Feed the Birds…Tuppence a Bag

Feed the Birds…Tuppence a Bag

Awhile back I had the opportunity to take my family on a summer adventure of a lifetime that included a brief stay in London!!!

I LOVE London…the sights, the food, the history, the atmosphere…to me, it feels magical.

And one of my favorite places in London is St. Paul’s Cathedral…both because of the history of the building itself (especially its survival of WWII) and because of something far more juvenile…its roll in one of my favorite Disney songs: “Feed the Birds”.

I grew up watching Mary Poppins at my grandparents home and the only scene I loved more than the Sister Suffragettes is the one where Mary sings to Jane and Micheal about the little old bird woman on the steps of St. Paul.

This song spoke to my soul as a child…it speaks even louder now that I am an adult.

So, as I prepared for this visit, I made myself some Mary Poppins inspired gear to take with me across the pond.

First up was a Mary Poppins “carpet bag”:

Ok , ok so it isn’t a carpet bag at all.

It’s just a bag made using fabric from my grandma’s old stash, my grandpa’s shirts, and some upholstery fabric I had been saving for just the right occasion.

And of course I lined it with some “you make me happy” fabric from a line Elizabeth and I made years ago called “When Skies Are Grey”. (Based on a song that my grandparents sang to me that I in turn sang to my own babies called “You are my Sunshine.”)

Oh how my grandparents would have loved our adventure to London…and especially our time at St. Pauls. It would have made them so happy.

Carrying around my Mary Poppins bag to hold our souvenirs felt like having a piece of them there with me.

I didn’t use a pattern to create the bag….I just stitched together giant Log Cabin Quilt Blocks for the front and back using THIS quilt as you go method and then simply stitched them together. After that I added a lining along with some handles I have had on the shelf for ages. And just like that, I had a bag.

After finishing I went back and added the bird silhouettes…because…well, because Feed the Birds.

Then, as I was adding the birds, I realized I needed to add one more thing…a bag for my tuppence!

An hour later I had just what I needed:

A simple zipper pouch from grandma’s fabric and a rosette from a scrap of grandpa’s shirt.

These two things that were so simple to create, brought me joy on the journey, and came back full of memories old and new.

“Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul’s
The little old bird woman comes
In her own special way to the people
She calls, “Come, buy my bags full of crumbs”

“Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you’ll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare
All it takes is tuppence from you”

“All around the cathedral, the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can’t see it, you know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares”

“Though her words are simple and few
“Listen, listen”, she’s calling to you
“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag”

Family, stitching, London, Log Cabins, Mary Poppins, and St. Pauls.

How lucky I am to have this magical “carpet bag” that carries with it sweet memories of childhood and family adventures. Just glancing at it floods my heart (and more often than not my eyes) with so much love.

I highly recommend stitching for vacations…let’s call it “destination sewing”…it helps build excitement for the journey and returns home with you soaked with the echos of beautiful moments.

Happy Stitching!

-liZ