Heavy Duty Playsuit!

I mentioned this dress (opaquely) before; I cut the pieces out before we left for Mexico thinking I'd have all day on the 7th to work on it, thus finishing it kind of in time for the Sew Weekly challenge. A canceled flight from Cancun to Los Angeles made a mockery of my sewing plans and ate up all of my sewing-Monday, and the pattern pieces stayed in the bag until last week, when I set small sewing goals to accomplish each night, i.e. sew the bodice on Wednesday. I finally got to hem it last night, and I'm pleased to say that I am now the proud owner of a heavy (heavy) duty (duty) playsuit (heavy duty!)!

ease in fit makes it ideal for sassin'

I picked up this turquoise fabric last summer when Michelle and I were yardsaling to find raw materials for Burning Man. I loved the color and the fabric, which originally gave me pause due to its canvas-like properties, worked out really well for this project. Regrettably, there were a number of small stains and defined faded areas here and there on the fabric, requiring strategic pattern placement/cutting, but I think I was successful in not making a pre-stained/faded dress. My sizing difficulties continue; though I'm okay with it for this particular project, the dress seems big all over. Why is that? How are my inches different from the inches of pattern makers?

good for dancin' too

This is the Colette Patterns Rooibos dress, which has a fun opportunity to pick a contrast fabric for the top of the bodice. This is excellent because I used to have this ill-advised habit of buying fabric sample packs where nothing was bigger than a half yard. Um, I don't quilt, and you'll be hard-pressed to make anything other than a purse out of such a small piece of fabric. At least I struggle...

close up of the neckline, on Susan the dressmaker thinger

I fulfilled my sewing resolution for March, and it might very well be my Easter dress! But you never know, my next project might be another springy dress, in spite of the fact that my office wardrobe is seriously lacking.

Bake Sale!

Ugh, after five hours of straight bakin' (seriously, no breaks in that business!) I'm ready to check out. For tomorrow's fundraiser bake sale for the Esch*, I'll be taking Orange Chocolate Pinwheels, sugar cookies (which may or may not be frosted, depending on how sparky I'm feeling tomorrow morning), and chocolate chip walnut cookies. 

Sheep and moon sugar cookies cooling, a plate of reject cookies that will stay safe in my home. Sugar cookies don't look like much when they're not frosted, do they?

If you want some of these delectable treats, kick on over to See Jane Run (3910 24th Street at Sanchez) in San Francisco today/Saturday for snackems. This will be happening rain or rain, since it is going to rain. Chris and I will be there from noon to two (or so) with our baked wonder. 
Time for bed!


*Eschy (Bryce) is taking part in the Wildflower Triathalon and is doing all she can to raise money to fight AIDS. See her fundraiser site!

Mexico Pictures--Our Digs

The resort-type place we stayed at (thank you, Tom and Anna Maria) was super beautiful and really close to the beach, and with a gargantuan pool that spanned two or three city blocks and sat on three different levels. Some of the days, we just kicked around the resort either hanging at the pool or snorkeling. Or sleeping. We napped and ate a lot! This is the last batch of photos for your perusal, so I hope you enjoy them!

Two words: Pool Bar!

The whole place looked like a highly cultivated jungle, it was really pretty to walk around.

Our little segment of beach was great to walk on, but not so hot for swimming. As you can see, there is a pumice-like quality to the area.

By the pool, well manicured.

The wake generated by our snorkeling boat on our way to the reefs. Yes, I was singing "Rio" (there are pictures of that as well).

Sunrise on our little section of beach.

ahhh, so wonderful. 

These are baby versions of fish we saw a lot of when we went snorkeling. These were in a tide-pool-like situation the morning we were watching the sunrise.

A nice jogger took this for us. We had a great time!

Mexico Pictures--Chichen Itza and nearby areas

We signed up for a day trip to Chichen Itza, a pre-Hispanic city in the middle of the Yucatan peninsula. It is one of the new seven wonders of the world (as established in 2007) and is super neat. On our way to Chichen Itza, we traveled through a colonial town (Valladolid) that I totally want to check out more, and stopped at a Mayan "village" for food, shopping, and cenote time!

The cenote! This is one of the big attractions in that village. There is a cenote in Chichen Itza too, but I don't believe you're permitted to swim there. That one is just for sacrificing. 

Well, jumping in was the natural thing to do. :)

See where that one dude is standing on the second highest level? That is where I jumped in from. (Blue Streak trained me well for this.)

Cenotes are limestone sinkholes--this one was 50 meters deep, so it was more or less like swimming in a quarry. Whoa!

The ballfield area in Chichen Itza.

The Observatory, where all kinds of astronomical shenanigans took place.

Chris and an unidentified structure (our tour guide was letting us wander solo at that point). Doesn't it look like there is a face in the building? Eek!

In front of el Castillo.

This shot is required.

El Castillo! We were pretty tuckered out at this time, and Chris was just barely putting up with me. What a champ...

Then we got back on the bus with all the liquored up people. (liquor was served on the bus, not in Chichen Itza) We weren't allowed to climb on any of the pyramids or touch anything, as the Federal government no longer permits it here, possibly at any of the ruins. What a drag!

Updates! Mexico pictures--Playa del Carmen

Sweet business, I didn't realize it had been over a month since I last posted something. 50% of my February was spent ailing with some miserable sickness and the other half was spent trying desperately to catch up on everything I was losing control over. I'm healthy now, and was healthy for the whole trip to Mexico, so I guess I can't complain about anything. 

Here are some pictures from our week-long trip to Playa del Carmen in Mexico! We had a  great time, though I am now seriously behind in my sewing--in the month of February, I only managed to make a bed-pocket for Chris and finish Jennifer's skirt (which has its own set of complications). I'm still in the process of bargaining with myself about my 2011 Sewing Resolution (nope, didn't forget) to sew one garment per month, as well as really wanting to keep up with the Sew Weekly challenges. Later, later....

Chris in his super awesome beach clothes.

A wonderful helado de coco. mmmm!

Cycle tracks in Playa del Carmen.

The most delicious chicken tamales we purchased from a street vendor. There was a whole chicken wing in that thing, bone and all!

One of our many iguana friends.