My go to for preteens is a panel that features their favorite interest ( ie: horse, cats, skating?) and build a quilt around that. My grandd also expressed an interest in sewing ( finally!) so l scheduled a few visits where we worked on her horse quilt together. I had a suitable panel, and she shopped my stash for prints and solids to use. She did the piecing , but lost interest in the " sewing part". I finished by doing the quilting and binding. She loves the quilt, and though she found that sewing " isn't her thing", she now has a usable life skill as well as her cherished horse quilt.