I like that idea with a quilt. There was a friend of mine some years ago who did that with seniors. She had them each make a small patch of material representing where they were from or so, then put everything together. So the quilt has this patchwork of different colors and stuff. Each color had a meaning, like yellow wheat color for the midwest, white for the snowy country, tan and browns for the desert and grasslands, etc. They also put pre-made clothing shapes like houses and barns and other symbolic things, so it wasn't just all material either. So everything had this story of the person who made that particular patchwork.