hi 'elisabrat' i know how you feel about working out the colours etc,
how about marking the pattern, if it says 'fabric A', 'fabric B', 'fabric C' and you are using 3 different colours or patterns...
mark next to 'fabric A' blue with a colour pencil and the same with the others with red or green pencil (obviously with your proper colours lol...) i would even go right through the pattern and mark all the way through to the end with the pencils, just so you know you have got it right...
it would save yourself a lot of time and fabric!!!
if it's fabrics with large, med & small patterns to it, then mark 'fabric A' = lg, 'fabric B' = med, 'fabric C' = sm...
and so on...
if you don't want to 'mark' your book, then maybe take a photocopy and alter that...
i hope this helps, (or at least makes sense!!) it sure helps me!!
good luck!!
xxxx