Santi and Liese - The First Trip 2002

Santi and Liese 2002 was the first Hatched US tour and the first time I met Santi and Liese. They made this trip on a wing and a prayer. It was their first time doing a trunk show. I guess on the map America doesn’t look that big because they were flying all over the place, landing in strange cities and not knowing anyone. They accepted invitations from ladies who they had only met on the Internet! How scary was that?

I remember the day I got an email from one of our Team SewAmused members telling me that I had to see this new digitizers work on the Internet. I went to the Hatched in Africa site and was instantly impressed with the quality of their work. I downloaded the free floral spray design. I was in the process of developing a new workbook for the Singer PSW software and I just had to use this design in one of the chapters! I contacted Santi by email and asked permission and she graciously agreed that I could use the design for the workbook and so the relationship began! We emailed back and forth a little bit about business and when she said she was coming here and she would be within a 4 hour drive I decided that I had to go.

I was living in the San Fernando Valley (a suburb of Los Angeles) at the time and Peggy Jo wanted to go as well so I picked her up. I grabbed Karen out in San Bernardino and we were off to Redlands to meet Santi. Imagine my surprise that when I introduced myself I got a huge hug from Santi! I didn’t think that she would remember me just through email, but she did!

My true confession here… at the coffee shop where the 3 of us (Peggy Jo, Karen and I) were having coffee before the trunk show I saw ladies running around with embroidery all over them and here sat a beautiful African-American lady and what did I assume? You’re right, I assumed that this was Santi! Hey, Santi was from South Africa where the population is predominately black! I think it was years before I told her about this little assumption on my part! Remember how to spell ass-us-me…

Her schedule was full so I didn’t have a lot of time to get to know her but I new then that I really wanted to!

So here they were, Santi and Liese from half a world away and I got to meet them AND Santi knew who I was… How much better could the day get? The trunk show was awesome! And she was introducing the AWESOME Apricot Blush quilt! WOW! At that time she also had an umbrella that had been covered with matching fabric and AB designs. She no longer carries that with her because she had to repair it at every stop! It was a little delicate to say the least.

I thought it odd that this woman was not that delicate little thing I assumed (again with the ass-u-me thing) that she was like her work. She’s not. She is a down to Earth woman with so much inner strength that she’s almost unstoppable in her determination! She dresses for comfort at the trunk shows, not to impress anyone.

Although her native language is Afrikaans, she speaks English very well, but phrases in South Africa and America can mean a few different things. One of the jokes Liese told at the time was about floppy disks, which were the large 5” disks that were used in some of the first computers. When the computers went to the smaller 3.5” disks they called them “stiffies” in South Africa… well that whole thing of floppy going to “stiffy” … well these are the kinds of phrases that over the years we have worked on! I know that Liese’s comments were a joke, but based in fact.

I remember so many times telling her, “you cant say that here” LOL. So we would have to come up with other phrases for her to use on her trips to the States! I don’t say this to make fun of Santi or her family, it’s just a fact. When I was in South Africa I had the same problem! My own phrases were sometimes questioned and I could tell by the way some of Santi’s friends looked at me that I had to be a little careful about what I would say!

Anyway, Santi and Liese about killed themselves on that trip. At one point they took a Grayhound bus in an area that I didn’t think was a good idea and I had to have a talk with her! She had taken the bus from Fresno to San Bernardino and I told her this wasn’t going to work! For that trip, I could have picked her up and delivered her! I mean seriously, the Grayhound bus was a good travel option back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s but in 2002? I don’t think 2 women should have been doing that! I told her that if she gave them a chance, her ladies would take care of her and make sure she got to where she needed to go! And so they did let the ladies help with transportation! Neither Liese or Santi was ready to drive here in the states yet, remember, they drive on the “wrong” side of the car and the road! I know how I felt being in South Africa for the first time and the whole driving situation!

But that’s Santi and her family, she doesn’t want to put anyone out or have them go out of their way for her! As I said, she’s strong willed and determined at times and she can be just a tiny bit stubborn too! I know that I always present her and the Team in very positive terms but let’s be real here, we all have our “ugly” moments as my grandmother would have called them! They are human but 95% of the time they are content with life in general. Santi gets frustrated when her designs don’t get from her head to her computer and frustration isn’t always a pretty sight! Oh come on now, we can all get like that! But once she gets started at a trunk show, nothing else matters except for her ladies and making sure that they have a good time at the trunk shows!

At that trunk show the 3 of us managed to spend more than we had planned to! Oh like that never happens! I hear it time and time again from the ladies who attend, they budget one amount and spend a whole lot more over their budget J It’s easy to do with the designs though. Karen had been in love with the fuchsias since she first saw them. Now I’m going to have to remember exactly what it was that she made with them, but she did use them the minute she got home!

And then there was Peggy Jo. She had digitized some free standing angels, one of her first digitizing experiences and she brought 2 of them for Santi. You can almost see them in the pictures that I uploaded to the Picasa album. By the way, there is a link on the top of the blogspot page that links to the photo albums that I’ve uploaded. The album name is “Santi and Liese 2002” for this blog post.

Santi, Liese, Cara and Betsi have come a long way in their digitizing since those days and although it sounds like it was a long time ago (I guess almost 9 years later it is a while), for me it’s like yesterday. Although we have all changed, some of us more than others, in so many ways nothing has changed. I tell Santi over and over again how much “her ladies” love her and her family and she never really understands. She insists that she’s just a “normal” person!

I need to take some time with her when she has a little bit and get more biographical information from her. I know she was a free motion artist for many years before the computerized sewing machines and she’s been a florist with tons of talent there as well. She enjoys beauty in her life as we all do. She lives a simple life and the funny part... she has very little embroidery on her clothes she wears! How many of us can say the same thing?

The next trip she came with Mari and I don’t have photos of that trip or a few others that I was able to see her. They were probably lost in one computer crash or another. It’s amazing that I take all of these pictures and rarely print them out! I could fill my walls with just the ones I’ve taken though J

I’m not sure where I’ll go next, there are so many trips I do have photos for and so many stories to tell….