One idea for sewing friends is a chatelaine. I made one for myself using a cathedral windows block, which I stuffed to use as a pincushion, and attached a long piece of ribbon to tie my little embroidery snips to. I got the idea from one of Georgia Bonesteel's books - the first Lap Quilting one, I think. But she didn't stuff the block, she used it to put things inside, like a pocket.
Anyway, the directions she gave leave you with a 4.5" block, which is bigger than I wanted. I think you could do the same thing with any miniature quilt block.
ETA - here's a pic, and also you can see how I put snaps on the ribbon to go through the handle of the scissors and hold them on.