Yikes! I would have trouble with that fabric too!

What I would do is get online with her and show her some of the modern baby quilt kits available from places such as Keepsake Quilting, etc. Maybe she would fall in love with one of those. The pastel 30's kits might appeal to her too.

I would do a pinwheel quilt and use that for the background and the backing. I would find four tone on tone pink prints, four tone on tone blue prints and four tone on tone green prints in the same shades as the flowers in that fabric to make the pinwheels with.

Maybe a story quilt that tells a mother goose tale - like Humpty Dumpty or Jack and Jill. You could really use your creativity in designing original appliques in telling the story and use a lot of your colors also, but with this fabric as background, there wouldn't be too much of either brillant or pastel colors.

I know exactly how you feel. My daughter picked what I though were weird colors for my GD's nursery. Pink and brown. I found out later these colors are all the rage. We couldn't decide on fabric so I went and bought the window valences that were part of the nursery collection she wanted. I took them apart and went and bought fabric to go with it and made a quilt. You can see it in my avatar, my granddaughter is sitting on it. It turned out really nice. Made us both happy.

I would make her choice the backing and then she can just turn it over if she doesn't care for your choice. Win Win.

If it's for someone else, I would make it the way they like it. I wouldn't put any of my own input into it unless they asked. They're the ones who are ultimately going to be using and looking at it every day.

Think of it as a challenge. Pick a couple brite fabrics to go whith the main one and then go to town. Remember it's a gift and she will love anything you do.

time to step outside your box and accept the challenge of working with something you never work with. buy the fabrics SHE liked- browse through lots of pictures, books, magazines- and try something new.
it took me years to finally force myself to use black & white---i just could not get my mind around black in a quilt as a predominite part---now- 3 black & white quilts later i am quite comfortable with black---but that first one was a definite challenge!
that is how we grow and learn---by trying new things- with fabrics we would never choose ourselves.

Lose Lose. Wouldn't it just make you feel special to have somebody totally disregard your taste and put your fabric choices on the back? It would make me feel so special I'd let the dog have it or wad it up and throw it in the back of the closet. What's so hard about making something for somebody with their color choices?

churn dash, pin wheel,
dresden plate, sampler quilt