I'm with joes mom. I pick a pattern by the over all aesthetically pleasing vision it gives me. And then I go home and change the colors and whatever I want as I go along. THe pattern is just a starting place, so to speak. It's hard for me to visualize the finished piece. I just keep going till it looks done, to me. I just know, somehow. I guess I'm just an old fashioned quilter with crazy ways.