another help is the little color dots on the salvage of fabric is a dot of every color used in that print, so you can use those as a guide to help coordinate...
i used to really have a hard time picking colors, especially color runs where you need to go from dark to light say in 14 steps...i used to take the pattern or magazine what ever to either one of my sons or my nephew and say...i want to make this and i want to use...blues...(as an example) i need 10-15 fabrics...which ever one of the boys i handed it to would go in the back room where all the fabric is and a few minutes later would walk out with an arm load...drop it on the table in front of me and say, "there ya go, have fun" and they would go out the door. i don't think i ever had to change a single fabric they came up with...sometimes i would have a color run set out and be trying to figure out what was wrong...something just not right, one of those boys would walk over remove a fabric and say...that doesn't belong ... and they would be right. i kind of took it as a given that the guys were just naturally good at the whole color thing...sorry Jack; maybe you really are but are over thinking it? or maybe just not letting your self go...
all 3 boys are no longer here to help me, 2 moved to Florida, the youngest joined the Navy...so i am on my own again...hubby can help a little but i guess i did learn from them a bit because i am much better at it now than i ever used to be; infact when my oldest son receives his next quilt i think he will be quite amazed with how well i did without his help :)
and as far as it goes with the amount of fabric to make a queen size quilt...it really depends on the quilt pattern...anywhere between 5&11 yards (maybe more, maybe less)i have a king that took 15 yards of fabric, plus the backing...i have big block quilts that only took 4 or 5...it is all dependant on how many pieces you are going to cut the fabric into i think...look through some books and magazines with quilts that interest you and are in the same (style?) of what you like to make and start adding up the yardage called for...seems like alot, and it is but it is oh so worth it! how about a picture of the earth tone quilts you have made? we love to see them and many here could offer some advice on color changes once we see what you are doing :)