I am new to quilting and am wondering if I can mix cotton squares with some shiny fabrics that look like satin. Is there any rule about that? Or- can you mix cotton with flannels?
Also, I have been watching on this site for several months to learn...have bought enought material for more than three quilts and have not started to cut any out! The fear of making a mistakes holds me back. Is there anything I need to know before i start cutting? I'd like to work on it this weekend...
Thanks so much for your feedback and patience.

it is best if you use the same fabrics for the quilt but if you dont you should pre wash to shrink all the fabrics. it depends on what you are going to use the quilt for. for beginners 100% cotton is easiest to use. IMHO

Welcome!
You can mix all types of fabrics. Cotton and flannel - absolutely. Cotton and shiny may be a bit trickier.

Don't be afraid to cut into it. You say you've got enough fabric now. This weekend is as good a time to start as any!
I guess my first suggestion is to see if you can cut a nice straight 2" strip. If you need more practice, you won't have wasted too much fabric.

I thought you didn't need to preshrink the cotton before you cut...am I wrong?

You can mix cottons and flannels, just be sure to prewash because flannel will likely shrink quite a bit.
As far as cotton and satin, you could mix those, but you want to be sure that the satiny fabric is washable and you should also test it with your iron, the higher setting for the cotton fabric could damage the satiny fabric. The satiny fabric will be harder to work with also, it tends to be slippery. If you are a new quilter you may want to stick with cottons and flannels to start out with, they are much easier to work with.

I have mixed quilting cotton with flannels in several of my quilts. I'd be more wary about satin just because it might not hold up to the same sort of wear as cotton. But for a wall quilt, it might work fine.

Find a tutorial on rotary cutting and just do it! You will make mistakes, but the world won't end. :)

Prewashing never hurts and will give you an idea about how the fabric will act. If you are mixing them, better to know before than after. If you like the feel of the fabric before washing, use a little spray starch and iron them after you wash and dry.

I think I will do a flannel baby quilt first...I can't wait to start cutting. I know how to measure and all that. There is no trick to how I lay the material before I cut???? Seems easy enough.

Well, that will bring up a whole new discussion.

It's an age-old debate. To pre wash or not. Just a matter of personal preference. Out of the thousands of people on this board, I would say that about 50% prewash and 50% don't.

But if you're mixing fabric, just know that flannel does shrink more than quilting cotton. Maybe that's why it's good to prewash the flannel.

Connecting Threads has a tutorial for beginning quilting, as well as other sites. If you are not sure how to lay out the fabric, I would look at several of these sites. You Tube also has some videos.