Cajun Corner – Vol.
5, No. 27 – July 13, 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:
What a week this has been.
First, our water heater died. That was okay because we could go next door
for hot water. We tried that and the
other water heater had something wrong with it because we hadn’t used it often
enough. George spent the day learning
what to do on the internet and draining and pouring peroxide and draining, etc. It was an ordeal. Finally we had hot water next door. We called our handyman and he said he’d get
with us sometime the first of the week.
Well, Friday George called him.
He apologized and promised to get back with us on Monday. Wow!
Thank goodness we have the hot water from next door. I’d hate to think what we would have done if
we didn’t have next door.
Then I found out that one of my friends had a
stroke. Another friend’s uncle passed
away. Yet another is on Hospice. I am kind of happy this week is coming to a
close because my head is swimming with all of this.
While working the other day, I found that I
needed a place to put laundry. I made a
simple laundry bag big enough for my needs, about 24” wide and 36” tall. I embroidered the word “Laundry” and added a
few related designs. Then I began
putting laundry into the bag. I started
thinking that this might be a cute idea for a gift and began searching on the
internet for laundry bags. Come to find
out they are hot items for students going away to college. That makes sense. There are laundry bags with monograms, names,
school names, and all sorts of designs.
I thought about getting more input on this idea and so I asked some of
my friends on Facebook. They loved the
idea. Then the search began for cute
sayings to embroider on the bag.
Finally, the next bag was embroidered with “This Home Has Endless Love
and Laundry” with little red hearts around the “Love” and clothes on a line
around “Laundry.” It really turned out
cute. Then I made another plain laundry
bag and timed myself. Since then a few
blank laundry bags have been made. The
one with This Home Has Endless Love and Laundry is for sale at our Etsy
store. The cost is $30 which is in the
ballpark of the other embroidered laundry bags that are on the internet. The plain laundry bag is also for sale at our
Etsy store with the option of your choice of embroidery. Lots of people have been looking at it but so
far no one has purchased. It is such a
unique idea for a gift not only for a student going away to college, but also
for newlyweds, or a house warming gift.
The plain laundry bags are like a blank canvas ready for the
artwork. The plain bag is $15.00, plus
the cost of whatever embroidery you choose.
The embroidery can be, and should be, very large because the space is
available. A 12” tall design is
definitely doable and would cover 1/3 of the bag. The white fabric that is used is made in the USA , as is the thread, and since I made it, the
whole bag is made in the USA
We completed an order this week for a young lady
who rides horses and competes in barrel racing.
She and her mom came over and her design and name were embroidered on a
few shirts.
Most of this week was spent digitizing a huge
design that is 45 inches wide by 30-something inches tall. It is magnificent but cannot be shared
here. Next is stitching out pieces of
the design and tweaking the stitches. It
is a very exciting project.
Don’t forget the flour sack towels with the little
mermaids on them. They are $15
each. There is one for sale in our Etsy
store. More can be made. Get ‘em while they are hot.
We embroidered a beautiful wedding runner with
the name of the bride and groom, and the wedding date. It will go on their sweetheart table at the
reception.
Usually July is the month to begin bringing out
the Christmas items to sell. It is
Christmas in July. However, I think we
will wait a bit for all of the Christmas embroidery. I just cannot get my head around the year
being half over.
Poor George keeps trying to mow the lawn in
between the rain. Each time it rains he
has to wait until the grass dries out before he can continue mowing. Today he got half of one of the back yards
mowed before the rain came. Now he has
to wait. By the time he finishes mowing
the lawns, he’ll have to begin again.
Such is life in Florida Orlando
As I was picking up around the house next door, I
ran across a couple of pieces of wood strips that we had used for hanging
orders. Instead of hanging orders on
them, I screwed in some cup hooks and hung some of our hats, totes, towels, and
other wares for display purposes. Cajun
Stitchery needs to start displaying our items in the house. This has already paid off. Customers this week were able to see samples
of our embroidery and refer to them when placing their order.
I was going to include directions for How to Make
a Pillow in this issue. The directions
that I saw on the internet were all so complicated that it even confused
me. So, I decided to write my own
directions. It reminds me of my Mama and
her chicken feather pillows. I believe I
have written the story before of Mama making a large body pillow out of ticking
that we would fill with the feathers in all of the other pillows in the house. Then she would make new pillows out of
ticking and re-use the feathers. As we
unpack all of Mama’s belongings, we’ve found a bunch of pillows. None of the pillows have chicken feathers,
though. You can tell that she made just
about all of the pillows. The little
throw pillows that she made are stuffed with squares of foam rubber to fit the
pillow. Most of them are not stuffed
tight. I found myself taking some of
them apart the other day and combining the foam into one pillow for a tighter,
fuller look and realized that I am my mother.
I’m just waiting to find the pillow full of scrap fabric. We never threw away even the smallest scrap
because that would be used to stuff something.
Have a wonderful week
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HOW TO MAKE A PILLOW
Cut 2 pieces of fabric the same
size and shape as the front of the pillow you want to make.
Finish the edges of the cut
fabric piece by serging the edges or applying some method of finishing
edges.
With right sides together,
stitch ½” or 5/8” around the entire shape leaving a 3 or 4” opening. Clip the corners and curves and fill with
polyester pillow fill. Leave the entire
short side open if you plan to fill with a fitted piece of foam.
Once filled, stitch the opening
closed either by hand or using your sewing machine.
Voila! You have just made a pillow. Depending on the fabric used, you should be
able to wash the pillow.
Of course, to keep the pillow
clean, put it in a pillowcase and/or sham.
Preferably put the pillow in a beautifully embroidered pillowcase and/or
sham. If the pillow is a throw pillow,
no additional covering is required.
Cajun Stitchery
(850) 261-2462
P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at
all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.
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