Mary Poppins Might Be Jealous...

 

Do you remember Mary Poppins' Magic Bag? Her umbrella and her bag were her two fashion accessories that were also very functional. From that bag came all sorts of things like a lamp and a hat-stand along with lozenges and cough syrup. (I loved all of the PL Travers Mary Poppins books as a child.) Well this colorful big tote bag reminds me of Mary Poppin's bag, though I have yet to try and fit a hat-stand inside. I almost could. No doubt Mary Poppins would have loved this bag. I took a class last fall to learn to make the roomy tote and I just love it. It features assorted Australian Aboriginal print fabrics and a Kookaburra & Jabiru panel. It's called The Aussie Dream Tote.

My usual tote bag projects are simple affairs with handles and that's about it. This project seemed daunting to me as it has two zippered pockets, an inside pocket, and bottle pockets. I was pleasantly surprised that my skill level was up to snuff and I was successful with sewing the bag, especially with the zipper insertion method that was used. I just love this roomy bag and am so glad I took the class.

You can get a better idea of the bag size in this photo with Gabriele Bullard (right) of Fabrilish, the designer of the bag and pattern. She came to our recent quilt show with a display of her Aussie Dream Tote kits. (Gabriele's mannequin is covered in Aboriginal print scraps by the way.) After showing the bag at the guild show-and-tell, a number of members were also interested in taking the class, so Gabriele will be teaching it again after the holidays.

I ran into fellow class members Celeste Beck (center) and her sister Merri McKenzie (right) at the quilt show in Jacksonville, FL. They, too, were carrying their Aussie Dream Totes to hold all those purchases. Celeste chose the kangaroo design for hers. One fun thing about quilt shows (in addition to the quilts and vendors) is seeing how quilters display their love of fabrics in what they wear and carry. All three of us are also wearing our fiber necklaces made during a workshop I taught at the Gainesville guild. And we all sported button bracelets crafted at a Fiber Art Bee meeting. The totes certainly caught the eye of some show-goers who stopped us to ask about the pattern.