It’s coming to the end of the year, and I was thinking about what to give my two employees who are reporting to me. I wanted to keep it simple so I decided on gift cards, even though I am torn, since they are a little impersonal.

At the recent craft fair I participated in, a customer asked if I made gift card holders (pockets) that can be reused for storing business cards or credit cards. Of course I said yes. Yesterday, I posted that customers finished order.

That request/order inspired me to make the same pockets for my employees – what a great way to make it more personal. I have one male and one female employee, so for the male pocket I tried to make it male appropriate (the blue one below). Here are their two pockets filled with a gift card, which they will receive tomorrow 🙂

I wanted to highlight the top pocket in the picture above, as I am very thankful to one of my husband’s colleagues who provide me scraps from one of her quilts; this is what I made from those scraps.

I don’t really use a pattern and I just randomly piece the straps together, sometimes with a color in mind. I make the pockets with strips of 7 inch fabric pieces that can be from 1″-1.5″ wide. The final width of the block is 5″ (so  7″x5″ block). I lined them with left over corduroy scraps I had, from making the chair pockets and coffee cup sleeves. Finally, I add the binding on the two ends and sewed the sides together. They take between 20-30 minutes to make (including cutting time).

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts – Finish it up Friday