Some of the little gifts are done

Hello, everyone.  It's a beautiful,  windy day in South Texas, and I'm working indoors on Christmas gifts for children.

These particular gifts are similar to a project that was done during Grandma Camp a while back: a pencil pouch. The pattern is from the Sulky.com blog, with some tiny adjustments. 

The first of several--only two are ready to take their bows today. Yellow quilting cotton, zipper by the yard acquired during the Houston Quilt Festival the year before last. 

Quilting cotton again, with a dress zipper from stash.

Well, the things from the quilt festival have been around long enough to be stash also.

The little alterations to the pattern: 1) instead of using basting spray to attach the batting to the external fabric, I quilted it; 2) the zipper is topstitched to improve its performance. The lining is not glued or quilted, but the topstitching and the top and bottom seams are enough.

The pencil pouch is a great way to use up fabric pieces that are reasonably sized but not huge. The yellow was actually pieced as there wasn't a wide enough rectangle as it was. 

These are also a chance to practice quilting in straight lines of one kind or another. There are some other pouches quilted and ready for their zippers and elastic straps, just ready for a few odd minutes at a time sewing. The planets was quilted in diagonally set squares and the yellow one was quilted in horizontal lines.