jaba when my son was a new baby my brother gave him a quilt for his first Christmas - to this day 31 Christmas's later Jeffrey still has that quilt - he used to sleep with it every night - he used it to snuggle in when he watched TV and as he got older he would still use it as a throw (sh don't tell anyone he would be extremely embarrassed for anyone to know that he still uses it - he says it keeps him warm) - that beautiful quilt is made from polyester - it is a simple nine patch. So if you have tubs of that stuff sitting around you might try making quilts for kids and donating them through church or women's shelter etc.
Wish I didn't have such a time with patterns - I purchased the book and DVD to learn to fit a pattern - I have extra long and large arms and sometimes when I find a tall size the sleeves still are too short - one of my dearest old friends used to sew suits, gowns, wedding dresses and made millions of fancy Barbie Doll clothes was going to teach me to alter patterns but she's suffered some sort of mental depression after being stalked that she lost all her creative desire - I'm hopeful her medications will one day allow her to get back in the swing of it. I've got a couple of simple patterns to start with; what's that saying "Nothing Ventured - Nothing Gained"