Mexico Musings

This is what I asked my new friend Melanie when she and her husband Gunter seduced us into buying land near them, south of Todos Santos.

I say seduced…we were willing participants. But in the eight years I have known M &G; I have called them the shameless pushers of paradise. When we were still in the old country just dreaming of our land, Melanie told me how she had to wash dishes in her outdoor kitchen ( she lives right on the beach on the Pacific side of southern Baja.) because the granite counters had not yet arrived for the kitchen in the main house. You know, I tried hard to have sympathy, couldn’t work up an ounce.
So we finally pulled the plug on our Silicon Valley lives, bought a house 2 blocks from the beach and proceeded to rehab it.

After about a year of home remodeling, and adding a pool, and outfitting the house, we woke up one day and said; “Now what do we do?”

We live in a predominantly ex-pat community, although many Mexicans live here as well. The Mexicans have jobs and real world lives. The Ex-pats are playing in paradise. But for us, well, we are not fisher people, we don’t drink until we are stumbling, we don’t own a dune buggy or ATV, and sitting around gossiping or playing board games just isn’t enough stimulation.

We also came down here with our hair on fire, we were able to get out in 2000 five minutes before the dotcom crash, and 5 minutes after the real estate boom. Money was going to be a real issue for us. The house and its quality were grossly misrepresented to us. We spent our cash cushion on making repairs like a working septic system, re-wiring and replacing all of the used and old appliances. The house was only four years old when we bought it, but the sellers had furnished it with second hand everything, even the toilets! So we turned the house into an art piece. So the house is finished, we are looking at a dwindling nest egg, and we are bored out of our minds…

When I left California I told everyone I was going to make gorgeous quilts, write and do nothing. My daughter started a pool among my friends and clients to see who thought I would go crazy and when. Well I outlasted all of their guesses, but not by much!

We found jobs, and we have great jobs. We have an international set of friends that work and travel and like to cook gourmet meals and enjoy movies, and discuss politics. I work from home, my beloved walks to work along our beach. He walks home for lunch every day.

And I write, not as much as I expected, but I write. And I sew. Sewing for me is life. There are certain things I must have to consider life good: Living on the beach (and our new house that we built is on the beach), a well equipped studio, good coffee.

This is a long introduction to a series of posts I am planning to showcase the beautiful pillows I design and make for myself and friends.

Every year at Christmas I make themed gifts. Last year it was his and her aprons for those who cook, and travel pillows and eyes masks for those who travel.

This year it is going to be gorgeous tote bags, and some small surprises I’ll post closer to Christmas.
From the beach in La Paz in Southern Baja, my latest designs.
Here is a peek:

My first paid, published writing was for Threads a Taunton Press magazine devoted to sewing enthusiasts.I wrote about my addiction to sewing, fabric and anything related. It was for their back cover humor page. The letters to the editor ranged from applause, to self recognition “I could have written that.” to nutty remarks from the Christian right being oh so offended that their hobby was being likened to drug activity. The letters raged back and forth for six months!

So if you have the affliction, or if you have any passionate hobby, you know the feeling when a project takes hold. It consumes you, you think about it all day and all night, you talk about it to anyone that will listen, usually only the dog will stick around after the first telling.

So, back to the Summer Tote. My daughter the writer sent a two liner email, asking if I would make a tote for her laptop that would be easy to carry for her upcoming writing workshop. Over the years I have designed dozens of purses and totes. They were denim, lined with some wild fabric. I would choose the recipient’s theme, whether that was an iris, a fish, moons and stars, and embellish the outside. My totes are treasured gifts.

I live in Baja California Sur; we are long on palm trees and sand, short on good textiles and the supplies that go along.

I wanted something special for this special woman. I Googled online patterns for totes. I kept coming back to Lazy Girl Designs. Don’t you love that name? Joan Hawley’s designs are original, smart, sassy and easy, if you have the instructions. Which I did not have. And to purchase the patterns is the easy part delivery by burro to my house on the beach is near impossible, and add to that the deadline, I was desperate.

I called the lead Lazy Girl herself. And offered to pay a premium if she would fax or email the pattern.
She tried, because of the special paper it is printed on, she could not. Joan was so concerned that I could not get her product, she asked me to call a particular online distributor, and see what they could do about shipping, and she would tell them to add some free gifts.

I called Quilter’s Warehouse, spoke to Heather, and made a new friend, but we could not figure away to expedite delivery for under $100. The pattern only costs $9.00!

So I ordered the pattern and a lot of other stuff for later delivery by my son when he comes to visit in July. But I still needed the Summer Tote construction and cutting guides.
Don’t you love the Internet? You can find so much.

Joan has videos of the construction of most of the Summer Tote on her website. I watched that video, closely repeatedly for hours. I watched her other videos, and read her blog and the back of the pattern envelopes (online). I followed links from people that posted on her blog, and I figured it out.

It was not easy, I ripped, and sewed and ripped again, and cried, and stomped away from the machine many times. But oh my goodness, the Summer Tote is gorgeous. I love it. When the patterns arrive, I am going to make several for myself and friends. And if you are on my Christmas List…
I wrote to Joan and described my painful journey. And I asked her not to expel me from the Lazy Girl Club, for working so hard to make the tote. Her entire approach to sewing is to find the easy, lazy way to do a job!

Take a look at the tote, and drool!