I agree with the concept 'too many patterns, too little time' and hope I live long enough to try them all!!!
But, I always go back to the first thing I learnt which is hexagons EPP as Granny's flower garden - NEVER seem to get bored of those hexs! I print out a black and white sheet off the computer, pinch the kids' crayons and have a great time doing 'colouring in' to come up with new patterns!
K x