Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 8 – February 25, 2011
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
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Don’t forget to visit our catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.
This week has been absolutely gorgeous. The sun has been shining. The weather has been in the 70’s. The birds are chirping. And my dog, Evie, has been lying in the sun. Life is good.
Speaking of birds chirping, we did have one incident this week. One of my neighbors called because a bird fell out of the sky and was just sitting in front of her. I went over and picked up the dove and the poor little thing had a puncture wound to its chest. I know that I have seen hawks soaring overhead all week and can only imagine that a hawk or other bird of prey attacked and lost its grip, dropping the little dove to the ground. The dove was not dead. In fact, it was walking and seemed to want to fly but could not. Our neighbor finally took it to the emergency vet since it was after hours for the Wildlife Sanctuary. The story does not end there. My neighbor was told that doves, this was a mourning dove, mate for life and if the mate doesn’t find this dove, he will die. How awful is that!
It is peculiar that there are animals that mate for life. You would think that after one of them passes away the other would just live alone or find another mate. That is not the case. They literally mate for life and if one goes, the other isn’t far behind. Then, of course, you have other animals that do not mate for life.
All of this reminds me of a story. When we lived in Orlando, I had a beautiful tabby cat. Mandy was her name. As with all of our animals, we take them to the vet and have them spayed/neutered as soon as possible. With house cats, we also have them declawed and de-sprayed. Poor little Mandy was de-everything. When cats are declawed, the vet only takes out the front claws and leaves the hind claws in tact. Mandy loved to sneak out of the house and climb trees and whatnot. One day we saw her walking up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. Her little hips were swishing to and fro. We figured that she was the local kitty hooker because she knew she couldn’t get pregnant. And the tom cats would come. One day she came home and I guess her pimp had gotten angry with her because her throat was sliced all the way across but it wasn’t deep enough to cause massive blood loss. Of course, I was hysterical. That is my way. I cleaned her up and bandaged her and I must have rocked that kitty in my rocker for a month. She survived. That cat lived until she was 18 years old. She moved with us from Orlando, to Georgia, to Pensacola before she died a happy, old, hooker cat.
Speaking of hookers, the design that I have been using for the Nereid birthday presents this year is what I call the Hooker Mermaid. I love stitching this design. On the birthday towels that I’ve been embroidering, she is a full 9 inches tall. For my girls, she must bling, and so her mer-gown is done using Mylar. I use an appliqué background of different simple designs. I’ve used a star, fleur de lis, and other shapes, and then the embroidered Hooker Mermaid is embroidered on top. The towels really are beautiful. At least I think so.
I’m closing shop a bit early today, like last week, so that I can get out to the beach for dance practice and working o the costume committee. It’s hard to imagine that our parade is a week from Sunday. It seems so soon and yet this has been a very long Mardi Gras season.
One of my neighbors just called because he heard there is a Mardi Gras parade on the beach tomorrow and he thought our parade was next week. I had to explain that tomorrow is the Kids and Kritters parade on the beach. The kids from the beach school dress up in costume and parade around the pavilion, throwing beads and having a great time. Then everyone brings their dogs, cats, or whatever all dressed in Mardi Gras attire. There are contests and just a lot of kid friendly fun. We took Miss Stinky one year. We had her professionally groomed and I made her a costume and embroidered “Mer-Mute” on the side. It was a lot of fun. Of course, Miss Stinky is too old now and I would never take Evie. Evie is my precious baby – but, apparently, she’s not everyone’s precious baby. She can get agitated from time to time. Its better that she stays at home.
The Krewe of Sirens patches are done and have gone to committee. I’m waiting to hear back from them.
In the meantime, my Mermaid Sharon and I are working on patches for Studio 98. I love making patches and they really are sensible. You can glue or sew them wherever you like without having to purchase a garment. Of course, I think embroidery directly on a garment, like a shirt, for instance, looks better. But I have to admit, there are so many things you can do with a patch. Remember designer pockets? Just glue the patch around 3 sides and you have a pocket. I’ve been making Mylar Fleur De Lis patches for George to decorate his Mardi Gras hat.
There are some new scarves in our Etsy store. One of them has rhinestones. Bling!
Somehow I have ended up with a couple of extra black satin jackets. One is light lined, XL and the other is quilted. If anyone is interested in them, let me know.
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Thanks to Marshall Larrivere for the following:
"Wow," Boudreaux thought as he flew down I-10, pushing the pedal even more..
Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a State Trooper, blue lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for dis!" and pulled over to wait for the trooper.
Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked up to Boudreaux. He looked at his watch, then said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a new reason for speeding--a reason I've never before heard -- I'll let you go."
Boudreaux paused then said: "Tree years ago, my wife, Marie, she ran off with a State Trooper. I tought you were bringing her back.
"Have a good day, Sir," replied the trooper.
Did you know:
Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish.
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French Phrase of the Week: J'ai la fièvre printanière. (I have spring fever.) ===============================================
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.
S A L E
Zebra Pillowcase (F100AZEB) -- $12.00 each
You'll love the soft feel of our flannel pillowcases! Standard full sized 18" x 31"
Now that we've taken a look at last year's booth, we need to make some corrections for this year's booth. The table cloths are history. I would like matching floor length table cloths but in lieu of that, I purchased 2 white, plastic tablecloths from the dollar store. The only problem with that is now you will be able to see under the tables where the boxes are kept. Nevertheless, it cannot look as bad as last year. We are also going to place the tables differently. We are going to put them in a way, probably an L, so that the customer can come further under the canopy. I have purchased some baskets to put little things, like patches, into to keep some order on the tables.
When I went to my first arts and craft festival, a friend warned me not to have too many different items. Pick out 5 or 6 items and make lots of those items. I think she was right. I tend to just put everything out there and it becomes confusing and messy. This year we are going to offer (1) caps for $10 or $12, (2) Christmas stockings for $20, (3) can wraps for $7-$10, (4) patches for $5-$7, (5) fingertip towels for $10, and (6) little scrapbook appliques for 2 for $1.
