Hello to you! I hope you are enjoying this late autumn, or spring, weekend. We had a pretty nice day today–some sunshine and crisp temps.
This week/weekend is the collection week for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. My daughter and I assembled them on Wednesday and then dropped them off that evening at a nearby church. So, they are done!
I started sewing the dresses for the shoeboxes in June. Some of you may remember that I have been getting my fabric from a very nice woman who bought out a friend’s quilt shop in Texas. Twice a year she has been having fabric sales at her home. This year I needed fabric if I was to continue. My doll fabric is all 1/2 yard cuts and the main dress pieces take 1 yard cuts. My post from a past visit is here.
I love sewing these dresses, but they are lots of work. I have no idea if my dresses are fitting the girls and if the dresses are even needed and liked. I mean, who knows, right? We all have different tastes. I thought I’d pray about it and see if I got some guidance. That very day I heard from Margaret telling me the date of her next fabric sale! Yep, that very day! I got the message loud and clear!
I left her house with a garbage bag so heavy that I could barely carry it… and another smaller grocery bag. She was so kind to also let me pick through her scraps and offered me many giveaways–silk ribbon, cotton threads, machine needles, mother-of-pearl buttons, etc. Also, my daughter and I visited her this fall–she said this was the last sale. She sold me fabric for $1 a yard this time! I bought enough for another two years, I think.
This year I got 20 dresses completed! Look at them all! Do you have a favorite?
As for the rest of the items for the boxes we added crayons, a pen, mechanical pencil, paper pads, coloring pages, stickers, toothbrush, washcloth, bar soap, hair clip and ponytail band in a little purse, a teddy bear, and the dress I made. Here are the teddy bears waiting to be packed away in the shoeboxes.
The dresses fold up nice and neat and sit on the top of each box. In case you are interested, I made a tutorial for these dresses years ago. I actually used my own tutorial this year as a refresher. I hadn’t made them in a couple of years… The tutorial is here, or under the tutorial tab at the top of this page.
If you have a favorite dress, I’d love to know… just for fun.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend! Hugs to you all! 🤗❤️
Cindy Rice Designs 
Even though you’ve never heard if the boxes were welcomed, I believe that any young girl would be thrilled to receive a lovely well made new dress in delightful colors with a special pocket as well. My favorites are the ones with the kitty pocket. So sweet. The dresses make a wonderful visual rainbow too. Job well done! 🙂
Thank you, Joy. I hope so! I fell in love with the vintage kitty print too. It’s soo cute! You noticed my rainbow! I did the best I could–thought it would give the eyes a bit of rest when viewing the set of dresses. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Joy! 🧡
c est formidable ces boites! sont destinées a qui ??? des enfants de quel pays ?
Bonjour Marie. Merci! Les boîtes à chaussures vont partout dans le monde, mais au fil des ans, les miennes sont toutes allées dans des pays d’Afrique.
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
or
Hello, Marie. Thank you! Shoeboxes go all over the world, but through the years mine have all gone to countries in Africa.
Hi Cindy, Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day for November 20th here ! I hope today will be nice too. I am awake early, we are going to early church , we are helping out with coffee and donuts after the late mass. I have to say a big congratulations to you and your Daughter for getting those lovely shoeboxes finished and ready for operation Christmas child! God bless you both ! I am glad you are still able to purchase the fabric from that Lady. It is so hard to know the sizing for the dresses but I believe if they dont fit the girl who receives it they will be passed to another girl who it will fit. Your prayer was answered by Margaret! I am glad you are stocked up on fabric for a while. Oh my these dresses are adorable so hard to pick a favorite !! The one pictured on its own is right up there though with my favorite! Awww how nice of you to add all those accessories for activities, haircare and cleaning. The bears are so cute ! What a lovely packaged item for a sweet girl to open at Christmas ! I will go with the pink dress second from left on bottom row as my true Favorite ! Thanks for sharing and enjoy and hopefully relax this day, Terri xo.
Hi, Terri. I hope your entire weekend was beautiful! Yesterday was warm-ish, windy, and sunny here. We got some Christmas lights put up without freezing off our fingers and toes.
I didn’t think of that, that if the dress doesn’t fit the girl who opens the shoebox it will be passed on. Yes! Just like in families with lots of girls. My poor sisters rarely got their own new clothes. Anyway, it would be so cool to see one of my boxes opened up, but I’ll have to have faith and a good imagination, won’t I?
Wishing you and your family a very Happy (stress free!) Thanksgiving! 🧡
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