful but since embroidery is priced per thousand stitches, the stitch count becomes very important.  We definitely want our customers to have beautifully embroidered items but that is always weighed with stitch count.  The customer needs to get the most bang for their bucks.  One way of doing that is keeping the shape of the design but using more of an appliqué technique.  There are several lace designs in our repertoire that are intriguing but have not been stitched out yet. 

Looking at the Christmas designs and stitching them out gave me the bright idea to look online at some websites that haven’t been visited in a long time.  I used to be on top of all of the home embroidery designs and techniques.  OMG!  The home embroiderers are so creative and talented.  It only took viewing a few pages of some of these websites to get the creative juices flowing.

One of the first things that hit is that I’m working on Christmas and don’t have the studio decorated for Halloween.  Perusing our designs and searching for pumpkins, I did find some appliquéd pumpkins but they weren’t what I wanted.  There was one pumpkin design done in red work that really jumped out.  I took the design, increased it to 8” and created an appliqué from the outline. 

Although I believe the home embroiderers are leaps and bounds beyond the commercial embroiderer in ideas, there is one shortcoming.  That is that most home embroiderers are limited to the largest hoop size their machine will hold, which is usually 5”x7”.  Just because their hoop is 5x7 does not mean that they can embroider a 5x7 design.  There must be a margin on all 4 sides.  In practical application this means their largest design could not be larger than 4x6, and that is stretching it.  If they want to make something larger than their hoop, it becomes continuous embroidery.  They usually just make everything fit into their hoop.  When it comes to things like pot holders, the designs are too small.  We have hoops much larger than 5”x7” and can make items the appropriate size.  A pot holder should be about 8” square.  That is not possible in a 5x7 hoop, but is perfect for my 12” square hoop.  As with all designs, once the design is created, there are a few trial runs to tweak the design.  Our hot pads and pot holders are turning out adorable.

There was excitement in our Etsy store this week.  A lady requested two custom made lace handkerchiefs just like the beige and white one that is listed.  We created a custom order for her but she never paid and the hankies were never sent.  She said she needed them by Friday or Saturday.  The due date is over so that turned out a no sale.  On the bright side, now we have 3 of the beige and white lace handkerchiefs.

Last night George took me out on a date to the beach for the Pensacola Beach Song Writers’ Festival.  We went to our usual Paradise Bar & Grill, drank Bushwhackers, and listened to some great music.  We ran into several friends.  All in all it was a pretty wonderful evening.  The weather was beautiful.  There just is nothing like the beach, music, drinks, and friends.

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.

Thank you Bob for the following:

Four surgeons are comparing the type of patients they consider the easiest to operate on. The first surgeon says, "I like to operate on electricians, because when you open them up everything is color coded." The second surgeon says, "I prefer to operate on accountants, because when you open them up everything is numbered." The third surgeon says, "I think librarians are the easiest to operate on because everything inside them is in alphabetic order." The fourth surgeon says, "I've got you all beat. I like to operate on politicians best. They are by far the easiest because they have no guts, no heart, no spine and their head and behind interchangeable."


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.

* * *

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. 33

 

 

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 33 – September 2, 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.

George has been working with Boudreaux lately.  Now that we have Clothilde, I rarely work with Boudreaux, unless I need to use some of Boudreaux’s hoops.  Boudreaux has a greater variety of hoops than Clothilde.  As time goes by, and money comes in, we’ll get more hoops for Clothilde but for now Clothilde has the biggest hoops and Boudreaux has the largest variety of hoops.  Nevertheless, George had stopped embroidering when he went next door to remodel the house.  He’s back in the saddle, again.  He is definitely my hat guy but can do it all on the embroidery machine. 

It turns out that Clothilde embroiders on structured hats better than Boudreaux.  When we first began embroidery on hats and caps, we simply couldn’t get Boudreaux to stitch on structured hats.  We read periodicals saying that different machines embroider better on various types of head wear.  That must be true because Clothilde does fine with structured hats.  The problem is that Clothilde has to stop all of her beautiful “couture” embroidery to do the hats.  Some day we will replace Boudreaux with an Amaya but that is way down the road.

A local pastor contacted us requesting embroidery on his robe.  The digitizing was done and he brought the robe over for embroidery right before Hurricane Isaac.  As he was leaving, he asked if we were prepared for the storm.  I told him that I prayed the then tropical storm would go someplace else and not hit Pensacola.  We were prepared but I believe in prayer and TS Isaac just had to go elsewhere.  As it turned out, Hurricane Isaac did go elsewhere and we only got some tropical storm winds and rain.  When the pastor returned to pick up his embroidered robe I asked the topic of his sermon this week.  He said, “Forgiveness.”  I told him I was surprised it wasn’t on the power of prayer.

Speaking of Isaac, I was very happy that my friends and family in New Orleans and SW Louisiana were not hurt by the storm.  The ones I’ve been in touch with told me that they never lost electricity but did gain a houseful of guests who had lost electricity and utilities.

As I said, we just got wind gusts and some rain.  The wind did clean out the trees.  Sammy, the 70 pound, 8 month old puppy, must have thought it was Christmas.  He is a retriever, after all.  As the branches would fall from the trees, he was running around retrieving all of the limbs.  George said it would have been nice if he had then stacked them all together, but such was not the case.  Sam has played with tree branches all week, just running around with branches in his mouth.  He is a bit perplexed about a large palm frond that fell.  He tried carrying it around but it was just too big. 

This November I turn 62 years old.  I have debated all year whether or not to apply for early Social Security.  Cajun Stitchery is three and a half years old and doing well for three and a half years.   After vexing over this, I decided to go ahead and apply.  I did the entire thing online.  Now I have to make an appointment with our local Social Security people and bring them my certified birth certificate, and then it is done.  Wow!  It is just amazing to think that I have reached this age.  Does this mean that I am now old and wise? 

Next Sunday the Mystic Krewe of Nereids will be hosting our annual Splash Party at Paradise Bar & Grill on Pensacola Beach.  The event begins at 1:00 p.m.  We will have a dunking booth, lots of water guns, 50/50 raffle, and raffles for water guns and coolers and a whole lot of music and fun.  Please join us and bring a friend.  I think our charity this year is breast cancer.

Cajun Stitchery has embroidered krewe tee shits for the Splash Party.  Just look for the girls in the California Blue tee shirts.  That will be us.

Have a wonderful week.

HAPPY LABOR 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. 

If you think last week’s Louisiana Crazy Laws were, well, crazy, then take a look at some crazy laws in Florida.  True?  I don’t know.  But I found this at http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/florida

 

Florida Crazy Laws

 

• It is illegal for a doctor to ask a patient whether they own a gun.
• The state constitution allows for freedom of speech, a trial by jury, and pregnant pigs to not be confined in cages.
• One may not commit any “unnatural acts” with another person.
• Unmarried couples may not commit “lewd acts” and live together in the same residence.
• Corrupting the public morals is defined as a nuisance, and is declared a misdemeanor offense.
• Doors of all public buildings must open outward.
• It is illegal to sell your children.
• Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.
• A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.
• If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
• It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.
• Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.
• Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
• It is illegal to skateboard without a license.
• When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
• You may not fart in a public place after 6 P.
• It is considered an offense to shower naked.
• You are not allowed to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.
• Oral sex is illegal.
• You may not kiss your wife’s breasts

 

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. 32

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 32 – August 26, 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.

This issue is a bit late only because I spent a glorious weekend with the girls in Mobile.  I’m all refreshed and revitalized.  Now, I guess, I need to get to work.  Just a few things to catch up on today and then I’ll be all about embroidery tomorrow.

We finished one visor order and are still working on a ball cap order.  Then a very nice pastor contacted me for some embroidery on his robe.  That is so nice.  I’ve never been contacted by a pastor for embroidery before.  Of course, then we have more antique embroidery and digitizing to do.  And the girls need new tee shirts, so that’s coming up as soon as I can order them.

Isaac has not completely lost my attention.  A few years ago I became disgusted with the weather journalism.  I do realize that hurricanes are serious weather conditions but it just seems like the weather reported in the media is out for more drama than is necessary.  One of my cousins was a journalist and explained to me many years ago that good journalism is to report the facts without leaning the information in any particular direction.  Just report the facts.  The reported weather these days actually scares people.  There is a tropical storm.  Well, it could turn into a hurricane.  Maybe we can slip up here and there and call it Hurricane Isaac.  Let’s show people the effects of a terrible hurricane and associate that with Isaac.  Now let’s show people death tolls from other catastrophic events.  Well, without going into more of a tirade, I simply visit www.noaa.com occasionally and see the official report.  I know it could turn into a hurricane and I also know that it could turn in a totally different direction and not even bring rain.  We are prepared but not going off the deep end.

This week’s sale:  purple market baskets for $20 each, plus the cost of embroidery, if you want embroidery.

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. 

True?  I don’t know.  But I found this at http://www.ahajokes.com/laws018.html:

 

Louisiana Crazy Law

 

· It is illegal to gargle in public places.

·  It is illegal to rob a bank and then shoot at the bank teller with a water pistol.

·  Biting someone with your natural teeth is "simple assault," while biting someone with your false teeth is "aggravated assault."

New Orleans

·  It is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless her husband is waving a flag in front of it.

·  You may not tie an alligator to a fire hydrant.

 

 

 

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. 24 – June 24, 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.

My poor cat, Tigger, went to meet his maker this past Monday.  This one really hit me hard and I cried all day.  He had the loudest purr of any cat that I’ve ever heard.  He was very cuddly and would curl up on the sofa with me while I watched TV or in bed at night.  I do miss my Tigger.

Hurricane season is June through November.  Tropical Storm Debbie is passing by Pensacola as I type.  We don’t have rain yet but it looks like any minute I’ll be able to use the phrase -- Merde! Il Pleut.  George is outside doing some rush lawn work right now.  My friends and family in and about Tampa have informed me that they have had about 20 hours of rain.  My son says they really need the rain, so it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Yesterday, I hosted a delightful lunch for two of my friends.  I cleaned house all morning and I’m feeling really good right now because I don’t have that on my punch list today. 

During our luncheon, the girls asked me to take them on a tour of our gardens.  Oh, how I love our gardens.  George and I are in the garden doing something everyday and we notice things like “shouldn’t this plant have fruited by now” or “we need to fertilize”, etc.  My friends made me step back and say, “Wow!  This is really cool.”

Everyone should have a garden.  It takes nothing but effort because it sure doesn’t have to cost anything.  Seeds are easy to find.  Lots of our seeds come from the grocery store.  A bag of dried beans are simply bean seeds.  Yes, you can plant them.  Beans are wonderful to grow because they add nitrogen to the soil and nitrogen is very important.  I like to plant beans in all of my beds.  Pepper seeds are easy to find.  If you buy a bell pepper, for instance, or any fresh pepper for that matter, just scrape out the seeds when you open the pepper and plant those seeds.  You would scrape out the seeds anyway.  Plant the root end of onions.  You cut them off anyway.  Just plant them rather than throwing them away.  The same is true for the root of celery and tops of carrots.  Sometimes the seeds take and sometimes they do not, but what the heck, it is free.  It is usually something that you would simply throw away.  Squash, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, any fruit or vegetable that has seeds or roots can be used.  Sweet potatoes and white potatoes will grow from the eyes on the potato.  We used to use toothpicks to suspend the sweet potato in a jar of water and let the roots grow.  The sweet potato vine is beautiful and very big.  Just remember that some things turn into trees and some into smaller plants.  Plant accordingly.

Insofar as containers are concerned, the sky is the limit.  Open a can of food and poke a few holes in the bottom of the can.  Fill the can with dirt and plant a seed.  It isn’t even necessary to clean the can because whatever remains in the can will be used as fertilizer for the plant.  One of my gardening periodicals is selling burlap bags as containers for gardening.  Yes, you can use fabric or even plastic bags as containers.  I’ve seen people use old shoes, pots, pails, PVC pipe, anything with a depression where you can fill with soil.  Recently, I saw a photo on Pinterest where the trunk of a VW was used as a planter.  As with the seeds, know how big your plant is going to be and plant in a container large enough to contain the fully grown plant comfortably.

Soil for the plants is everywhere.  I love planting in sand because it is so easy to till.  Of course, you have to realize that sand has absolutely no nutrients and you must fertilize frequently.  I remember an experiment from when I was a little girl learning about plants.  Take a piece of paper towel.  Wet it.  Put a seed on it. Fold the wet paper towel over and put it in a jar, plate, whatever.  Just make sure the paper towel remains moist.  The seed will germinate in a few days.  Beans are the most fun for this experiment because they are large enough to see what is happening.  Wet the paper towel and put it in a glass jar with the seed against the glass on one side and the wet paper towel on the other.  You will be able to watch that seed germinate because the seed actually carries the nutrients required to germinate.  Of course, once it does germinate, you need to carefully plant it in a growing medium.  It won’t last long on just a wet paper towel because there are no nutrients.  You can plant the paper towel with the germinated seed.  The paper towel will decompose.  Since plants grow in any organic material, your soil can be sand, water, dirt, clippings, newspaper, coffee grounds, etc.  Some of the best tomatoes that we have ever grown came from the sewage treatment plant in Orlando.  Humans cannot digest tomato seed and the sewage treatment plants grow tomatoes all the time.  I have often wondered why the government doesn’t use the tomato plants for the hungry or even to make some cash to defray expenses.

Fertilizer is easily accessible.  From humans to plants, we all need to be fed to maintain life.  Eat unhealthy and you are unhealthy.  Eat healthy and you are healthy.   As I said before, planting beans adds nitrogen to your soil.  If you compost, which is really easy, (your yard clippings, your garden debris, and your kitchen scraps) you will have a very nice compost pile full of all of the nutrients and minerals required by your plants.  Use your compost as your planting soil and your plants have a head start in life.  Even ashes from your chiminea or grill would be good additions to the compost.  Please don’t forget your coffee grounds because plants love coffee grounds.

Space should not be too much of an issue.  Perhaps your space availability does not allow for a large garden, but as long as you have a window with sun, you can grow plants.  Most plants like ample sunshine but there are some plants that thrive in the shade.  Even if you do not have sun, there are grow lights used for growing plants indoors.  Patio and balcony gardens add beautiful ambiance.  Even roof top gardening works well.

If all of that isn’t enough, plants expel oxygen (which we need) and take in carbon dioxide (which is poison to us).

That is more than enough about gardens and plants.

 The shabby chic, ruffled purse with flowers and rhinestones has been listed in our Etsy Store for $10.  Geez, a lot of work went into that purse.

This week food tents have been on my mind.  We are having company for the 4^th of July and plan to entertain under our Live Oak tree.  Years ago I purchased a food tent from Dollar Tree.  It opens like an umbrella but doesn’t have the rod down the middle.  The purpose is to keep insects off of food outdoors.  Since I plan on entertaining, and Dollar Tree no longer has food tents, I began an online search of food tents and patterns.  There were a few patterns.  Pinterest has a wealth of photographs of all kinds of food tents.  Now the decision is how to design the food tent(s).  We have our Cajun Stitchery canopy tent and the tables.  Do I want to design a large food tent for each table?  Or, do I want smaller food tents for each dish?  It would be nice for our guests to see the food in each tent.  Therefore, the tent needs to be transparent enough to see the food.  If clear plastic is used, the dish could be seen but moisture may accumulate.  Depending on the dish, that could be good or bad.  However, plastic may off gas.  Plastic is not an option.  Netting and/or tulle would work but could be too light and flimsy.  Fiberglass screen appears to be our best bet.  It should hold up fine outdoors and it is see through.  One pattern had a 6 inch bias tape edging the sides which looks really nice.  The tent and table clothes are royal blue, so a bright red edging would be nice.  The problem with the red edge is that I could not locate solid, bright red cotton fabric at Wal-Mart.  They had a red fabric that I almost bought but when I saw it in the light, it had more of pink look than bright red.  Now I’m considering blue jean fabric.  My scraps contain bunches of old blue jeans and denim is very sturdy.  I’m seriously thinking about the blue denim for the edge.  I am still pondering on the design.

Have a wonderful week.

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You know you are from Louisiana when you see something cute and say, “Aw sha.

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The Atakapa were the Native Americans living in what is now Southwest Louisiana:

Atakapa oral history says that they originated from the sea. An ancestral prophet laid out the rules of conduct.^[11]

The first European contact with the Atakapa may have been in 1528 by survivors of the Spanish Pánfilo de Narváez expedition. Two barges were blown ashore. One met the Karankawa, while the other probably landed on Galveston Island. The latter recorded meeting a group who called themselves the Han, who may have been the Akokisa.^[1]

In 1703, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the French governor of La Louisiane, sent three men to explore the coast west of the Mississippi River. The seventh nation they encountered were the Atakapa, who captured and cannibalized one member of their party.^[1] In 1714 this tribe was one of 14 who came to Jean-Michel de Lepinay, who was acting French Governor of Louisiana between 1717 and 1718,^[12] while he was fortifying Dauphin Island, Alabama.^[13]

The Choctaw told the French settlers about the "People of the West," who represented numerous subdivisions or tribes. The French referred to them as le sauvage. The name Atakapa is a Choctaw name meaning "people eater" (hattak 'person', apa 'to eat'),^[11] a reference to the practice of ritual cannibalism. The Gulf coast peoples practiced this on their enemies.

A French explorer, Francois Simars de Bellisle, lived among the Atakapa from 1719 to 1721.^[1] He described Atakapa cannibalistic feasts which he observed firsthand.^[14] The practice of cannibalism likely had a religious, ritualistic basis.

Found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atakapa_people

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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.