I'm a bit worried, to be honest, that he's TOO nice of a man and will refuse the gift. :shock: Every time I ask if he would step inside if it was raining, he'd say no, no, it's OK I don't want to stay. Kinda like the tooth fairy, leaves the "goods" and goes!

For my husband, I took a bunch of charm squares and mixed in some patterns of things that interest him (baseball, fishing, etc.) and made a lap quilt that way. I backed it with fleece and he is as happy as a bug in a rug. He likes bright colors. Simple, pretty and not that complicated. Took about 6 hours all tolled. Hope this helps.

Irish Chain has large areas as does the snowball block which you could alternate with another block. Or, just do a nine patch with a plain block alternate.

Oh my! Perhaps you can wait for a rainy day and knock on his door. Then as he opens the door ask him to "hold this" (the quilt of course) then take off running for home. Seriously, I am sure you could find a way to get him to take it .... maybe a few tears if he backs away from it? I think you are a kind person to want to do this for him.

OK, I'll throw a wrench into this thread. I just called my kind neighbor, Mr. Burdell, and asked him his favorite color. I figure it would be a good idea to get that information so he'd really like the quilt. He literally continually changed the topic... I'd say "What's your favorite color?", he'd say "You better move that bush out away from the house or it will die"... I'd say "So what color is your living room?", he'd say "Did you get out to vote today?", I'd say "Stop changing the subject, I asked you what your favorite color was.", he'd say "pastels" with a chuckle, I'd say "Mr. Burdell, stop giving me a hard time, what colors do you like?", he'd say "I don't want ANYTHING, I don't have any room.". And on and on it went. Talk about thick-headed. I thought I was thick-headed. LOL This man is going to drive me crazy. I just want to do something nice for him. NOW what do I do??????

So how about a crazy quilt?

Cute!

A Warm Wishes makes up great and would showcase your bird fabric. I found the pattern on the web but don't remember the site. It also was on the linus site. I just typed in Warm Wishes quilt pattern and found it. Am at present making one showcasing eagles for my GGS.

I am sure what ever you make him...He will like very much.
a simple 9 patch with another fabric would be nice.

Since he lives alone maybe you could just make him a meal or cookies or whatever you like. Perhaps he is one of those people that likes to do for others but does not like to be "done for".