Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 8

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 8 – March 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.

Is it Friday already? 

It was March 3, 2009, when I went down to the tax office and got myself a business license and filed for our Fictitious Name with the State of Florida.  March is Cajun Stitchery’s anniversary month.  Cajun Stitchery has survived three years and we are not out of business yet.

The first thing we have done to celebrate Cajun Stitchery’s anniversary is to purchase a new (used) embroidery machine.  Yes, this will be our second machine.  The new machine, an Amaya, is MADE IN THE USA.  The Amaya’s are the only commercial embroidery machines made in the USA.  There are a lot of really cool things this machine does that our older SWF machine does not.  Nothing that would probably interest this audience but it sure makes us happy.  Instead of a 12 needle machine, this is a 16 needle machine.  That means that we can put 16 different colored spools of thread on this machine at one time and stitch out a design with 16 different colors.  The old machine is limited to 12 needles.  Although 12 needles are not bad, 16 needles are better.  The top speed of our SWF machine is the same as most commercial embroidery machines, 1200 spm (stitches per minute).  The Amaya’s top speed is 1500 spm.  Not to mention that the Amaya has automatic tensioning.  With two machine working for Cajun Stitchery, we can take on twice the number of jobs and size of jobs.  If one machine breaks, for some reason, we will have the other to continue working while the broken machine is repaired.  There are a lot of reasons.  Happy Birthday, Cajun Stitchery.

Our new Amaya should arrive this coming Monday via our embroidery tech friend from Orlando.  The following two days will be training, with and without wine, for both George and me on our new machine.  Right now the old SWF machine will be placed in the living room until the house next door is finished.  The SWF still purrs like a kitten and embroiders beautifully.  So, we will be cramped for space for a little while.  It is worth it. 

Aside from the new machine, I went into our Etsy Store and reduced some prices so that there is nothing in the Etsy Store over $20.  Please visit our Etsy Store and browse around.

George and I are also planning to visit our son and his family in Tampa later this month.  Shernise, our daughter-in-law, is graduating with her RN degree.  I cannot tell you how proud we are of her.  We will be there for her pinning.  She said that she didn’t want to bother with the actual pinning ceremony.  My friends who are RN’s have all told me that they felt the same way but went through the pinning ceremony nevertheless.  In retrospect, all agree that the pinning ceremony is a memory that each of them cherish.  Now I have to figure out a really good gift for her.

Now that the Mardi Gras festivities are over, I had time to attend my WBL meeting today.  I didn’t realize how much I missed those wonderful girls.  I have already set up a meeting with one of the girls who represents Wines For Humanity.  That is the name of the company and pretty much sums up what she does.  I have often said that some day I am going to have a party at my house with Wines For Humanity and our Dove Chocolate lady.  You know that will be a good time.

I have also agreed to have a booth at the Power Link Small Business Conference & Expo at the University of West Florida on April 27 and 28, 2012.  This should be a fun time to meet others in business and determine how we can help each other’s business.

This week has also been consumed writing a fictional story for my krewe.  These annual post-Mardi Gras stories have become a tradition.  They are as zany and outlandish as my imagination will allow.  Someday I may even start another blog for my fictional stories.  I do love to write.

I made a cute dance bag this week.  In retrospect, I probably didn’t glam it up enough but my main reason was to see if I could sew a presentable round bag.  It is really neat because once you unzip it, you see that it is lined in gold lame.  It is blinding.   It is in our Etsy Store for sale.

I’m working on a long scarf right now.  I have a large piece of navy blue, stretch lace fabric that I’ve never used for anything because it is so pretty.  I decided to make a long scarf.  The scarf is 108”.  That is 3 yards, and about 20”-25” wide.  I’m still playing with it.  Since the lace itself is a design and it is so light, I really don’t want to embroider on it.  I have attached some colorful eyelash yarn to the ends and may attach more.  I am just not sure where I’m going with it at this point.

We’ve also embroidered several scrubs for the beautiful ladies at Bloom Spa.

I did have a situation where a lady contacted me for a lap handkerchief a/k/a lap scarf.  She wanted it 30”x30”.  The purpose was to lay the scarf on her lap and cover her knees and legs at church.  Sorry, but I’ve never heard of such a thing.  After doing a Google search for lap handkerchiefs, I found that there are actual stores that specialize in them.  I made one to sell in our Etsy Store.  Take a look.

George showed me a painting of a mermaid and merman entwined that he liked.  So, I digitized it.  I even made myself a scarf with the design.

It has been a busy week and I hope everything remains busy because I truly love what I do for a living.  Please let me know if there is anything you need that might require embroidery.  And remember you do not need to order embroidery if you want something out of our catalogs or through our wholesalers.  We can still get it for you.  Just ask.

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. 

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Thanks to Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Down in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana , Boudreaux gets a job with BP helping with the cleanup.

He reports for work and is told to speak to a supervisor about his assignment.
He finds the man and asks, "What it is I suppose to do?"
The supervisor tells him to go to the animal shelter and clean the pelicans.

Two hours later, Boudreaux comes up to the supervisor and says,

"Okay. Dey all cleaned. You want me to cook some rice?"

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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.

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 30

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 30 – July 29, 2011

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, catalog at www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook.

Another week without my girls.  Wednesday night I got in my car to go and the Power Pup died.  No fear.  George went out the following morning and installed a new battery and the car is fine now.  But I did miss my girls for the second week in a row.  Tonight is our monthly Nereid meeting and I cannot wait.  In fact, I may be taking some homemade hummus with me.

George and I love beans.  Beans don’t always love us.  Nevertheless, I was looking in the cupboard the other day and I saw a bag of chick peas.  I began cooking them as I would any other dried bean.  Hours and hours went by and they still were not soft.  That is when I decided to look up how to prepare chick peas a/k/a garbanzo beans.  I always thought they were a Mexican bean but apparently chick peas originally come from the Mediterranean area.  Hummus, that wonderful dip, is made from chick peas.  Then I looked up recipes for hummus, just to make sure.  Sure enough, chick peas and some spices and you have hummus.

Another discovery was that chick peas have a nutty taste.  They are delicious and George mentioned that they taste similar to boiled peanuts.  So, we began eating them like boiled peanuts.  We have a new snack food at our house now.  They are wonderful.

The idea of hummus remained in the back of my mind.  After we had our fill of chick peas, I decided to try making hummus to share with the girls tonight.  I located a recipe called “Quick and Easy Hummus.”  Oh, that is for me.  The only thing better would be “Hummus for Dummies.”  The recipe seemed straight forward enough.  Get a can of chick peas.  I had leftovers and they didn’t come in a can but that shouldn’t be a problem.  Put the chick peas, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of cumin, 3 cloves of garlic, and 2 oz of fresh sliced jalapeno pepper in a food processor or blender.  I have two food processors.  One is a little baby one and the other is the big one.  I thought I would use the little baby one.  I put about half of the chick peas in the baby food processor and started processing.  That worked very well.  I added the lemon juice, cumin, and used garlic powder instead of cloves of garlic.  That worked well.  It just so happens that we are growing jalapenos in the garden.  The recipe did say “fresh.”  I picked a fresh jalapeno right off the plant, took the seeds out and sliced the jalapeno.  I don’t know what 2 oz of jalapeno looks like, so I added the whole jalapeno to the chick pea mixture and cranked up the food processor.  I guess I should have processed the peppers first because they weren’t really getting chopped up well.  I poured everything into a bowl and began fishing out the pieces of pepper and some of the chick peas that hadn’t been processed completely.  All of that went back into the food processor.  It looked pretty dry.  The recipe did say to add 2 tablespoons full of the juice in the can.  I didn’t have a lot of juice; so, I just poured what I had into the mixture and processed some more.  Still had a dickens of a time chopping those jalapenos, but they were getting smaller and smaller.  Now was the time to taste.  It tasted wonderful, like a spicy hummus.  Then my mouth began to catch fire.  Apparently our fresh jalapenos are super hot.  My girls will never stand for something that spicy.  So, I added the rest of the chick peas and began processing those to reduce the heat of the pepper.  Now I had too much hummus to fit into the little food processor.  I ended up taking out the big, supersonic blender.  I bought this blender for George when I was working and he was cooking dinner and taking care of Mama.  This was his dream blender.  We have only used that blender once or twice since I bought it.  Here was our chance to use it again.  The blender did the trick.  I did add a tablespoon of water because the hummus was kind of dry.  Adding the extra chick peas did the trick.  It is still spicy but oooo la la is it good, cher.  It is chilling in the fridge right now.  I sure hope I don’t forget to take it tonight.

I mentioned the supersonic blender.  I have learned that men, specifically George, like power everything.  Several years back, George bought a shop vac.  I loved that vacuum cleaner.  It did wet/dry vacuuming.  The filter was a sponge, so I didn’t have to constantly pick up filters at the store.  It was easy to just dump the canister when it was full.  There was enough power to do the job fast and clean.  I was happy. Then one day my shop vac died.  George bought me a new one.  When he brought it in, I could see the pride in his eyes.  He knew he purchased the most perfect vacuum cleaner in the world for me.  However, his joy was not necessarily reciprocated by me.  The canister had to be capable of holding every piece of dirt in my house for 50 years.  The thing was huge and much too big for me to maneuver through my little house.  Who would want to disappoint George?  More than the size, he was proud of the powerful suction.  I turned it on and I could have sucked everything from my utility shed into the thing without leaving my kitchen.  The hose was much too big for my little hands to hold and when turned on, I was at the mercy of where the hose wanted to go, rather than vice versa.  That was the most powerful vacuum cleaner I have ever seen.  He returned it to the store and bought me something much more manageable.  So, when I say I bought George a supersonic blender.  It was the most powerful blender on the market at the time.

This week I embroidered and appliquéd a design onto one of the white beach towels.  I am so pleased with these towels.  The mermaid design turned out beautifully.  The customer plans to give this as a gift to her daughter.

I realized that the Pensacola Beach Arts and Wine Festival is just a couple of months away.  I began creating pot holders.  In my cache of embroidery designs, there are some in-the-hoop pot holders.  Once these were stitched out I realized they were too small.  Yes, they could be used as pot holders but I like a bigger pot holder.  So, I measured my favorite pot holder and began digitizing my own in-the-hoop pot holder.  We had several tries that failed, but in the end the pot holder was created.

Have I ever told the story of the pot holders?  Pot holders were the first thing that Mama taught me to sew.  She would take a bottom piece of fabric and a top piece of fabric.  In the middle she would put scrap fabric until she got the thickness she desired.  Then she would take the entire sandwich of fabric and quilt it by sewing straight lines at even intervals and then turning the fabric and more lines, forming squares.  The edges would be trimmed and bias tape applied to the edges, leaving a loop at one corner for hanging the pot holder on a hook.  That’s simple enough.  To do that on an embroidery machine is not so simple.  Scrap fabric can be used but only if the layer of fabric covers the area of the pot holder.  Rather than bias tape, our pot holder has a satin stitched edge.  Some of our pot holders have a ribbon or fabric loop, some do not.  Of course, with the embroidery machine, we can do plain quilting, but also add some beautiful embroidered designs, as well as personalize the pot holder.   Some of the designs have some intense embroidery on them with lots of stitching.  Right now, though, I am thinking about selling for $8 each.  They would make great gifts, especially when personalized to say (Name)’s Kitchen or something like that.

SALE:  One of my wholesalers is having a closeout sale on this shirt.  The sale is good until they are out of stock.  They are completely out of the colors but do have white remaining.  I can sell these for $12, plus shipping.  It is a good deal and would make a nice present for any guy.  These are going fast.  If you want one let me know ASAP and I’ll check the wholesaler’s stock for you.  See attached photo.

JC514 Jonathan Corey Birdseye Herringbone Golf

• 6.4 oz. 100% combed, ring-spun cotton
• Tipped birdseye collar & welt cuffs
• Three woodtone buttons
• Extended tail with side vents

Color:  White/burgundy

Sizes:  S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

Color:  White/khaki

Sizes:  S, M, 3X

Color:  White/Royal

Sizes:  S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

Color:  White/Spruce

Sizes:  S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Unbelievable, I know.  But it is July.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

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 following is taken from http://www.terriau.org/bayou/bayu27.htm#TOP

ON THE BAYOU

Barefoot, I walked along the edge of the bayou
Where the child I had been, ran and laughed and played.
The cushiony emerald green grass I trod on
Tickled my feet and made my heart smile.

The old hickory tree was still there, brave and tall,
And small clouds floated above it, standing out
Like swatches of cotton against the denim sky,
The golden sun completed the heavenly picture.

A passing boat disturbed the water and its wake
Sent ripples of gold-brown water to the shore,
With little fingers reaching out to bathe and tickle
My tired and aching naked toes.

I saw again the other shore where long ago,
I gathered berries and climbed trees to pick muscadines.
I saw the heavy vines we used to swing out over the bayou
And let go just at the right moment to drop into the water.

The little rustic house I lived in when I was young,
No longer stands. Someone built a car-wash right where Grandpa's garden was,
And the State put in a new road and built a new bridge
Right where I used to tie up my little pirogue.

There is one thing no one can ever change, though.
No matter where I go or where I've been
No matter what I've done, no matter the places I've seen,
The bayou will always be the home I hold in my heart.

~MizMo

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Cajun French Phrase of the Week:

Avoir= To have
Cajun says
J'ai=I have
T'as= You have
Il a= He has
Elle a=She has
On a =We have
Vous autres a= you have plural
Ils ont=They have
Eux autres a= they have
Eusse a=They have

Taken from:  http://www.acadian-roots.com/cajun-names.html

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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.