Do you know what some of his interests are?

Not all kids are into space and/or sports.

I had a space themed panel and made two (mirror-image) quilts for great nephews when they were five and seven. Made them larger than "kid size" and, as far as I know, they're still using them six years later.

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Disappearing 9 Patch is my "go to" pattern. I am making a quilt one in a 3 colorway (Black, gray, red) right now for my son-in law for Xmas and one for my son (in various prints of greens, blues, burgundys, browns, golds,) for my son for Xmas. (I bought charm packs for this one so I have fabrics that are coordinating and already cut into 5" squares). I'm using a neutral background (Ivory) in 4 of the squares in every 9 patch I make. That way it is not quite so scrappy and I only need 5 squares of the colored prints for each 9 patch.

For my grandson, he helped and we made a pieced giant block of his favorite sports team the Thunder. I showed him different blocks and he picked a nine patch. We made one big block for the center of the quilt, added top and side and bottom borders. I have also made denim quilts by taking the backs of the legs of jeans and overlapping the strips to make it as long and wide as you want. The one edge will be frayed and will overlap the previous one. For color and design I couched yarn in outline designs of simple things. The kids love these to sleep under