My Mexican Quilt: A UFO

by Lisa LaLonde

It has been a year since I started working on my "Mexico Quilt." I well remember the day the idea was birthed. It was over an appropriate meal of Mexican bean soup, although no proper Mexican would call my version authentic. The Mexico City Quilt Guild was having a quiet summer meeting at my house and we had stopped for lunch. As is typical in many groups mixed with foreigners and Mexicans, conversation turned to our experiences in Mexico. And the famous words were uttered: "Wouldn't it be great to put that in a quilt?" Light bulbs sparked on over our heads and before you knew it, the glory that is Mexico for each of us started to find its way into our quilts.

The concept at first was a bit odd. How could we be making quilts about a country that did not even have a proper word for quilt? The word "colcha" really means bedcovering, which does not adequately represent the countless hours of detail work spent on most quilts. We soon began to realize, as we each individually designed our quilts, that we had a gem of an idea. Mexican quilts were the perfect description of both Mexico and quilt making. Quilts have always represented a way for women in particular to express their creativity, and our Mexican experiences were both unique and unifying. Each Mexico Quilt, while representing the unique sensibilities and experiences of each of our guild's members, still showed us that we had a common bond and a common love for the country that currently shelters us in its arms. No two of our Mexico Quilts are alike, nor should they be! Linda's pyramids, Sue's chilies and cacti, Vermelle's Mayan woman, Nancy's interpretation of a Tamayo dog howling at the moon, and even my wall with lizards sunning themselves each represent something different that has struck us about Mexico. But I can fall in love with Nancy's dog and say, "Yes, that is Mexico as well." We started an experiment that was bigger than we realized: quilts that were personal and universal and that said more about each of us than we realized.

Last fall, excited by the idea and unable to sleep at night or work on any other projects, several of us stole away for a "weekend quilting retreat" which is really just a fancy excuse for staying up all night sewing and feeding our obsession with quilting. I learned much about how other quilters work and think and most importantly how they love their craft. And, in fact, how there is no better way to be encouraged in a labor of love than to see someone else throwing themselves into their labor of love as well. Quilters have always known this secret: it is much more fun to work on your quilt with someone else around! Nothing helps pass the time when parts of your project could become tedious than to have someone to cheer you on and laugh with you about "what is a Mexican quilt for anyway?"

It has been a year since I started work on my Mexico Quilt. It is still in pieces, but calls out to me often from the piles of "UFO's" (UnFinished Objects, yes it's a technical quilting term!) in my sewing corner. Every now and then I take out my sunny wall and say, "gotta work on this thing again...." but the tyranny of the urgent distracts. What I really need is another weekend of obsessive sewing all night to get my lizards to dance on that wall, and to be able to share with you in more than words what Mexico means to me. I trust that when it is finally done, you will be able to say, "Yes, that is Mexico as well."

The Mexico City Quilt Guild encourages anyone with a UFO to come and be motivated and cheered on to finish! We meet every Thursday at different members' homes from 10-2. Please call our Guild president for more information.

© October 1998 Lisa B. LaLonde Published in Amistad, the monthly publication of the American Society in Mexico City