I use 6 fabrics for the main part of the quilt--two lights, two mediums, and two darks; and I try to make sure there is a variety of prints--small scale, medium scale, large scale. I also strive to make sure there are a variety of types of prints--circles, squares, dots, floral, novelty, quiet, noisy, etc. I will sometimes use different fabric for the borders and/or back--still keeping within the color scheme and subject theme that I chose. I also tried to make sure that the same two fabrics didn't touch each other. These "rules" always gave me interesting quilts when I made a yellow brick road quilt. Carolyn