I do take my time, especially if it for someone special. That is time well spent.

Sewing with Nancy had a quilt block that used 12.5" squares. and strips to make a large block. Also you could cut a panel and use in the center and make blocks to go around it.

My background is in design and colour theory. The knowledge helps so much. It makes picking fabrics reliable and quick.

I pick out a print I want to use then look for fabrics with those colors. I do like matchy matchy quilts.
I have used a lot of fabrics up. Now I am into scrappy quilts and nothing has to match. That does make it easier to choose. I am making quilts to donate.

The hardest part for me choosing colors for a quilt is finding the right color in my stash. I've tried for years to organize my fabrics by color, but have only been successful in separating out Christmas prints on a consistent basis. I will pull out totes of fabric knowing that the piece I'm looking for is somewhere, I just can't remember where. The up side is that as I'm on my search, I will find a fabric I'd forgotten I had and it's the perfect one. What can I say? I'm disorganized, compounded by limited space since we moved from a 3-bedroom house with full basement to a 2-bedroom apt. It was a necessary move, however, I couldn't bring all the fabric I wanted, so I passed it on to a dear quilting friend, so it went to a good home.