My oldest daughter has always been our girly girl and my youngest daughter has always been our tomboy. It seems that they've been rubbing off on each other in the past year as my youngest daughter changed her favorite color to pink (though she's still a Giants football fan) and my oldest daughter still loves her Cinderella dolls but recently started loving dinosaurs. A friend gave me this fabric panel of dinosaurs and I was attempting to make it into a simple wall hanging when my daughter asked me to make into a quilt for her bed.

My question is this; she's still mainly a girly girl but wants this very drab fabric panel made into a bed quilt that's not too drab for her girly tastes. I'm coming up blank here. If I were making it for a boy, I would use lots of forest colors in it but not sure what to do with it as a girls quilt. I was thinking of using an autumn yellowish-orange-red (using the colors in the background of the panel and the reddish oranges in the dinosaurs) to brighten it up a bit and making this the center, but I'm just not entirely sure.

I see some nice purple shades in there too - would go nicely with the autumn shades.

I think golds and bright greens would be beautiful. Maybe in batiks with lots of swirls?

I like the lavender/purple Idea too. Keep us posted to what you chose.:)

Pale yellows and lavendars would make it very pretty.

gold, ruby, amethyst, and emerald

what girl doesn't love jewelry and jewel colors

If your daughter likes the color purple, I too see that as being a great choice. I also like the batik idea, I'm sure you can find some great purple batiks that bring in fragments of some of the other colors of the panel to make it tie together. This sounds like a fun creative project, I can't wait to see what you come up with, make sure you post it for us!

i would say shades of purples and greens with a small to slightly medium paisley print.

Maybe have your daughter help pick out coordinating fabrics that she would like to go with the panel. Then you know that she will like the end result.

I like greens and purples with a dash of yellow or gold for your other fabrics.

I'm seeing a log cabin border with purple on the dark side and pinky mauves on the light side. Batiks would be perfect. You can go back to a green/lavender batik for the outside border after a stopper strip of any strong color.

Oh that sounds beautiful!

golds and purple

Ooh, there are so many good ideas in here. I like the thought of a log cabin look and I didn't even notice the purple tones until you mentioned it. I'm thinking a log cabin with purple for the dark side and maybe the honey orange colors for the lighter side? The honey orange colors I was thinking of were inspired by some Hoffman batiks I saw recently so I love that you all thought of batiks, too.

Purples and golds, maybe some fern/fossil kind of fabric as well.

To make it more girly, I would use gingham around the edges.

Another thought would be to cut up the panel and do it into an attic window design and you could make the rest of it girly, so it would look like a girls room looking out into a dino garden?

Just noticed the possums in the upper left corner...didn't know they were around when the dinos were, lol. Good luck

I love the garden idea - I'd ignore the golds and go for the greens and blue-greens/blues and fade to feminine pastels from there. I missed the purple but use that and fade to lilac. Love the gingham idea too. My girly-girl would never have done gold or orange or yellow, too traditionalist for it. :) :) :)

Colours already discussed .... play with the fabric and look for prints that will go with it, yet are more girly-girly.

I like the idea of log cabins with the panel, though it might be hard to keep it girly-girly. Maybe look for florals? Or consider another pattern that would keep the femininity in thru the pattern chosen.

ITA with the PP who suggested gettng your daughter involved. Let her help choose the fabrics and work up the design plan with you. You may be surprised as to how she'll turn it around from what you'd do ... and yet have it turn out great!

You didnt mention how old your daughter is. Maybe this is a good project for her to get involved and do some sewing!

lol... I would try to find a way to make another pieced dinosaur on the quilt with a girly bow.

... or embellish what's there? Maybe they need some sparkly jewels on them too? and some pearls?

I've been thinking about lace! ... you can sometimes get heavy cotton lace in colours ... and inset it here and there, or a wide piece, overlaid as one of the borders.

Not sure how big the panel is and if this is doable?... what about fussy cutting and then piecing around to build them out, rather than keeping the whole panel together.

I like these colors also with pale greens.

Would love to know where your friend got this panel. My DH is a paleontologist and I would love to get this for him. I've wanted to make him a quilt for a long time and this would be perfect!!

And why can't girls like the forest colors? I wouldn't make it too bright or it will detract from the panel and make it look washed out.

Nice panel. I like the color suggestions. Another critter from that period is the dragonfly, although they were bigger then. You might want to incorporate them, and maybe ginko leaves.

patchwork with greens and whites or creams. It really doesn't have to be fru fru for a girl. Give her lots of pillows to put with it. Good luck. Post what you do later. I will be glad to see.

Applique bows on their bony little heads?

greys and pinks and embellish the dinos with rings, bracelets and necklaces.

How about batiks that have splashes of green and pink and yellow? I bought some recently at Hancock Fabrics...in fact their batiks are 50% off through today.

I'm with earthwalker, ferns would be awesome.. I have a couple of dinosaur tops made with fossil material, but it's rust and tan..it is a great blender for dinosaurs. I LOVE that panel.. do you know who makes it? I'm also wondering about taking it and trying to find some fabrics in solids or batiks that will reflect/co-ordinate with the green in the border and make a "trip around the world" border around the whole thing.

applique some flowers on these bushes....

I don't think its a drab panel at all, I think its great. It has lots of colour in it. You don't say how old your daughter is? Not that it makes any difference, as she has asked for it, she must really like it. why not let her help you chose the colours?

I don't know why you would put it together differently for a girl. I think your idea of "forest" colours is great, especially if you include some gold and purple and autumn tones as suggested. I'll bet your daughter will love it. Please post it when it is finished, I'd love to see it.

I'd cut off the green borders and just use the printed center. Then I'd pick out fabrics in colors that are in the panel but are more feminine. Depending on your daughter's age, you may look for butterflies or flowers etc. I'd make blocks to go around the panel to make it the size you want.

From the looks of the panel you should be able to find purple, gold and green fabrics to compliment the panel.

My friend got it from a friend and so on. It's one of those pieces that just was traveling to find a home. Sorry. My youngest would probably love forestry colors since she's so tomboyish still. But my oldest loves her girly colors and dinos and this panel.

My oldest is 8 and my youngest is 6. My oldest is currently on a quilting project (a Chinese Coin) so I might save this to do with her since a panel with pieced blocks and a log cabin are more than easy for a beginner. She's totally unsure of what to colors to go with it.

I think dinosaurs are bi-sexual. Ummm, I mean uni-sex, uh you know gender non-specific? Anyway, dinosaurs roamed around when the Earth was still pretty swampy and I don't think, other than flowers there was much in the way of pastel colors. I think vibrant reds, blues and maybe a few pink flowers thrown in for effect would be great. JMHO

Oh, yes, I totally agree that dinos are a unisex theme. It's just that my oldest DD is still a bit girly and likes her girly colors. Not necessarily pastels but brighter feminine colors as well.

Don't forget to lighten up with some soft gentle greys to pick up the stone colors. and maybe more beige picked up from the sky but not matching. Lighter colors usually say more 'girl' I think.

A dusty lavender or earth tone batiks -My niece has an 8 yr old little Girly-girl all ruffles and lace refuses to wear pants or shorts her 2 favorite critters are Pigs and dinosaurs -her bedroom is really different- Barbies on dinos and pigs right next to the dream house and hair salon funniest little girls room I've ever seen

I agree with earthwalker, purples, lavendars, greens, and take your daughter along so she can help choose the colors and ideas for the finished quilt. Wish you lots of luck, let us see it when it a finished top.

i'd add some prairie points somewhere too. maybe in several colors.

With that as the center it is going to be hard to make it girly I would be tempted to make a small throw and add colors in the panel framing it as you need to enlarge. Multiple strips would keep it simple .