A few years ago I made a Rail Fence baby quilt using 2 shades of blue and 1 of yellow. It turned out very nice and was much appreciated by
the mother and baby.

Dian--I made a rail fence earlier this yr. and posted it on here somewhere---wherever the pics are.Mine was red,black and white and I loved it.It was on the front of a magazine(sorry dont know what one)I should say--the pattern was in the magazine--not actually my quilt!!! Have fun!!!

soccertxi,
thanks for your input. I need help with color selections too. I think your suggestions will help.

Dina,
My avatar is a split rail pattern and it has six strips in it. I wanted to make it purple and green, so I used the purple for the dominate/dark color, followed by a batik that had both that purple and greens, then used mediums to very light greens for the remaining strips. It is my understanding that you can use anywhere from two to however many strips you want. It is a very easy pattern, just be sure to lay it out correctly before sewing the blocks together. "Unsewing" is a pain!
Good luck!

3 shades of one color would look very nice as long as they were a light, medium, and a dark. If you do not have a quilting program like EQ, what I used to do was to draw the pattern onto graph paper and use crayola crayons that were similiar and color the pattern. Or try to make a couple of sample blocks first before you strip cut all the fabric.

Thanks again, everyone. I have had the best luck with making a couple of sample blocks before I dive into a whole quilt top. Still, I find I am rarely satisfied with my first, second, or third attempt. Perhaps fabric selection will get easier for me. I am still fairly new....going on two years of quilting, but I have made lots of quilts in that time (32). Many were for friends who selected the fabric. Maybe I just need someone else to select the fabric when it is for me....but then, what fun would that be? :) I often find that when I add two borders, I usually end up liking my end product. I guess I need the borders to tie it all together for me.

Dina