Guess I'm old fashioned. I still use white. Got some at walmart fabric dept. 108 in wide for 5.97 yd.

LOL The same here especially with 14 children. I think the quilt in my avatar is one of the only quilts I have with a white back ground. The blocks were made for a retreat swap but I was too late to enter so I ended up making more and turning it into a quilt. I like colors. Different tans/shirtings would be my other option especially for reproduction prints like civil war or 1930.

I choose backgrounds according to the pattern and the other fabrics I am using, do I want high or low contrast. I often use very light colors that I have in the rest of the piecing. I audition fabrics for backgrounds by placing all the fabrics from the quilt on the possibles. I also love the look of many different, but similar in color or value backgrounds. I love the process of selecting fabrics.

I mainly use white or cream.

I am not big into WHITE. So usually a neutral or color depending on the pattern and how I am going to use it.

every quilt i make is different than the one before it- so every background is different too- each quilt has it's own (theme, color scheme, pattern) needs it's own background-could never just pick one to use all the time- i never make the same quilt twice.

If you can find Awesome try it. soak your quilt for a couple of hours or overnight then wash as usual. It took red stains out of my quilt that had been washed and dried numerous times.
Someone else had a stained quilt and I posted this same information. Wonder if that person found Awesome and if it worked for them?

I happen to really love white or white on white backgrounds but I think that is in part because it is "safe" and that I have had lots of white fabric to use that was given to me. The longer I quilt the more likely I am to use a color for my background. Just part of the learning process I think.

I use whatever I think coordinates best for the project....recently made a hanging gardens quilt in jewel tones and the white on white design worked beautifully. Right now I'm working on a Christmas embroidery project and am using a white on white that looks like snow so I guess it just depends on the project and the look I am going for. I like the texture that a tone on tone gives a quilt so I doubt I'd use plain white or for that matter plain anything. On other quilts I've used whatever color I think looks best to enhance the quilt.

It depends on the quilt.
As a general rule I use a Marsha McCloskey background fabric.