Due to fabric being so expensive over here and a lack of ready cash, I have had to buy my fabric in small quantities over time,I do have some 1yd lengths. I have just bought the OBW book by Maxine Rosenthal and a Stack and Whack, they use 5yds at least of one fabric, for one quilt. I love these quilts especially OBW and wonder if you think I could do it with different fabrics so long as there was a similarity in colour for example, with reasonable success, I am farely new to quilting but was always one to jump in the deep end so to speak. I cannot afford to cut it all up unless someone has an idea it might work..Any suggestions at all would be helpful. I promise not to complain if it doesn't work.

It works much better with quite large prints. If you have those and the color go together, I think it would work maybe a little harder to do, but doable.

I am in the middle of a OBW and 5 yards makes a large lap quilt, almost a twin. Yes you can use similar fabrics, there are no hard and fast rules from what I can tell, or you could try a smaller project. I am making a 36 by 45 wallhanging to "experience" the process.

Yes the larger the print the better.

Loopy I managed to find fabric panels which (in the one shop in Manchester city centre which sells some fabrics) I used for my obw, I got 8 panels (only need six) for £12!!!!!!...here's a link to it:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-51964-1.htm

It's not finished...I got distracted by the baby quilt, but if you search ebay you may just get lucky like I did!!

It is important to use the same fabric as you need 6 actual repeats of the pattern to form the kaleidescope block...in my honest opinion

:-D

Thank you everyone, I will give a hanging a try, If it works I wil try and post a picture, have to finish a D9P first, my first non applique quilt. Izy how ever could you bear to cut up that beautiful fairy???? my grandaughter 5yrs would love her, she is fairy mad. That is a good idea to look for panels, I would never have thought of that.

Yes you need six repeats of the same fabric but if your repeat is 18 then that is only 3 yards.

You can certainly make a "scrappy" OBW, with every block being a different fabric if you want to,just every blade of a given block being identical.
The "one block" refers to the hexagon, not the fabric, because *even in an "all one fabric" OBW*, every block looks different from the other.
So how different is different?
It's a matter of degree.
Maybe you will start a whole new fad!!
Go for it.
.

I made a OBW for good friend's which had 4 different prints in it. Some of the colors were similar but the main reason for using the different fabrics, was it fit them :their house among the fir trees (evergreen needle print), on a lake (fish print and loon print) and deer heads ( Don is a hunter). This will hang on a wall in their home.

Fabris here in Australia is expensive too, I bought the fabric for my first OBW from Whittles fabrics and it was on clearance for only $3-50 a yard. Try some of the online stores if you do a search here lots of people had listed their favourites. I have ordered from a number of them and never had a problem.