How do you determine what kind of pattern?
 

Help, I bought some fabric on vacation - it's a rather large print of cat mermaids (love it!), and I can't figure out what to do with it. It's one of those kinds of patterns that is too big to cut up, so I'm thinking of just cutting 12" squares and doing sashing inbetween, with cornerstones made from the scraps. Simple and easy enough right? Except the turkey lurkey side of me (the side that has to overdo, overexcel, and just plain show off) insists that this fabric must be used for something more fancy. Any ideas?

Can you post a photo of the fabric?

how about the BQ2 from Maple Island quilts?

off the bat, why don't you use 12" of the fabric as the window in an attic window? that is simple (relatively) and quick. I've done this before and people think it's much harder than it was...I cut the vertical sash one color, the horizontal another, sew each from top/side to where they will meet, stopping a generous 1/4" before the corner and fixing the thread. Sew all the blocks to this point. Then, I do an eye-ball miter, folding the fabric borders to continue the 45 degree line. Then, I also mark (I prefer to do once than twice!) and sew. Iron, then, if you want a more 3-d kind of look, add a sashing between the blocks and sew the blocks together. Or just sew them without sashing. I add a sash to the outside that doesn't have anything because I feel it closes the quilt. Then, border if you want. Quilt with an allover pattern for simplicity or more complex if you want. JMHO of course!

I agree, any of the BQ patterns start with large squares and are great for large scale fabrics.