the color dots on the salvages are the true colors used in that piece of fabric (all of them)so the salvage dots will help you match colors perfectly-
an actual swatch will help with design too-
often 2" is just not enough to show the true feel of the fabric- sometimes it is (if it's a very small print)
i generally try to cut a 4"-6" piece of fabric-an extra 1/8 yard gives you an extra 4 1/2" strip of fabric--
a small project notebook is nice= you can glue strips of each fabric you are using along with pattern information- and any key notes all together to refer to when ever you need to= it also lets you go back at a later date and see exactly what you used for any given project....i keep one for projects and a separate one for battings