I just thought of another idea. I don't remember if was mosaic quilting that they called it, but they put a bunch of very small fabric pieces together like Tranum said on muslin and when they liked what they had, they used dots of washable glue to glue the pieces down. Then they quilted the heck out of it to hold the pieces down.
I could see that if you used squares of muslin and did this technique that they would make great potholders. It would be a very unique potholder and maybe great works of art. I thought this would also be fun because you could really use your imagination and even learn more about how different colors worked together or didn't work together, as the case may be. It would also be great practice pieces for machine quilting. With Christmas coming up, they would make nice hostess gifts or Christmas presents.
One of my friends did a rather large picture of her dogs using a similar method to this and put netting over the top of the pieces. It turned out beautifully and she won a prize for her wall-hanging. I wish I had a picture I could show you.