I might stick to a pattern, however definitely not to color. I have had trouble being too "matchy-matchy" in that the colors of the quilt had to blend one way or another. Then about 20 years ago I was hosting our bi-annual family reunion and decided that I would like to make a quilt to commemorate the occasion. The previous reunion my brother and SIL asked that each family pick a color for their family and wear t-shirts in that color to the reunion. My aunt and uncle were going to be visiting from CA and had never met most of us, so this way they could tell who belong to whom and the tradition continues. So, I bravely asked for the family members to send in fabric in their "color" and I would make a quilt. To say making a quilt with orange, green, yellow, red, teal, navy, black and purple was out of my safe zone would be an understatement. I made the quilt with each family represented in an album block quilt. It was a hit and my oldest brother won the quilt - I'd asked that if anyone wanted more than one ticket for the quilt, it would be $1 to help offset the cost of making the quilt, batting, backing, background, etc. I'm proud to say that every reunion my family looks forward to see what I've made with their fabric. After 2 years of making family color quilts, I went for red/white/blue, navy blue, blue, etc. and this year went for black and white. I definitely stepped out of the box with those quilts, sometimes using what might be called "ugly" colors, but the quilts all came out beautifully, and I'm glad that I will live on through my quilts.