winterpromise31

I hope I'm posting in the right place!

I was wondering if I could get some advice on my fabric selection. I am still a newbie quilter and fabric selection is where I feel the least confident (I should stick to buying fabric collections instead of trying to match things myself).

The first photo is the pinwheels I'm making. This is my first time doing both HSTs and pinwheels and I am having a lot of fun with the design. However, I'm not feeling confident about the yellow and brown blocks.

The second photo is of the other fabrics I have picked out at the moment, though I'm going to be finding a darker orange to replace the medium valued one. The values don't contrast enough. The top right fabrics are blue but they show up more purple in the photo. Then I have the red and purple to make additional pinwheels.

The monkey fabric is going to be my border and the giraffe one is the backing. I originally picked out the brown in the pinwheels because it looks like an animal print and fits the theme but I'm not sure it works with the rest of the fabrics. The quilt is for a 1 year old boy. Should I swap out they yellow and brown pinwheels with another color, and if so, what color? I already have red, orange, blue, green, and purple included. OR should I leave out the yellow and brown altogether and just make additional blocks with the other colors?

Thanks so much for your help! I'm having fun with the quilt and want to avoid cringing at the end product.

kiffie2413

I wish I was better at picking out colors to help you out!! Some of my "quilty" friends used to tell me to stop being so matchy matchy...lol...I like that you are going with a variety of colors...on the brown with the yellow I probably would have put a tan, dark brown or black that would go with the print (I can't tell what colors the "spots" are in the brown).
Most often the way I start a quilt is I usually will pick my "focus fabric" first...like the monkey print (which is darling)...then I would pick my fabrics that I want to make the pinwheels out of based on the colors in it...like different shades of greens, browns, tans, white/off white, black, etc...
Lastly what matters is that YOU like your quilt...and I can say I have made quilts that I loved the colors when I started, and when it was all together I thought "yuk"...I also have made some with colors that I did not think would work so well and ended up loving them all together...LOL
So, I am thinking all of my jabbering probably has not helped you one iota...but it is good to get get ideas and opinions, just remember "variety is the spice of life". .. Let us know what you decide on, and for sure post a pic when you get the quilt all finished!!
Regards,
Kif

Jingle

I would leave the fabrics in the 2nd picture out. I like the ones in the last picture to go with the pinwheels. Just my taste, I tend to like matchy-matchy. I am trying to use up some of my large stash and can't always use matchy-matchy.Do what you like and you will like the end result. Lay all the fabrics out together and look at them once in a while and that will help with your choices.

mighty

I agree with Jingle I would leave out the fabric in the second picture.

winterpromise31

kiffie2413 - I like my quilts to match if at all possible. lol. Usually I love the fabric when I pick it out but then don't like the finished quilt. I'm hoping to change that! Good luck with your fabric selections!

I hadn't thought of just going with greens and yellows and browns. Hmmm... I don't think I have enough of the yellow and brown because I was planning on using more colors and I bought the fabric specifically for this quilt. I do have a small stash of greens, though. Maybe Joann will still carry the others; I bought them over a year ago. Thanks for the suggestions!

Dolphyngyrl

I think the 2 oranges are too close in value, but the others look fine to me

Milli

​I think the same.

Marilynsue

Maybe you should leave the two bright oranges out, but using the rest will give your quilt a really colorful scrappy look. I like your choice!

nhweaver

I agree with Jingle, leave out the fabric in the second picture.

kiffie2413

I have so much fabric that my lil granddaughter asks to look in my fabric shop when she comes over...lol...If you decide you want to go with different shades of the colors that are in the monkey fabric, I will be happy to send you some fabrics...There is a great lady on here, Applique is her board name, and she sent me some great landscape fabrics when I started working on McKenna Ryan quilts..she would not let me pay her or trade...she said to pay it forward...So, here is my offer to pay it forward to you...You can pm me and let me know if you would like me to send some, what amounts you are needing, and I will try and see if I can find a closer up pic of the monkey fabric to see what shades of greens, browns, tans, etc may work.
Regards,
Kif