Fidget Quilts for Alzheimers/Dementia Folks

One of our charity projects at Tacoma Lakes Quilters is to make fidget quilts that will be donated to places that care for Alzheimers/Dementia folks.  We had a workshop/sew-in day this past Wednesday.  I had two tops already made that I'd been working on earlier in the week that I took to show:

This one has a birds and cats theme going on.  It's a pretty one for a woman.
There are buttons tied on, vintage belt buckles, a frog closure, a doily, a felt flower piece and a felt pocket, a little cat sewn on with a ribbon that can go in and out of the pocket, a tassel, patches of polar fleece fabric, velvet ribbon, lace...

I made this one for a guy, using a fly fishing vest cut apart as the main focus.
Lots of zippers and velcro pockets, a buckle, a bead on a ribbon, even a tiny level on a keychain buckled on.

The idea of a fidget quilt is to give the person holding it lots of things to play with--different textures, a variety of objects to fiddle with, zippers and pockets...anything to keep their hands busy.  It is suggested to use bright colors and busy fabrics.  Lace, velvet ribbon, other trims can also be added.  One rule of thumb is to only add things you'd let a child have. 

I now need to add a thin batting and a backing to each one and then quilt it to hold the layers together.  I could eliminate the batting if I back it with fleece or flannel or blanket material.  I think the finished size will be about 24" square.