Memory quilts
 

I have been volunteered to make memory quilts for my siblings from my mother's clothing, I thought I had a plan and in the mean time have lost a brother. I have since come up with a bright idea of making the quilt from fabric that represents each of us. Dad smoked a pipe, Mom liked owls, I like cows, one lives in New Orleans, One is a nurse, one liked Doxies and another Raccoons. Thus I have 7 different materials to work with and am going to border the throws with a piano key border from Mom's clothing. My dilemma is I can't come up with any ideas for the blocks from the 7 different fabrics. I am planning on an off white for the background. Any ideas would be helpful.

I think you could do most any block but would look for something that has ample space to show off the focal fabric (ie. square in a square) Then I'd use a sashing around each block, it would separate the blocks but it would pull the whole quilt together.

I would use different sample blocks and sash together with a neutral. That way you could choose the block that most let you showcase a particular fabric. You can search for the size of the block that you want to make and choose from many different ones.

The BBQ patterns from Maple Tree Quilts would work well to showcase the individual fabrics. You could also use your mom's clothing for the sashing.

How about attic windows? A window representing each one of you.

A sampler block for each person would be nice. Let the background fabric and sashing tie it together. I also like LoriEl's idea of attic windows.