Hi Schill,

I think you've gotten some great advice so far. IMO, I find quilts with simple piecing are great with lots of fabrics, but with more complex piecing, fewer fabrics are nicer. Of course, there are definitely exceptions to that generality.

I will say, if you have 2000 yards of fabrics, you have lots of leeway to experiment and find out what you like. That's enough fabric for 200 queen-size quilts! You can sew for the next decade without having to purchase much.

I suspect you will find that it's not the number of fabrics that matters; it's how they play together that makes a quilt a success (or a disappointment). It's taken me years to get "good" at selecting fabrics and getting the look I want in the end. If you want to branch out from precuts, the only way to do it is to actually make quilts and see how they turn out. Have fun!

I know your right. Funny I didn't anticipate these feelings while I was accumulating all these fabrics. I guess I assumed I would majically morf into the new Riley Blake. I was always good at home decorating so "I know what looks good." Hmmm.... not as confident right now.

I have a zillion pins on line of quilts that I am partial to just like you do, but as you know it's one thing to like what you see when it's completed, but it's another thing to have the right combination of fabrics to make it look as good.

It's like cooking. I know when something tastes really good, but can I chose the right ingrediants to make it without a recipie?

I think when you like a quilt you see, it is the fabric chosen as well as the pattern design that makes it appeal to you. The pattern I can duplicate. The fabric, that's a different story.

When I'm in doubt or want to make sure fabrics work well together. I put them together and then stand back, take a picture. Then I'll see if I like what's in the picture. Some times it helps to wait a little after taking the pictures then look.

I once read that any 10 fabrics may not look good together but any 50 will. I try not to overthink when I pull from my stash and just get some of every color and as much print variety as I can..... small prints, big prints, florals, geometric, etc.

‘‘Tis is a truly scrappy quilt, everything goes . It probably has 200 different fabrics in it. I had access to the quilt guilds scrap box for a few months, so I went to town .
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You won't like my particular answer - as many fabrics as you want and look good to you. My favorite quilts to make have two fabrics, one large focus print and a coordinating blender.

However, I am profoundly colorblind, which in my case means I can see the basic 8 - brights, but shades baffle me. So, unless I am making a jelly roll quilt, I use at most 5 fabrics, usually only 3 or 4.

I’ve never thought about counting how many different prints I might use in a quilt. I don’t really think it matters if there are 2, 10, 20 or 100. What matters is values ( light, medium, dark); contrast and a good assortment of size - large, medium and small prints. I know I’ve made quilts with more than 100 different fabrics that were truly spectacular

I have to ask you about your beautiful quilt. Looks like log cabin blocks, but not the usual pattern of light on one corner, dark on the other (or what ever contrast one chooses). The over all effect is very gypsy-ish and .....grounding? Any way, I was just thinking I don't like scrappy quilts and then you show this. Fascinating. What width strips are they?

This is a paper pieced pattern from Quilters Cache. I love paper piecing so I enjoyed the process. Strips were maybe 2 inches, but you would have to check. I just used what fit. This was my favorite quilt so far and my cousin who turned 60, talked me out of it. Glad he is enjoying it.

It is a Log Cabin