I generally go with what mom wants, unless the baby is a little older. My favorite baby quilt I ever made was called "Sewfari", it was a really neat pattern. It had appliqued safari animals such as an elephant, a giraffe, a lion, etc. The animals had chenille trim, which added a wonderful texture to the quilt. I used all different colors - light blue, red, purple, yellow, green, orange - and I pieced the scraps together to make the binding. The mom told me a few years later, when the girl I made it for was about 3 or 4, that every night at bedtime she would pick a different color of the binding to hold onto when she went to sleep.
It's a very happy quilt.