Making stuff for guys + Giveaway winner!

In my Geared for Guys review the other day, I asked readers to discuss their own strategies for making quilts for the guys in there life. The comments are full of great suggestions, and they were a pleasure to read. Thanks so much for your thoughtful contributions!

Here are some of my favorite suggestions:

Lee Ann wrote:
My brother-in-law wanted a quilt, but one that was not too fussy. He liked the bento box block he saw once so I made his quilt out of a single block, in maroon, grey, and black solids, scaled up to king size to fit his 6'6'' frame. It was a challenge, but a lot of fun too.

Venus de Hilo wrote:
I made a lap quilt for my husband with a bold Monkey Wrench on one side (purple, orange, and lime green!), and a simple framed-square pattern on the reverse with lots of dark blues and greens, in case the MW side was too wild for him. Turns out he likes the bright, bold side better.

Chris wrote:
I made off-to-college quilts for both my sons. I focused on choosing patterns that have a graphic design with a secondary design - sort of puzzle quilts. One was a split 9-patch in the colors of DS's guitar and the other was a wonky quarter log cabin.

Ann wrote:
I recently made one for my hubby: plain 8" squares in a selection of fabrics chosen by Quiltdad aka John Adams for the Fat Quarter Shop, a mix of blue, green, aqua and grey. Simple and much used already!

grendelskin wrote:
I stick more to earthy tones when making a guy quilt. I'll use darker tones for my cool colors and simpler prints on my brights; more tonals than large patterns too, but a lot of large patterns are really "girlie!"

Pip wrote:
I usually stick to darker colours for guy quilts, it seems more manly somehow, with the dark colours you can even get away with dark florals :)

Quiltjane wrote:
I love the faux monochromatic look too. Makes a pieces dance. The few manly quilts I have designed have all been earthy on colour and prone to reflect architecture. I did do one log cabin for grandfather in reproduction fabrics.

tubilinha tiacarminha wrote (translation mine):
I use solids, plaids, stripes, checks, etc., with traditional blocks or simply pieced squares and/or rectangles.

kay wrote:
I made a 20th birthday quilt for each of my two stepsons. In both quilts, I used indigo denim and homespun plaids, and I incorporated scraps cut from their dad's jeans, although the overall design was quite different for each quilt.

CitricSugar wrote:
When I make quilts for guys, I start with fabrics, usually quite neutral and as far from girly as possible. For my dad, I started with browns and greys that had a textural print as opposed to anything visibly discernible from farther than two feet, and added a red solid to use minimally. Then I figured out the design. Simple but interesting. Concentric squares, paper-pieced, alternating one fabric with the red for half the blocks, the rest were squares with one quarter/corner being a different fabric. He loved it so I call it a win.

And winner is comment #22!
ritainalaska wrote:
For the guys in my family i chose quilt patterns that i changed just a bit to fit the guy [6 quilts] and made up patterns for two more...For some of them, i appliqued on the back something special for them. a dragon, a chevy impala logo, a fish.