I"m helping my daughter with a ladies retreat. She always has some kind of craft/handwork to teach the ladies in about 45 minutes. This year she wants me to help with a very small quilt project. Of course, I would have everything cut, prepared for them. Do any of you have any ideas? I will want them to complete (or be able to complete on their own) and take home with them. Thank you.
Molly

Do these ladies sew? Will they have sewing machines?

If just hand sewing, perhaps a log cabin potholder or another design that has simple easy pieces. Everyone can use potholders.

OR, even a pillow top, say, 12". For the insert opening use an overlap. You won't have to worry about buttons or zippers.

I'll think some more on this!!

What about paper piecing ? Make a pot holder with the pieces that you put together ?

At our last retreat we made the snap bags out of carpenters rulers, will they have sewing machines?

One possibility is pin cushions. Small, quick, and could be hand-sewn, too.

What do you think about letting each of them make a Hickory nut coaster or hot pad. You could have the components all cut out and let them pick the two colors for it. they would be easily put together by hand and be personalized by them picking their own fabrics. Pretty, useful and a great keepsake.

The criss-cross coasters can be upsized to potholder size very easily. When we made them we used 8.5" for all our squares, and that makes a nice size potholder. No binding or quilting; just 4 straight lines of stitching. The plus for you is that all you have to cut out are 8.5" squares of everything.

Darren

How much time will you have allotted for this? You mentioned 45 minutes for your daughter's project, but not your time frame.

They will not have machines. How do you make a bag with a carpenter's ruler? Sounds intriguing.

What is a hickory nut coaster?