Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 16

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 16 – April 22, 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.

Tax season is over. Today is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. Of course, I’m making myself an Easter bonnet. I read that the Easter bonnet is the end of a tradition of getting new clothes for Easter. The reason is because Easter/Spring is when everything is new and therefore people would get new clothes for the season. I remember Mama dressing us up and getting Nancy and me a new Easter outfit. She loved to dress us up and I loved to dress up.

I was thinking about what kind of bonnet I wanted to make. You know I simply don’t run on the normal brain waves. I have wanted to make an Evangeline bonnet forever. I don’t think this is exactly an Evangeline bonnet but it certainly isn’t exactly what most people would consider an Easter bonnet, either. I’m still in the creating phase but need to finish the bonnet today. The bonnet is actually done, I’m just embellishing. The bonnet is made from some pink fabric that I have at the house. Then I took the 3 inch baby blue lace – remember when I bought a bolt of that lace – and, using my gathering foot, gathered the lace and attached it all the way around the bonnet. Then I took some rickrack that has all of the pastel colors in it and sewed under the bonnet where the lace stitching is and also another round of the rickrack on top where the seam connecting the lace is located. At that point, I wondered if I could hoop the round area in the back of the bonnet. I could. I hooped it and embroidered a bunny that says “Hoppy Easter” and then put the Cajun Stitchery logo underneath that, in hot pink and white. I need more of a 3D look than flat embroidery. Today I think I’m going to embroider some fringe flowers. To do this takes a special type of design, digitized for this purpose. You embroider the flower then trim the bobbin thread underneath and pull the satin stitches up to create a fringe. I’m not sure what else I will do to the bonnet but I’m pretty sure that no one else will have anything like it. Lol

This week I began a diaper stacker for my cousin Kim. I purchased the fabric and the embroidery designs that she chose. I cut out the pattern. I serged the edges. Now I need to get with Kim to find out where she wants the designs located on the diaper stacker.

Wednesday night my girls were looking at my cutwork t-shirt. Not sure but I think they liked it.

Tomorrow is also Earth Day, I believe. Please remember to Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. I certainly hope that everyone who reads Cajun Corner abides by the 3 Rs. If not, just think of one thing that you could do. What about putting your recycling in a separate container from your garbage? That is not difficult. Just put the containers side-by-side. If you live in a house, rather than having the garbage collectors pick up your grass clippings, leaves, etc.; just start a compost pile and let these things decompose. Or use them as mulch on your plants. There are many ways to Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. Please put forth an effort. It is important. Happy Earth Day:>)

The luggage tag sale last week was a success. This week, in honor of Earth Day, the sale will be cloth napkins. A set of 4 cloth napkins, 20” square, restaurant quality, whatever colors that we have in stock (ask me and I’ll let you know), with your monogram in one corner of each napkin for $18.00 (that is $4 per napkin, usually sells for $7 each).

The cabbage was delicious. There is only one left in the garden now. This week we have been eating blackberry cobbler. Remember that we set aside one corner of our property to let the blackberries grow? I am so glad we did. We have had cobbler twice this week, so far. There is enough out there for at least another cobbler and I use 3 cups of berries in each cobbler.

Well, I need to get back to my bonnet. Have a great 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.

Thank you, Sandy and Angelie, for sending the following joke:

Thibodeaux was driving along the interstate when he noticed Boudreaux wandering by the side of the road while holding his keychain out in front of him. Boudreaux was obviously intoxicated and Thibodeaux had to stop to see what was up.

He said "Boudreaux... Why you wandering with your car key sticking out in front of you... Mais cher... Where's your car?"

Boudreaux says: "I lost it... But the last time I saw it, it was on the end of dis key!"

Then Thibodeaux looks down and sees that Boudreaux's fly is open and his Johnson is sticking out in front of him.

Thibodeaux asks: "Boudreaux! Don't you see your pecker is sticking out!"

Boudreaux looks down and says...."I lost my girlfriend too?!!!"

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French Phrase of the Week: à votre santé (to your health)

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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. 15

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 15 – April 15, 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.

Wow! It’s April 15th. Hope everyone has finished with their income taxes.

It’s been kind of a slow week, so I’ve taken this opportunity to do things that I’ve put off. For instance, I tried out some new techniques on Boudreaux. Sweet.

I started out with a discovery that I had a rip in the seat of my jeans. When I began Cajun Stitchery, I told myself that my uniform would be a t-shirt and jeans. Why? Because for 36 years I dressed in suits and business clothing everyday and I hadn’t owned a pair of jeans for years. Now that I wear jeans everyday, I guess I wear them until they are thread bare. What to do with a rip in my jeans? Of course, I embroidered a design over the rip. What design? The design I chose was a big pair of bright red kissing lips.

Do you know what cutwork is? Cutwork is a type of embroidery where a satin stitch is used and a hole is intentionally cut into the fabric. The edges of the hole have a satin stitch so the fabric will not unravel. Cutwork is an ancient method of embroidery and very beautiful. I’m sure everyone has seen cutwork. Boudreaux did some cutwork on a tote bag and a t-shirt this week. It’s hard to tell that it’s cutwork because the background looks like stitches.

Then I began making luggage tags. Remember awhile back I made some luggage tags that I wasn’t very proud of. I think I threw those away. I found some luggage tag designs in my designs folders. The designs were not that great but they did give me an idea. I have a friend who is heading to California in May, so, I digitized a luggage tag for her that says “California or Bust”. It is adorable. That was pretty simple. Then I digitized the shape of a mermaid and made 5 purple, green and gold luggage tags in the shape of a mermaid with the word “Nereid” embroidered. I feel confident that I have the luggage tag thing down pat. In fact, for this week only, if anyone wants a personalized 2” by 4” luggage tag with their name or monogram, I’ll sell 3 for $10. I haven’t photographed the Nereid luggage tags yet.
One of our neighbors moved this week. My neighbor across the street that loves to bake for me is gone. He was such a sweet guy. Apparently the house is being sold. Pray that we get good neighbors.

The garden is flourishing. We had some cabbage this week and it was scrumptious. Some of the baby snapdragons are beginning to flower. The roses and irises are beautiful. Sassy the Satsuma and Lucy the Lemon have been covered in flowers. Even the hyssop has beautiful purple blossoms. The honeysuckle and the jasmine are blooming. And the blackberries are almost ready to pick.

A couple of wrens have lived in one of our camellia bushes for the past couple of years. They work very hard on their nest and this week, three tiny, fluffy wrens popped out of the bush. Mom and Dad seemed to be urging them to fly; or, just leave home. It was fascinating to watch the mom and dad work with the chicks. I’m proud to say they are good parents and very attentive to the babies. The first night, they stayed in a clump of leaves in our iron plant out front. I’m not sure where they are now. I think they may have finally flown the coup. We still see mom and dad occasionally at the camellia bush.

George has been working hard at the house next door. I think we can almost see the end of the kitchen. He has done the electrical work; built, installed and painted the upper cabinets and is now working on the bottom cabinets. Plumbing may be the next phase. I’m not looking forward to the plumbing. Why? Well, there is a story behind the plumbing. Many years ago when we lived in Orlando our plumbing went out. It was a nightmare. We would flush and the sinks and tub would fill up. It turned out that a tree root had grown into the drain pipe. George had to dig the pipe in the front yard to get to the root to remove it. The plumbing continued to have problems and since the house was on a concrete slab and the plumbing ran underneath the house, we had two choices: (1) break up the concrete slab through my house; or (2) redirect the plumbing around the house. We chose option number 2. Plumbers are very expensive and at the time we did not have the money. So, George and a friend decided to do it themselves. In the end, they did a wonderful job and all of the pipes were replaced with PVC. But this endeavor took a couple of weeks to complete because everyone had to work during the day. Between the mess at the house and the cussing from my husband, I packed up my children and lived with my in-laws until the plumbing was finished. At least I will not have to move if George does the plumbing next door but I do not want to hear the cussing. He has mellowed quite a bit from those days gone by, but I do not want to take the chance.

By the way, thank you to everyone who sent in jokes this past week. I will be using them, one a week.

I have not heard back from the customer about digitizing the logo for the new krewe. I did digitize another logo for Camp Happy Sands. They lady said that she loves the logo and will get with her board this weekend and let me know their decision. The logo is heavy in stitches and the small logo would cost about $20 each, plus the shirt. Embroidery is not cheap. I have told her that I would not charge for the digitizing. Camp Happy Sands is a non-profit that provides a week long camping experience for underprivileged children during the summer months. We shall see what she has to say next 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.

Thank you, Sandy, for sending the following joke:

Each Friday night after work, Bubba would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a venison steak.

But, all of Bubba's neighbors were Catholic.. And since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday.

The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest.

The Priest came to visit Bubba, and suggested that he become a Catholic.

After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass... and as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, 'You were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic.

Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of grilled venison filled the neighborhood.

The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors, and, as he rushed into Bubba's yard, clutching a rosary and prepared to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.

There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanted:

You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish.
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French Phrase of the Week: L'art de broderie (The art of embroidery)

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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 1 No 28

Cajun Corner – Vol. 1, No. 28 – DECEMBER 4, 2009
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
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One of my friends mentioned to me that it was unfair that I charge sales tax on the gift certificates and then when the recipient uses the gift certificate, another sales tax would be applied to that as well. I called our friendly Department of Revenue gal, Tracy, and sure enough I had been mistaken. Tracy explained to me that a gift certificate is basically exchanging cash for cash. I should not apply sales tax to the gift certificate. I am supposed to apply the sales tax when the gift certificate is redeemed. You learn something new everyday – at least, I do. Think about giving gift certificates, cash for cash. No taxes. And you have a lovely present that can be redeemed for something they really want. No guesswork involved.

The neighbors who invited us to the Thanksgiving Day festivities have three little Yorkies, Kizzie, Pogo, and Gigi. My neighbor and I decided a few months ago that I would make outfits for the dogs for their annual Christmas party. Last Saturday my neighbor and I went shopping for the fabric and embellishments. The instructions to me were to make the outfits as festive as possible. The total results are not in yet but what has been done is out of this world. I have discovered that I love making dog clothes. Mama would be so tickled because when I was a little girl she and I would make doll clothes all of the time. I usually put my doll clothes on the nearest cat.

Kizzie is the mama of Pogo. Pogo is about three times the size of little Kizzie. We purchased a cotton fabric with all of the colors of the rainbow for Kizzie’s outfit. The pattern we purchased for Kizzie was a regular dog coat with a hood.

Gigi is the smallest of the little Yorkies. We purchased a bride and groom pattern for Gigi’s and Pogo’s outfits. Since we do not actually want to end up with a wedding gown and tux, the fabric for Gigi’s dress is a pattern of blues resembling water. The fabric for Pogo’s tuxedo has a dark blue background with a sprinkling of stars.

As I write this issue of Cajun Corner, Kizzie’s and Gigi’s outfits are complete. Pogo got a coat with hood as a bonus. I still need to finish Pogo’s tuxedo. The reason Pogo gets the extra outfit is that I confused the dogs and thought the coat went to Pogo. By the time I realized my error, I simply finished the coat for Pogo. There was plenty of fabric. Always buy more fabric than needed for any project. As Mama would say, “en tout cas” (just in case).

The pretty rainbow fabric was used on Kizzie’s coat with hood. I covered some webbing with the fabric to make the belt. The belt is secured onto the dog via Velcro dots. That’s the basic pattern. Then we embellished. My neighbor had purchased a couple of bags of a variety of colors of some pom poms with metallic strands. The pom poms were sewn onto the back where the belt was sewn onto the coat. Pom poms were also applied around the edge of the hood. I then took some thin, red satin ribbon and made a chain of tiny bows and sewed those around the pom poms on the edge of the hood. My neighbor had also purchased the thin satin ribbon in every color in the fabric. I took long strands of each of those ribbon colors and made a simple bow with long tails and attached the bow at the point of the hood. Then I sewed more pom poms on top of the bow, onto the point of the hood. Pom poms were also applied to the end of each tail of the bow. Talk about festive!

At this point, I brought Kizzie’s and Pogo’s coats for the first fitting. They fit but were a bit tight. You simply never want your projects to be uncomfortable. I added a gusset under the neck of each of the coats and at the second fitting they fit perfectly.

Gigi’s dress was the next project. Although we purchased white lace, I already had a bunch of 3” baby blue lace that matched the fabric. The dress is secured at the chest area with Velcro dots. It has arm holes for the front legs, no sleeves, no collar, and then the skirt attaches to the bodice. I trimmed and gathered the blue lace for around the neck area, the arm holes, and the bottom of the skirts, and attached. My neighbor had purchased some very pretty white satin with pearls trim which I applied around the neck and waist. My neighbor also purchased a few cards of tiny lavender and white roses. I sewed the tiny roses sporatically over the skirt. The final touch was two (one pink and one aqua) medium sized rhinestone buttons which were sewn onto the bodice back. Voila! The dress fit perfectly at the first fitting.

The only outfit remaining is Pogo’s tuxedo. The pattern is for an extra small dog. Pogo is large for a Yorkie, about the size of one of my full grown cats, maybe a tad larger. I will have to re-size the pattern to fit Pogo. In addition, the tuxedo pattern has more pattern pieces than either of the finished outfits. The tuxedo will take a bit of time to complete. At least, they each have an outfit to wear now.

Garters still need to be done. When the Saints won last week’s game against the Patriots, it became apparent that Saints garters would be in demand. I’m sure we could sell a lot of those. I have to be so careful not to cross over the copyright line. I decided to do garters saying “The Saints Are Marching In,” but I’m still hesitant about the use of the “Saints” name, even if it’s not “Who Dat” or some other associated phrase. I think I will simply embroider a gold fleur de lis on a black garter. George saw someone with a fleur de lis embroidered on the back of their jacket, except the fleur de lis was upside down. What does that mean? If anyone knows, please let me know.

Christmas orders are still coming in. Everyone seems to want the little personalized tote. We have a bunch of the totes in stock. The tote with a name or initials embroidered for $5.00 plus tax. Order them while we still have the totes. They make such a unique and personalized gift container.

The Mardi Gras orders are beginning to come in. We can do the Mardi Gras (purple, green and gold) garters with your krewe name for $10 each. Each garter is hand made by me.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.
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One day Boudreaux walked into Thibodaux's house & asked him may what's that in ya front yard?? Thibodaux said "may it a helicopter." Boudreaux says "may a helicopter. What it do?" Thibodaux say "come see I show ya." They walk in the yard. Thibodaux gets in and takes off strait up into the clouds. After a while Boudreaux hears a loud noise and Thibodaux and helicopter come crashing down. So Boudreaux walks around and finds Thibodaux laying on da ground all cut-up. Boudreaux asks "may Thibodaux what happen? " Thibodoux say "may Boudreaux I was going up in dat helicopter der and it got cold so I turned off the fan!!!!!!" :)

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French phrase of the week: pelote (n.f.) [PLAWT] ball. jouer à la pelote to play ball.

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Reprinted from www.nationalgeographic.com

For many, Christmas wouldn't be the same without a live, fragrant Christmas tree in their home. Today nearly all of the trees sold at seasonal Christmas-tree lots are grown on tree farms. So forests aren't hurt by choosing a cut tree, said Jeff Olson, the vice-president of marketing and development for American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation nonprofit.

While potted trees might seem like a green option, they often don't fare well in unseasonably warm homes. "The last thing you want to do is bring it into the house," Olson said. He plans to get a potted tree this year and keep it outside for the holidays.

Artificial trees, he noted, consume significant energy and petroleum-based materials during their manufacture.

But Lilienfeld, the Use Less Stuff co-author, noted that a one-time purchase of an artificial tree can save gas otherwise used for annual trips to the local tree farm.

Please let me know if there is something that you would like to see in the weekly email. You may always call me at (850) 261-2462 or email me at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com.

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.

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 new catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.