I'm sure your husband's friend and his wife would love a quilt, especially if you explained that it was a tradition in your culture. On the other hand, even many modern Chinese are still very superstitious and I believe that it would not be polite to give them something that represented bad luck or was offensive to them. White is the colour of death and would be particularly inappropriate for a baby. Do not even wrap the gift in white (or black which represents times of the unknown). Red is by far the luckiest colour. Blue-green is good for longevity and harmony.
Animals-- as others have said, tigers would be good since this is the year of the tiger, also tigers are considered protective and would sybolise guarding the child's safety. Koi fish are also very lucky, especially red, orange, or yellow. Rabbits represent hope and turtles represent longevity. NO owls since they bring death. Bears (especially pandas) are strong male symbols and butterflies are more female. Dragons are very good animals and many Chinese parents will try to time the birth of their child so that it will be born in the year of the dragon. There are quite a few cute childrens' fabrics with dinosaurs in bright colours available now.
Numbers-- eight is the luckiest number, four is good, and the number two doubles the meaning of a good symbol. Most odd numbers of things should be avoided.
I hope this gives you some good ideas to start with.