If it were me, and I had asked my boyfriend's mother to make a quilt, I would go ahead and give it my sister as planned. I think in the interest of future family harmony, you can't recolor it, change it or not give the quilt as a gift unless you want to create a terrible situation between you and his mother. If you keep it, or change it , you will have a lot of fast talking to do. Chances are your boyfriend's mother will not see it in use ( or NOT in use ) at your sisters house, so whether she uses it or not would not require an explanation. Besides, as others have said, she may actualy like it!

Short of starting over there is not much you can do. Give it to your sister, she may like it. If she doesn't like it take it back and buy her something else. If your boyfriends mother asks why you have it, tell her the truth, your sister didn't like the colors but you did. Don't start a relationship with a future mother-in-law with a lie.

The quilt is beautiful and like others have said once the border and quilting are done the look will totally change.

No one has mentioned fabric paints. I haven't used them personally, but I've seen fabric artists embellish landscape quilts by adding shadows on the leeward side of tree trunks, etc. I think the quilting will add so much to this, but if you need something else, think about fabric paints.

What if MIL is reading this? ! ? ! ?

I say give it to the sister. If she doesn't like it, will she tell you? If so, tell her to regift it to someone in her new husbands family who greatly admires it...hopefully, her new mother-in-law! Your (possibly) MIL will probably never know what your sister does with the quilt. Just tell her what a beautiful job she did, give her a little more money than she charged you and get on with your life! Good luck.

Difficult situation. I think I would pick one of the colors that's in the quilt that you think your sister would like the best, and tell her to use it for the border. Then, I would gift it to her, you may be surprised, she may love it, if not, you keep it, and get her a different gift.

I think the quilt is beautiful! Gift it as planned. Even if your sister keeps in a closet, there may come a time when she will learn to appreciate it and use it. People's tastes change over the years sometimes. I think you are making a wonderful gesture in having something handmade for your sister. Surely she will at least appreciate that!

Since she's your boyfriend's mother, she's bound to find out, sooner or later, so I would not lie about it! If the quilt isn't yet finished, I'd just pay Sharon for the work she's done and tell her the truth - that her work is beautiful but you made a big mistake about the colors you chose. Make sure you put all of the blame onto yourself and not her work. Then ask her for suggestions, as to what to do about it. In other words, be mature and admit your mistake; don't lie to her!

Oh boy, been there, done that. As many have said there isn't much you can do but smile and either keep it yourself or give it to your sister as planned. But here's something to consider: you have no idea how wonderful it may turn out once it's quilted. I never really realized how much the quilting adds to a quilt until I saw the "before and after" hanging on my LQS wall. A friend and I were making the same quilt but with a different color palate. She finished her's before I did (still working on it-lots of diamonds, taking it slow) and the shop owner asked if she could hang it up on the wall to advertise the book. I didn't like it at all-personal preference. Then two weeks later I saw it up on the wall again but this time it had been long arm quilted and binding on. It was fabulous! The quilting truly made that quilt a thing of beauty. So wait and see. You may find all turns out alright in the end. You may fall in love with it and hate to give it to your sister. Been there too.
Heidi

I agree with the person who suggested using other colors for the border. Personally, I would not use the green for a border. I would probably use the purple outer border. You might want a thin inner border of the green to separate the purple border from the purple blocks.

As to what to do? Give your sister the quilt. She can return it to you if she doesn't want it but at least you'll never have to lie. If Sharon finds out someday that you have the quilt back, you can say that it didn't fit your sister's color scheme and you were so pleased that she returned it to you because you had a hard time parting with it. Yes, a little over the top, but at least you're not lying.

Why not put a pink border, a white border, then use a dark green final border.