It realy does not look bad...I sorta like it. It will also shrink in the wash and dyer. Machine bind it so that it will hold well. I have made one once will a small amount of sewing/quilting in the middle and once washed looked good. I did iron on a few butterflies.

I agree.

You could also tie in between the quilting.

I would either tie in the loose spots or machine tie. If you use colors that coordinate with the quilt it isn't really noticeable and will make the quilt more long lasting.

I personally would leave it as it is, to avoid any chance of hurting her feelings. It is her gift to her grandson, and he's likely to grow up faster than the quilt will fall apart. I'm sure you have other quilts for him, so make this one have a special use so it doesn't get handled constantly, like keeping it with the stroller, or only in the playpen, etc.

I'm with the above poster.
She made it and that's what matters :)

I see some kind of applique, maybe a house and car going to granny's house.

The more I look at it the more I like it,..I would just machine sew the binding, wash and use..when I look at my first quilts I can see all of the little things that I did wrong...I gave them as gifts...I have had to repair a few. Bindings...yuk....anyways noone complained even though they may not have thought they were that great...I thought they were until I made more...LOL...I think its awesome that she made your child a quilt. My boys have even asked me to make a few more for them...it has help encouraged me and do more. I have improved so much over the last few months...My first quilt I made or any sewing was in Sept. I have my first one hanging on my wall...I need to make a new one...that one was awesome when I first made it but now looks like a child made it...

She maybe wanted it to be thick and fluffy. Some people like this look.

If it is for a boy, I would add a tractor in the field and then make a couple of lines that follow the stitching on the quilt to be rows of crops.

But first - I'd ask mom if it would be okay to do this. Tell her how much you like it but you wanted to add something really special so he could use it longer. Not so babyish.

you could always stitch something in those larger areas like maybe a sailboat in the blues, a sea turtle and some sea shells in the tan and maybe a light house in the other. Applique would change the look of the quilt which would work, but you sounded like you didn't want to take away from what she was trying to do.