Happy Cinco de Mayo

I missed posting on Monday. We've just been engulfed (no pun intended) with news of the oil spill, cleaning up beaches, and taking care of anything we can pre-landfall. Then there are all of the issues about BP. We started out questioning the integrity of BP to handle the cleanup. Yes, we are skeptical. We've been through Hurricane Ivan and know how underhanded big business can be. We'll see what happens.

Back to embroidery. With all of the concern over the oil spill, and knowing that I need to practice digitizing, I created the Black Tide 2010 design.

As you know, I'm just learning digitizing. I digitized the pelican from a photograph that we had taken from the local Wildlife Sanctuary. Not very life like, but I was pleased that it turned out this well. I put the design on Facebook and only had one response from a lady who did not like it. I asked why but never received a reply. I don't know if she didn't like the digitizing, the theme, or what. If the design brought sad emotions and that's why she didn't like it. That is a good thing. It means that the artwork pulled those emotions. If she felt the design was simply ugly and not a good design, that is a totally different thing and I would need to go back to the drawing board and learn more on art and digitizing.

We were contacted by a gentleman who is a barber and wants his name on the front of his smock and a design on the back. He wanted the design to be electric clippers and a pair of scissors and sent photographs of what he wanted. I spent most of Monday going through stock designs putting together the design for him. He didn't like it. He said it looked too cartoonish and again sent the pictures. We have no stock designs for what he wanted, so I digitized it. He loved it. He's going to purchase a new smock and bring it to me for the embroidery.

Last week we had an order for a set of pillowcases. The hem on the pillowcases is 3" and the customer requested an "L" in the English font, 3" high. She had to settle on 2.5" because 3" on the hem would have gone off the bottom and looked bad. Sure. Ask me how I know. Because we did one and ended up scrapping it. Nevertheless, the pillowcases turned out lovely.

All of that compost and fertilizer that we put in the garden really paid off. The garden is the prettiest one since we've been gardening. It's so lush.

I love playing in the garden!

Cajun Corner Vol. 2, No. 17

Cajun Corner – Vol. 2, No. 17 – may 1, 2010

Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit http://www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com/ often.

April 22nd was Earth Day. A week later we are worried about a huge oil spill that threatens our environment, our livelihood, and our way of life. By the way, sea turtle hatching on Pensacola Beach begins today. The good news is that Pensacola is preparing for it now. They are gathering names and contact information for volunteers. If you want to do something now, then clean up the beaches. It’s easier to remove the oil from the beaches if they are clean. So, get out there and pick up any debris that isn’t sand and get it off the beaches. Think of it like sifting a huge kitty litter box.

We did get the screws for the cap sash in this week but we’ve been so busy this week that we haven’t had time to work on that. We will get to it.

Last Sunday evening I decided to check the Etsy site before going to bed. It’s a good thing because we sold 2 handkerchiefs. It was so exciting. Someone in Michigan wanted to purchase something I made. Wow! First thing Monday morning that package was in the mail.

We did a lot of designing this week for various jobs. Who would have thought that frogs would be so popular? Apparently, they are. Right now I’m trying to work on a design for t-shirts about the impending oil slick. I posted on Facebook asking people to let me know their ideas about this design. One lady suggested a broken heart with tears. Another suggested words: “Big sleasy greasy bussiness sucks...now the leak is out !!!” I’d like to see something a bit more positive. If you have ideas, please send them to me.

By contrast, the garden is simply lush. We eat fresh salads almost every evening. In fact, we have so much lettuce that I’ve been taking salads to events where I would usually just bring a bag of chips. We have tiny green tomatoes on our plants. The onions are ready to harvest. I can’t wait until the lilies bloom. Those plants are full of buds.

We post periodically throughout the week. Become a “friend” on the blog and never miss a post.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

A very drunk patron at a bar is trying to impress everyone with his fighting ability. "I am trained in every hand-to-hand combat there is," he says. To further prove his point, he walks up to Boudreaux, who happened to be in the bar, and whops him behind the neck! "Karate chop from China," he says. Poor Boudreaux gets up off the floor and sits back in his seat, saying nothing. The big man hits him again. "Judo from Japan." L'il ol' Boudreaux once again picks himself up off the floor and continues sipping his beer. The man grabs him putting Boudreaux in a state of suspended animation. "That's a nerve pinch from Korea." After a few minutes, Boudreaux is able to move again. Instead of getting back on his bar stool he walks out. Ten minutes later he walks in with a large board in his hands and hits the drunk square in the head with the board, laying him flat out on the floor. Looking down at his tormenter, Boudreaux says, "Two-by-four from Home Depot."

ΘΘΘΘΘ

French phrase of the week: Si c'est pas les maringouins, c'est les chaboulures. (There'salways something wrong. If it's not one thing, it's another.)

ΘΘΘΘΘ

From: http://www.oilgoneeasy.com/oil_spill_blog/index.php/oil-spill-cleanup-2

Any major oil spill causes great environmental damage. The oil spill that took place on the San Francisco Bay in 2007 resulted in spillage of 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel from the container ship Cosco Busan.

But what makes the San Francisco Oil Spill unusual, is the oil spill cleanup technique that was adopted. A group of volunteers cleaned San Francisco’s beaches using unconventional products, namely human hair and mushrooms.Though unconventional, it is an organic and eco-friendly way of cleaning up oil spills.

Hair is a natural absorbent that soaks oil very well. In the San Francisco Oil Spill, masses of matted hair the size of a doormat were used to soak up oil. (These mats are woven from human hair donated by salons.) After the visible effect in the San Francisco oil spill, others have also started using these for cleaning up oil spills

You must be wondering where mushrooms come into the picture in this whole process. Oyster mushrooms have the power to convert toxic oil to compost. In the San Francisco oil spill, once the hair mats had soaked up the oil, oyster mushrooms were layered between these mats. In about 12 weeks, these mushrooms not only absorbed but turned these oil-soaked mats into non-toxic compost.

The success of using hair and mushrooms in the San Francisco oil spill cleanup calls for more such innovative, cost-effective, and eco-friendly techniques of cleaning oil spills. One such eco-friendly technique that has proved to be effective in oil spill cleanup is bioremediation technology.

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 catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

SALE OF THE WEEK (Good through Thursday, May 6, 2010)

BULK SALE: 10 tank tops for $10 each. Does not include embroidery.

Fruit of the Loom - #2930Heavy Cotton™ Tank TopColors: Ash, athletic heather, Columbia blue, j. navy, orange, royal blue, true red, white.

5.6 oz. 100% cotton (ash is 98% cotton/2% polyester, athletic heather is 90% cotton/10% polyester). Double-needle cover stitching on self-jersey trim on neck & armholes. Double-needle bottom hem.

See attached photograph.

To Serge Or Not To Serge? That is the question.

Yesterday was meeting day. I attended a very nice business luncheon and met lots of other people in small local businesses. I even finished the bookkeeping. It was a very productive day.

Today I need to continue stocking up the Etsy store. I've been thinking lately about the things you can do with one square of fabric. If you make the square 10" to 12" and hem around it, you have a handkerchief or cocktail napkin; 20" square is a dinner napkin; 36" square is a bandana; and much larger and you have a tablecloth or blanket. I've also noticed lately that merrowed edges are becoming more popular than hemmed edges. A nice hem seems so attractive to me but they take time to do. Merrowed/serged edges do appear neat but not as neat as the hemmed edges. They are fast if done with a serger. As Mama used to say "zip, zip, zip, zip and you're done." I've been doing my handkerchiefs with rolled hems but have noticed that many of the store bought handkerchiefs have serged hems or if they have lace, the fabric is just folded under once with the lace on top. Although I'm sure this is secure, I don't like the idea of possible frayed fabric showing on the underside. Anyway, I'm thinking about doing some serged edges. Besides, I haven't used my serger in awhile and it needs to work, too.

We have a customer who wants some kitchen towels to give as a gift. The recipient of the kitchen towels are a couple. The man likes cute bunnies and the lady likes frogs. Our assignment is to come up with some cutesy design, in earthtones, incorporating a bunny and frog. The first one is super cute but makes me think of babies. The second one has more attitude but could probably use even more attitude. Although this second one does put a smile on my face.

We did some more handkerchief monogramming on the pretty store bought hankies and one of the black polka dot, handmade hankies. The red pursed lip design is adorable but I was concerned that it would be too dense for such a light piece of fabric. I certainly wouldn't want that design any denser but it did stitch out.
Goodness, gracious. I was trying to upload the photos for this post and the "insert image" function has been changed a bit. Now I have to figure out how to get this done. The pictures are on here but it was like pulling teeth.

Another Week Filled With Excitement

It's Monday morning and I'm looking forward to an exciting week. 

One of our neighbors' birthday is coming up this Thursday and as of Saturday, we had not finalized any plans for a party or get together.  Saturday was a very rainy day but Sunday was forecast as clear skies and a high of 81 degrees.  We decided to have the birthday party at Johnson's Beach on Sunday afternoon around 4:00.  I begged to bring salad because we have so much lettuce in the garden that I cannot use it fast enough.  Sunday morning George ran to the store and picked up some nice, white kitchen towels.  I know the birthday girl has birdhouses and a pond in her yard that she enjoys, so we designed a motif with her name "Katie" and a birdhouse.  It really turned out lovely.  Guess who forgot to take a picture of the towels?  Me!  At least I do have the capabilities of turning the design into a jpg so you can see.  Between the salad and the towels I worked until the moment we left for the beach. 

It really was a beautiful day.  The beach was windy and the water was cold but the skies were blue and the temperature felt warm in the sun.  We drank wine, ate a fabulous dinner, watched presents being opened and played on the beach.  I rolled my blue jeans up to my knees and was wading with the others in the surf.  One wave snuck up on me and my pants got wet anyway.  We finalized the day with birthday cake that another neighbor made and singing Happy Birthday.  All in all, I guess we were at the beach for a couple of hours.  Katie loved her towels and said they are so pretty she wants to frame then and not use them. 

Gosh!  George and I hadn't been to Johnson's Beach since the early 1990's.  There are more condos out there now.  In the park area they have a lifeguard stand, restrooms, paved parking lot, outdoor showers for rinsing off the sand, and covered gazebos with picnic tables.  They also have concrete grills.  There are nature trails and a boat launch, as well.  Quite a change from years ago when it was just park on the side of the road and walk across the sand to the beach.

All of that work and sun made us tired.  Once we returned home, George and I relaxed in the living room to watch a movie.  I snoozed on and off throughout the movie; George fell fast asleep and missed the entire movie. 

When the movie was over I thought I'd check my emails and do a general computer clean up before going to bed.  Well, I am glad I did that!  I opened up the Cajun Stitchery email and to my pleasant surprise a customer had purchased 2 handkerchiefs from our Etsy store.  She purchased the "Funky Hanky" and the "Lace Handkerchief".  I almost started crying for joy.  Wow!  Someone, all the way in Michigan, that I do not know, saw the items in our Etsy Shop and thought, not one, but two were worth spending their hard earned money to purchase.  Suffice it to say that I just stared for a long time at that email, trying to take it all in.  The next email was from PayPal acknowledging receipt of payment for the purchases.  By this time, George was awake and came downstairs to see the wonderful emails.  Of course, I shot out an email to our new customer thanking her for the purchase and assuring her that the handkerchiefs would be placed in the mail on Monday.  As of this writing, the purchases have already been mailed and the customer notified.

It's a good thing that I had taken the time last week to watch several of the Etsy videos because one was specifically talking about how to wrap an item that's been purchased.  Those Etsy people are so creative.  They suggested taking a little bit of this and that around the house and voila beautiful packaging.  I don't rate with those creative minds but it did give me ideas.  I wrapped the hankies in some pretty glittered pink (repurposed) tissue paper, made a tiny bow from fabric (same fabric as the hankies) scraps and attached (with double sided tape) a little Christmas ornament made on the embroidery machine (lagniappe).  I filled the package with rosemary leaves for a pretty scent and left it overnight.  This morning I took the rosemary out of the packaging and put it in a mailing package.  Gee, I sure hope she likes it.

Now I need to get busy and put more stuff in the Etsy Store; at least enough to replace the items purchased.

Today I expect my friend, Lois, to visit.  Lois called yesterday and wants to take some of our spices and lettuce from the garden.  She is certainly welcome to it.  Even the huge salad that I made yesterday hardly put a dent in the lettuce crop.

Speaking of the garden, we noticed some tiny tomatoes on the Better Boy plants.  We will be harvesting tomatoes soon.  Sassy Satsuma was covered in flowers which have now dropped off.  She is now covered in tiny round green fruit which I believe will turn into lucious satsumas in the near future.  And the new blueberry plants have many tiny blueberries forming.  We need a lot more of those blueberry bushes.  All in all the garden is producing and looking beautiful. 

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day because I plan on attending a BNI meeting to see what it's like.  Afterwards, I am having coffee with a friend downtown.  Someplace in there I need to drop off some totes that I embroidered for another customer.

We embroidered this Kayak Survival Kit for a friend to give to her friend.

We have kitchen towels, handkerchiefs and pillowcases to embroider this week, as well.  So, it looks like it's going to be a busy week and that is a good thing.

C'est toute mes amis.

Cajun Corner Vol. 2, No. 16

Cajun Corner – Vol. 2, No. 16 – APRIL 23, 2010


Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit http://www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com/ often.

Yesterday was Earth Day. What did you do for Earth Day? At Cajun Stitchery, we spent time learning to fuse plastic bags from an Etsy video on the internet. If all works well, you will see some of our designs using fused plastic bags in the near future.

We began trying to put the cap sash on Boudreaux yesterday. It appears that we were missing a few screws – for installation of the sash, that is. We have had Boudreaux for one year and we know he is capable of embroidery on ball caps. The information that we have read and heard about the cap attachment left us afraid to even try it. Several people have requested them but we have always put them off because the attachment is so ominous. We decided to bite the bullet and overcome our fear and put the thing together. We had manuals out and watched videos and when all was said and done, we were missing 2 screws. We have ordered the screws and they should be here next week, when we will try again.

This week has been full of Etsy. I’m trying to get that store up and running. We had one sale and finally got to see PayPal work from a seller’s point of view. It is a piece of cake. All of that fretfulness was for nothing. As you know, all of our handmade items are sold on Etsy. Our one Etsy sale was a friend who purchased 2 handkerchiefs off of Etsy and then hired us to embroider the handkerchiefs. That is the way it is supposed to work.

Additionally, this week we’ve worked on several designs, just because. There are so many beautiful stock designs that I would love to stitch out. There are also series of designs. For instance, this week we stitched out the cutest little frog. That design was one of a series.

I learned a new term this week. Kitsch, defined as “over the top.” I was working on a few items for Etsy trying to be real creative and kitsch and embroidered some lips. The lips are another instance of a series of designs. They are so kitsch and cute. Simply lips showing many different expressions.

The garden is beautiful this time of year. We eat fresh salads almost every evening. The romaine lettuce is abundant – sure wish someone would take some of this romaine lettuce off of our hands before it goes to seed. There isn’t a lot you can do with lettuce other than eat it fresh. You cannot can or freeze it. I’ve heard some people cook it but I’m not one of those people. If it’s not used, it just goes to waste. At least over here it’s not completely wasted since we will recycle it in our compost.

The asparagus is being harvested every day. The broccoli is holding its own. The garlic and onions are almost ready to bloom. Our one horseradish is now two. I am anxious for our big tomatoes and bell peppers to start producing. There are flowers on all of those plants. The idea of leaving one area of the yard for the blackberries may have been a good idea because that area is covered in berries but are not ripe enough to pick yet. And Sassy Satsuma and the blueberry plants are starting to drop flowers and turn into fruit.

We thought we lost the banana trees but they seem to be coming back, albeit slow.

The little fuzzies from the oak trees are just about finished falling. They left behind a beautiful layer of mulch on all of the gardens. Of course, George will probably have to get back on the roofs and get the remaining fuzzies off. I’m just glad the dogs are not dragging so much of it into the house.

My next door neighbor is moving back up north. Last night she and I got together for a glass of wine and a game of Scrabble. She was here when Mama was here. She held me the night Mama was dying. I’m certainly going to miss her. We have so much fun together. Her new job is just one of those opportunities in life that you have to take. We are planning a going away party on May 7th. I’m boiling shrimp and others are bringing desserts and appetizers. It should be a good time for all.

Last night we laughed at how Mama would cheat at Scrabble. Now I’m sure my mother would take offense at me saying that she cheated, but she did. If she got a Scrabble tile that she didn’t want, she would silently drop it on the carpet beneath her and say, “Oh, I don’t have enough tiles, let me get another.” Mama was impish like that.

 Become a “friend” on the blog and never miss a post.

Always remember that we are just a call or email away at cajunstitchery@yahoo.com or 850-261-2462 and place your order.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Thanks to Marshall Larrevere for this week’s Cajun Joke:

Boudreaux met a beautiful blonde, and he decided he wanted to marry her

right away. She said, "But we don't know anything about each other."

Boudreaux said, "Dat's all right, we'll learn about each odder, as we go along."

So she consented, and they were married, and went on their

honeymoon to a very nice resort. One morning they were lying by the

pool when Boudreaux got up off of his towel, climbed up to the 10-meter

board and did a two and a half tuck gainer. This was followed by a

three-rotation jackknife where he straightened out and cut the water like a

knife.

After a few more demonstrations, he came back and lay down on the

towel, beside her.

She said," That was incredible!"
Boudreaux said, "Ah used to be an Olympic diving champion. You see, Ah tole you

we'd learn more about ourselves as we went along."

So she got up, jumped in the pool, and started doing laps.. After

about thirty laps she climbed back out and lay down next to him on

her towel, not even breathing hard.

Boudreaux said, "Dat was incredible! Were you an Olympic endurance

swimmer?"

"No." she said, "I was a hooker in Golden Meadow, Louisiana ,

but I worked both sides of the bayou!"

ΘΘΘΘΘ

French phrase of the week: Ça boit et ça fume et ça couche au serein. (They drink and they smoke and they stay out all night.)

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Fusing Plastic Bags (thanks to Etsy for the idea)

Cut the handles and the bottom off of plastic bags, leaving only a round piece of plastic, open at the top and bottom. Fold in half (making 4 layers), then fold in half again (making 8 layers). Place the folded plastic between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper. Iron the paper (no steam) for 10-15 seconds. Do not rest the iron in any one place. Turn the sandwich over and iron the other side for 10-15 seconds. Pull back the paper and you are left with fused plastic that can be cut and sewn. If the fused plastic has any air bubbles, put it back in the paper sandwich and iron again in those areas. It will take some trial and error but this is very simple. If there is printing on the plastic, turn the bag inside out to avoid ironing on the ink. Once done the fused plastic can be used as fabric for all sorts of projects.

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 catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

SALE OF THE WEEK (Good through Thursday, April 29, 2010)

The weather is warming and the beaches are filling. Get a tye dyed beach towel this year.

Sale: 1 beach towel = $20.00 (embroidery extra)

ColorTone - #T7000

Spider Beach Towel

Colors: baby blue, black, gold, Kelly, lavender, lime, navy, orange, pink, plum, purple, red, royal blue, turquoise

30 X 60 Beach towel. Over 1 lbs. each

See attached photograph.

Funky Hankies

We're still making hankies over here.  Now we're trying to get funky, too.  Oh sure, we did some real pretty, heirloom type handkerchiefs, like the beautiful ones in the photographs.  Using the Etsy article mentioned in the last post, the designs hopefully are becoming more creative and "funky." 

Last night the hanky with the red lips on the black polka dot fabric was put on Etsy.  Two friends have already commented on it and they love it.  The lips really do look like lipstick, but it's embroidery.  In fact, there is an entire group of lip designs.

Every chance I get, I like to stitch out some design that I've never done before, like the laid back frog.  People ask how long it takes to stitch these designs.  Of course, it depends on the design and how many stitches there are, but usually it doesn't take too long.  What takes time is the set up for the design.  The design has to be located.  Then we have to decide on the colors and assign the correct needles.  We may have to resize the design or redigitize part of the design.  That takes a considerable amount of time.  Yes, sometimes hours.  Then we put the design on a 3 1/2" floppy disk.  Bet you thought those things were a thing of the past.  Although modern embroidery machines are going toward flash drives, many of the older models, such as Boudreaux, still use the 3 1/2" floppy disk.  Anyway, we put the design on the disk and take it to Boudreaux.  We upload the design into Boudreaux and put the correct color thread in the correct needles.  Since we have 12 needles, sometime this entails threading 12 times.  George hates threading needles.  We trace the design, which means that we put the hoop that we expect to use in the machine and tell the machine to trace.  There are a couple of tracing options but we usually use the one that goes to the limits of the design to see if the hoop will fit that design.  Once we have the proper hoop, the design uploaded, the correct color thread in the correct needle, then we hoop some scrap fabric of the type that we plan on putting our final design (knit or woven).  We stitch out a sample to make sure everything is as it should be.  We make any adjustments needed.  Sometime this requires another sample stitch out.  When the design finally stitches out the way we want, we hoop the item and do the final stitch out. 

For instance, The lip design had 4 colors originally.  When it stitched out, I didn't like the look and had to take the design back to the computer and start again, until I liked the design.  The lips took about 5 minutes to stitch out but the set up took probably an hour or two.

I am still perplexed at the pricing thing for Etsy.  When I sold the handkerchiefs on Etsy, I paid Etsy's fee and PayPal's incoming and outgoing fee.  I didn't know how to get either to adjust for sales tax.  The item was sold in Florida.  Finally, I found how to do that on PayPal.  Hope it works.  Anyway, you can imagine that if I sell something for $5 and pay all of those fees, take the cost of making the item off, the profit is very meager.  There comes a point where you have to stop and ask yourself if this price is worth the making the item.  If not, the price either has to be adjusted up or you don't offer that product.  That's why I like embroidery on ready made items.  Once I take the cost of the item off the top, the design and embroidery work is a pleasure and we have fair, set prices for that.  I just have to pull myself back and remember that the reason I'm on Etsy in the first place is my need to create.

Another article that I recently read said that items that do not sell well on Etsy, usually sell very well at craft fairs and vice versa.  I'm thinking about putting some of the items that did not sell at last year's craft fair on Etsy, just to see how it goes there.

Well, I have to get back to Boudreaux.  See ya next time.

More Ways to Purchase from Cajun Stitchery

Happy Monday Morning to you!  We've been busy at Cajun Stitchery this weekend.

You can now purchase items from Cajun Stitchery with cash, check or PayPal.  You can also purchase via email (cajunstitchery@yahoo.com), phone (850)261-2462, Etsy (http://www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com/), or Facebook (just message me, Peggy Henshall).

Those little polka dot hankies have been a real winner.  We received an order for 5 of them from one customer and 4 from another.  Since these are handmade, they must be purchased through Etsy.  Once I get the hang of Etsy, the prices will probably go higher.  Turns out that when you purchase from Etsy, I pay Etsy's fee, PayPal's incomng fee, PayPal's outgoing fee, plus sales tax if you live in Florida.  Of course, this is a business and those fees, although not much, must be offset in the price of the item.  Plus there is the time involved in anything handmade.  All of that adds to the price of a single 10" square piece of fabric.  Wow!  Am I learning a lot about business. 

There are so many designs that I would like to stitch out.  I cannot help myself, I love to embroider and I love to watch that machine create artwork.  This horse is a beautiful design.  I had planned on putting it on a handkerchief but after stitching it out, realized that it is just too heavy and dense of a design to work on a hankie.  This design would be lovely on a tote or even on a shirt.

I enjoyed stitching out the flamingo in a beach chair.  There is a whole series of these adorable flamingos.  None were ever ordered, so I stitched it out on this towel as a donation to the Pensacola Beach Optimist Club's raffle.

In a like manner, this cute fun in the sun hand towel was done as a door prize for the Gulf Breeze WBL meeting.

Some time ago, George suggested that I do a design that says "Mais Oui, Cher" (pronounced: may we sha), meaning "yes, dear".  He thought that since we are Cajun Stitchery, we should include some Cajun.  I found the design of this tree which reminded me of the bayous in Louisiana.  I like the design.  I made one on a goldish colored hanky and put it on Etsy for sale.

Another customer ordered a set of pillow cases this morning.  We haven't done pillow cases in awhile and this is a pleasant expectation to get onto the pillow cases.  Don't forget our pillow cases are $20 for a set of 2, plus the embroidery.  Hotel quality pillowcases in white.

I just love this little wine bottle apron and chef hat.  They are selling for $10, plus embroidery.  The embroidery would go on the apron.  Notice the floral centerpiece on my table -- vegetables out of the garden.

Another unique item that we purchased.  This beautiful hanky his folded so that it slides inside the cardboard bodice on that tiny coat hanger.  These are $10 each.  When I purchased it, it was labeled as a wedding favor.  I just thought it was cute.

Have you noticed the shadow on the bottom of many of the photographs.  I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of that shadow.  I think maybe I'm standing in the wrong place to take the pictures.  I'll have to work on this shadow thing.  It's a good thing that I don't hold myself out as a photographer.

Until next time, c'est toute mes amis.