You're overthinking it, I make a quilt for my nieces/nephews whenever the mood strikes.
It's ended up being about every three-five years which is perfect cause they're still growing and their tastes have changed and they're loving them to death so they need new ones. They got their first ones as babies, then slightly bigger ones as toddlers, then as preschoolers they tell me what they're into, in elementary an even bigger size and picking out fabric together...it is worth noting that I don't have a gigantic family and I'm a insanely devoted auntie
I can tell you that all three of my college roomies arrived with homemade quilts that were treated like gold and well-loved.