A few months ago I promised to show you a quilt I made with my sister's kids a few years ago, so here it is :) At the time there were several foster children in the house, in addition to my nephews, so altogether seven kids worked on this quilt, ages ranging from 7 to 13. I invited 2-3 of them over to my parents' house each day over my holiday to make the blocks (Auntie Jo isn't crazy enough to think she can sew with all seven at the same time!), then put them all together at my quilt guild retreat a few months later. Here's the basic "recipe" for making the quilt:

• Have a sewing machine already set up with neutral color thread (we used a Bernette 80e), and a bin of fabrics to choose from (I used my stash of Benartex BOBs).
• Have kids cut strips of fabric to make wonky log cabin blocks. I started the younger ones with a large center square; the older ones with a small square. It doesn't matter if the finished blocks aren't really square; you'll be trimming them and adding sashing.
• Kids trace their hands on Steam-a-Seam 2, adhere to fabric, cut along lines. I let the older kids fuse them to fabric squares; I pressed for the youngest ones. (See the green block with the dog and hamster foot prints? And the two light blue handprints? I watched the twins - at opposite ends of the table - pick out exactly the same fabric at the same time!)
• Let the kids play with fabric scraps and make up their own designs when the quilt blocks are done. We ended up with several little patchwork pillows - one of the boys even "discovered" the four-patch block :)
• I took the blocks home with me and added black-background sashing strips and bright cornerstones, stitched the handprints in place with a large blanket stitch, and tied the layers together with colorful buttons and YLI Jeans Stitch at the corners of each square. Then I bound the outer edge and added several labels to the back of the quilt (each child made their own).

This is a great project for grandkids, school groups, neighborhood children,... set up additional machines and bring in a few extra grown-ups to help if you're planning to have more than just a few kids working at the same time. It's also a perfect shower or going-away gift for a group of adults to make :)