Lately, I've been letting the fabric lead me into a pattern. I keep it simple, and they seem to turn out well. My dgd's quilt started with a block from EQ7. The 'truly spectacular' quilts would become my UFO's, as I don't have the patience to make what I consider 'truly spectacular' quilts.
There is one pattern that I absolutely love and would fall into my 'truly spectacular' quilt classification. It's called 'Country Hearts', uses 3 fabrics: 1 solid cranberry, one plaid cranberry and one white, and has at least a million pieces - well, maybe only 1500 or so. It's in a book called "Quick Rotary Cutter Quilts, Pam Bono Designs". published by Oxmoor House, 1994. Did I mention that I love quilts that use only 2 - 4 fabrics?
I look at the picture of this quilt at least once a week...maybe someday...