Christmas gifting from the stash and scrap bags!

In the last weeks before Christmas, I managed to sneak into the studio to whip up a couple of little gifts for the girls and guys in my family. Digging into the stash, I found two great wool plaids and made scarves for my two sons, son-in-law, brother-in-law and DH. Simple! Snip-and-tear to size, stabilizing straight stitch along each edge and pulled threads to fringe all around.
They are great - soft and warm, and quite luxurious, because they started with great fabric. I got a text today from DS #1, saying his scarf had come in handy because of the snowstorm we're having.

Here's my DH modeling his scarf - he sat beside my while I fringed these, and never knew what Santa had in store for him!

True to form, I neglected to take photos of both plaids before I gave them away. I know I had extra fabric left, but do you think I can find it now?

For the girls, there are 3 of them in their 20's and 30's, all reluctant to carry purses, but often with a tote bag over the arm. So I thought of small zippered pouches to carry anything that would get lost in those tote bags/laptop bags. Again I raided my stash, actually pulling out scraps left from previous projects, and found my bin of odd-colored zippers, choosing pleasantly contrasting or blending colors. (You know how everyone you know thinks of you, when they've got a relative who has leftover sewing supplies that need a good home? Several years ago I was asked to check the remnants of a yard sale for a friend, and wasn't allowed to leave without taking a huge box of zippers. Most had price tags from McCrory or Zayre, for 10 cents or a quarter.)

I used a very old Butterick pattern that somehow had never been cut into. I think it was a goody bag stuffer from a sewing conference. View G and K are the ones I chose.  They're hard to see, on the back of the envelope photo - the  yellow and black one at top, and the smaller red print one at the left.

These little pouches are unlined, but all edges are serged, so they won't be ravelling with use. So fast and easy, I decided to do one more in the Chinese brocade for my sister-in-law (couldn't give her husband a scarf without doing something for her, could I?) and whipped it up a few hours before we were due to see them. I kept one of the little black ones for me - just because.

Polyester brocade, left from a robe made for Erin a few years ago - she recognized the fabric right away

A peek inside, with the zipper open. The lower zipper opens on an outside pocket. Love those light olive zippers!

I really wish I'd taken photos of all the black ones, but here's the one I kept along with extra zippers to show the colors I put in Tamra's and Anna's bags.

I love the lavender zipper, but that parrot blue and hot pink were stunning against the black, too!

I still have (and cherish) a poem one of my kids wrote as a gift for us one Christmas long ago. A memorable line talks about one of the sounds of the holiday season being the whir of Mom's sewing machine. My heart was very joyous to be able to bring that memory back this year, creating these little gifts of love!