Mondo Bag

Hope all of you have had a wonderful July so far, and that everyone from the U.S.A. had a pleasant July 4th celebration.  I would like to express my and my family's sympathies for the families and friends of the 19 firefighters who lost their lives in Arizona.  This is devastating news, and so recently after the 4 firefighters who tragically were lost here in Houston.  These people are our heros and it a huge lost to their communities besides their families.  We thank God  for our firefighters and police officers.  God bless them and protect them.

Now, abrupt change of topic, onto the next bag in my sad attempt to complete 52 "Carriers" in 2013.  I'm not defeated yet, mind you; it is only half way through the year, but it doesn't look good.  I have completed a Mondo Bag by Quiltsmart.  Originally I didn't want to do this bag at all.  I picked up the pattern at, believe it or not, my local cross-stitch store. The owner was crazy about this bag and made dozens of them.  She kept telling me that they were, "So easy.  No problem.  Whip it out in no time."  Lie, Lie, Lie.  First you have to cut out about 70 or more 2.5-inch squares from various different fabrics.  I used some Lakehouse Dry Goods fabric from a UFO project that was never going to be finished, mostly because I was over-thinking the colors.  So I picked out just two colors and used that as a theme -- oranges that ranged from peach to a searing tangerine, and pinks that ranged from a blush to a searing fuchsia.  Orange is not a color I would ever wear, but paired with the coolness of the pinks, I could get away with it.  Orange it the favorite color of several of my friends, who also happen to hate pink.

I didn't have enough of the Lakehouse Dry Goods fabric for the straps, but I had a fuchsia with gold marbling that blended well.

After you cut out the squares you have to place them on the iron on interfacing grid in the exact pattern per the instructions.  It calls for 2  interfacing sheets. Make sure your pattern has the interfacing sheets; mine didn't and I had to hunt down a store that sold it specifically for this pattern.  You iron them in place and then start sewing the rows together per instructions.  It wasn't too bad once I understood the instructions.  I think I could do a second time with no problem.  The sections where the handles go are VERY thick and my sewing machine didn't like that very much.

It was impossible to understand from the grid that the finished bag was going to be so gigantic.  I have found out that there is a Mini Mondo Bag, so if I ever decide to do this again, that is the version I would go with.  It is half the height of the person I had intend to give it to; she's almost 5'0".  It will never work.  But, you never know when you'll be shopping with your friends and need an enormous bag to haul or the goodies you've bought home with you.  With a bag this bright my friends will never lose sight of me in a crowd! 

Have a good weekend.  Happy sewing!