Triptych mini quilt swap

I am part of a mini triptych quilt swap. We send our partner 3 related mini quilts. Either all at once or in installments. My partner lives overseas so mine will be all at once. After much deliberation I finally hit on an idea I was happy with. My partner also knits so I am knitting up center pieces for the quilts.  I have the first two done and I am knitting up the third center piece, I am just having a little trouble with choosing a stitch pattern. I have cabled and checkerboarded, now what? I also need to decide if I have time for the February swap theme: Children's lit.