Grandma's Magic Bag

My friend, Barbara, made the most amazing bag.  She originally made it to be a travel bag, though it ended up being a little too heavy for travel.  But one day, one of her granddaughters asked her where her "Magic Bag" was.   Since then, that is what its been.  A "Grandma Magic Bag."   She has filled it with fun little trinkets and things that she can pull out of the many pockets and little hidden places.  She has charms and other meaningful things on it.  At Christmas time she fills it with little Christmas trinkets.  The pictures don't do it justice, but this gives you the idea of the detail that has gone into it.

As you can see, it is reversible, too.  She is amazingly creative in all areas, but especially in stitching.  The last time I got together with Barbara, I took a bunch of things with me that I thought I could use to make a bag.  We didn't really have time to look at my things, but that is when I snapped these pictures. 

Anyway, as I was cleaning out my "Deep" again today (probably for the 365th time in last 25 years), I found the bag with all the stuff for making my "Grandma Bag." Of course once I found it, I got side tracked from cleaning the "Deep."   I started plotting how I would make my "Grandma's Magic Bag."

I knew I wouldn't have the know-how (or desire) to make it from scratch and make it reversible. But I do have this very large bag that my friend, Eileen, gave me.  It is the perfect base to sew all my "stuff" to. So far I'm just pinning and experimenting with what to put on it.

But, it also ended up being a very profitable evening financially. I had included with my things the purse Mom was using when she died. I've kept it pretty much intact with the things she had in it:  Dad's wallet and car keys (even though Mom never drove), a sea shell, lifesavers, her wallet, etc.

We had taken out anything that was valuable or needed, but I kept it for sentimental reasons.   As I was looking through her wallet thinking about how I would incorporate it into my "Grandma Bag," I found this tucked deep into the empty checkbook slot.

 

Wow!  Thanks, Mom! 

Even fifteen years after you've gone,
you're still giving me money.
Mom's purse really is a magic bag!
  

(Please don't tell any of my siblings, as they'll think they should get some of it.)