I have not made this quilt but have certainly admired it as I do with just about every Sue Garman pattern I have seen. I would think you could easily use two or more different background fabrics that are very close in tone, value and color with this quilt. For example you could use one fabric for the center star, a different one for the halo geese and yet another one for the Delectable mountains outer border and a mix to do all the tiny pinwheels, sawtooth stars and HST borders. Do you have a couple of neutral backgrounds in your stash that are close in color value and tone you could supplement? If the pattern calls for 11 yards I would say yes it will take 11 yards even if it is not PP. Sue Garman is not known for making PP patterns but the curved FG may be. Those curved FG alone would use a lot of yardage because of the nature of the curved piecing and how you have to cut the fabric for the background pieces which look to be assembled like a NYB block. And yes you will end up with some waste but there is no way around that. You could use some of the waste from the FG to make smaller HST units. Perhaps Sue writes the patterns in a way that doesn't utilize the waste from the Curved FG blocks. Also that center star looks pretty big considering the finished quilt measures 86" square so the background for that could easily take over a yard for the setting squares alone. Gorgeous quilt.