My way of doing things is usually to gather together as many different fabrics in the chosen colour group as possible - blenders, small all-overs, batiks, swirly and blodgy hand-dyes etc with not too many plains. Often the exact colour scheme is determined by what is in stash and the additional supplies complement that.
The recipient has indicated that she likes blues and turquoise etc. Sort out what you have in those colours in medium-dark tones. Gather them all together and decide whether they look best against silver grey, pale blue or cream, then collect together as many fabrics as you can find from that chosen group.