Yellow Brick Road is a good pattern for the newer large print fabrics. Used it also for a batik bedspread and get a lot of compliments on it.

I find that I'm not attracted to the new lines coming out. I did pick up a FQ bundle 3 times in a LQS before I purchased it. I chose to make a D4P, and found out that it was too small for the large flowers. But, the colors are pretty. It makes it so much easier to go to my stash and my batiks. Nice to try it. But so far, I haven't really jumped into that pool with both feet. I am just observing for that something that says, you have to do this!

Since I tend to lean toward traditional rather than modern many of the new design just don't work, I have to really be careful....thank fabric fairy for my stash, but I guess everything has a place....But they certainly are a treat to look at...some might even make cute wallpaper!

I'm not overly attracted to the 'modern' quilting movement. Not really fond of most of the colorways or designs. More of a traditionalist when it comes to quilting. That said, I usually like more contemporary fabrics in traditional designs. Some of the patterns really need at least a bit of a large scale fabric so the newer fabrics may work. I also only buy for projects and rarely use a 'line' of fabric when selecting for a project.

For most of what I do, I usually need large; medium; small scale within each project.

Many of the "new" fabrics are hard for me to work with also -- by the time I figure out what to do with them there will be a new collection to figure out!

I don't buy the new lines. I'm just starting and am on a tight budget. I also prefer either small prints or solids though I did buy a couple yards of a dark blue fabric with large flowers on it at the thrift store. Neat looking fabric and the price was right but I'm not sure how I'm going to use it yet.
Rodney

The only quilt shop I've been in lately is a shop that features a lot of redwork and hand embroidery. She doesn't carry any of the Amy Butler types of fabrics. I did buy some winter fabric there. I like theme fabric - lodgy stuff, lighthouses, seashells, that kind of fabric. I can find it around here easily.

I do not buy "collections". I have a really good sized stash so I can often make whole quilts using that.

However, if I were to purchase all new fabric for a quilt----I would look for a fairly large scale print for the border that I loved. Maybe choose a couple more fabrics from that collection but then would walk around the whole quilt store looking for fabric that would work well with the big one. If it has those little dots on the selvedge, it is very easy.

The pattern of the quilt would help determine what type of fabric I would purchase.

I am not fond of the large, flowery prints, chevron printed fabric or anything with a definite striped look. I'm more of a traditionalist.

Most of the time, I prefer to have the quilt design be the focus of my quilts, not the fabric design. So I mostly avoid the "modern" fabrics. They also tend to have colors and designs that I find a bit jarring; for example I recently saw a fabric with fuschia, brown, and orange in one very large print.