It really depends on the pattern you use. If you mean the jelly roll race, I've never made that so I don't know how hard it would be to keep same patterns separated. But some jelly roll patterns would work fine with fewer different prints.

I thought there were about 21 different fabrics. Roughly 2 stripes per fabric. Not sure how 5 fabrics would work .

you will probably have some of the same fabric next to each other in any jelly roll quilt.
with your limited number of fabrics. I would cut the strips in half and mix them up. You will still get the effect but shorter lengths. With jelly roll quilts, I don't believe it makes a difference if two of the same fall beide each other. That is the beauty of the style. I would not stress about it Let the strips fall where they will.

you could use any other surprise accent color. i like bright lime green with black/white.

I would wait until you have more than 5 fabrics. Certainly you could cut strips from fabrics in your stash, or head out and buy some inexpensive fat quarters when they're on sale for 99 cents just to add variety to your quilt.

Thank you all for the advice I have more on the way.

I love the Christmas trees. And I like that you went BIG on your appliques. Makes for striking looking quilts. Ans another idea to tuck away!

Take a look at www.modabakeshop.com for some more ideas for your strips. Maybe you can add some borders to your basic jelly roll race quilt.

Very nice, love the way you done with applique.

What a great Idea, I am going to start doing that, It will make a great memory quilt of all the quilts you have made.