Last Minute Tote Bag Sewing for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes ~ A Guest Post by Cheryl

Hi!  Since my daughter Sarah took over the blog I have been asked by readers to make guest appearances as I have time.  I thought I'd stop in today and say hello and share a few last minute sewing projects for Sarah's 10 to 14 year old girl Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  I haven't really done much sewing in the past few months, so it was nice to whip up a couple of special things.

Sarah has an owl themed box and I have seen so many cute owl stuffies around the internet that one night in bed it hit me why not make an owl pocket on a tote bag.  So here is my
design and final product.

I left the wings "flapping" instead of sewing them down flat on the inside of the body.  They are lined with the yellow of the eyes.

I thought "yo-yo's" for the eyes behind buttons would make more depth and reminded me more of an owl's fluffy feathers.

The main blue fabric was from Sarah's grandmother's stash, the other pieces I won in a blog giveaway last year as a fat quarter and 2 1/2" strips.  I used the chevron as it reminded me of layers of feathers and the pink looked like individual feathers.  I used contrast to line the handles and the top band on the inside.  I hope the bright colors brighten the girl's world a bit.

Sarah also had a toy to add to one of her boxes that includes gears.  I had won some fun fabric that had gears on it and matching other fabric with it so I made a small bag for the gears and a full fat quarter size drawstring bag that will hold all of her shoebox goodies.

I used one fabric for the front, one for the back and two different ones (including the gears) for the drawstring casings.

I think I am now done with sewing for this years' Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes -- I hope so, as tomorrow we pack!

Glad to spend some time with you all today.  ~ Cheryl

If you are looking for some crafting ideas for your shoeboxes check out our index of Crafting for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorials.