I am a retired nursing home activity director. My residents loved sewing projects. The first thing i thought of was bags. They love carring them around with them. here is an idea of what I mean
http://www.psiquilt.com/2009/08/frie...-tutorial.html
Working with several colors and fabrics ,the scrappy look, is fun for them.
One year for Valentines we made pillows . I brought in pre cut 2" squares and they made heart pillows. For Thanksgiving we made Turkeys for the tables. For a Christmas gift one year we made stockings. E.Burns has a nice pattern for these. We made 100 of them and passed them out on Christmas filled with homemade cookies. I always tried making something for each season. They just loved the idea of sewing and making something.