jmoore

Quilting is an individual sport...stay with what you are good at. When I took up quilting in 2010, I only followed quilt patterns and would not have even considered a scrap quilt. In the past year or two, having followed Judy's mystery trains, I have had fun with scrappy projects and find motivattion from Paintmejudy and other participants.

justflyingin

Very well said. Ditto.

Macybaby

I've found that if I have something around that makes me feel like I should do something with it - and I really don't care to - it's time to send it to someone that will be excited about it.

I have a co-worker with a teenage daughter and niece that love to quilt and play with fabric. So every time I've got more scraps than I want to deal with, I bag them up and send them on.

I do love scrappy, but even I get overwhelmed by scraps at time. I don't want to feel like I can't make non-scrappy quilts because the scraps are too numerous.

Innov8R

Your issue is probably shared by all of us in one form or another. I cannot do random! Random is simply impossible for me, so it's who I am and it is OK.

bj

I quilt to relieve stress, not add to it. I don't do commission quilts, so I don't have to please anyone but me. I gift them to folks I love and who love me back. Do what brings you joy. If it's not joyful, don't do it! There's a lot in life that has to be done whether you want to or not. For me, quilting is NOT one of those things. ;0)

rryder

Every now and then I get on a kick where I decide I want to spend my time improving my piecing skills and accuracy, so I'll pull out some difficult or technically challenging blocks to work on. But for the most part, I would rather work improvisationally as I get more enjoyment out of quilting when I take that path and I think I have had more "breakthroughs" in my development as a quilter when I follow the path I enjoy the most than I have had when I try to work on things I think I "ought" to do. That said, there are times when I needed to have those piecing skills that I didn't really enjoy working on in order to solve a quilting problem I was working on. Sometimes there is a skill that I need to work on before I can move a quilt forward, at which time my motivation to get the quilt done will trump my lack of enthusiasm for that particular skill set.

All of which is a long way of saying that we all approach quilting from different perspectives and with different goals in mind and It depends on what you want to get out of your quilting. If you want to continually push yourself to try new things, then maybe figuring out what it is that you don't like about scrappy is worth while. On the other hand, if you would rather spend your time enjoying the process of making a quilt and it stresses you out to deal with scrappiness, then don't, there's nothing wrong with quilting for the pleasure and enjoyment of creating something that pleases you, just as there is nothing wrong with taking an experimental approach. There's plenty of fabric and quilting to go around, what we are all in short supply of is time--

Rob


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Jennifer23

Picasso didn't paint like Monet. Stephen King doesn't write poetry. There's nothing wrong with having your personal style, and working in a way that makes you comfortable. If you like other people's scrappy quilts, but don't enjoy the process of doing it yourself, then feel free to pass the scraps on to someone else!

sandy l

Give me a bag, box, tote or what have you, full of scraps, and I'm a happy camper starting another scrap quilt. I've tried to do a "controlled" quilt, but after a couple of blocks, I gave up. To me, it was really frustrating. I don't like sampler quilts either, just a quilt of scrappy blocks and I'm happy.

RedGarnet222

I agree totally. I have to have some sort of order, or it will drive me crazy. Same with anything I am involved in. I respect and like people who can enjoy it, but for me make it orderly. I spent the whole day re-organizing my clothes closet yesterday. It makes me happy to know where things are.
Now my quilting buddy I will visit today is the opposite. She has her things ever which way in her quilting areas and storage system. She is a really fun person and I like visiting her, but lord I could not do it.

joe'smom

I sounds like you would like to be able to make a scrappy quilt, but you have a problem with mixing different patterns and colors. It seems like you have hit on a solution, by mixing solids with prints! Why not continue that way, using as many solids as you need to make you comfortable -- it will be your own style of scrappy. As you work more with combining different patterns and colors, you might find you get more comfortable with it. When you like the way something looks, go with that. If you don't like something, keep substituting fabrics until what you see makes you happy.