My aunt has given me a big stash of scraps. Lots of ugly fabric including tropical prints, southwesterns, and "granny" prints. Nothing goes together and it's driving me nuts. I'd love to make something but can't get over the lack of color coordination. (We're talking HIDEOUS fabrics from the 80's!) So, I need some help.

Should I go through everything and start cutting it into strips? If so, what width do you suggest? If've been looking at the scrap quilt patterns on quiltville.com and would love to do one of them... maybe if I view the fabrics in strips of light and dark I can organize my thoughts? Any suggestions? How do you get organized? Thanks!!

One of the most liberating projects I've ever done was a string quilt. You can find great examples at quiltville.com.

The smaller you cut the pieces the more you like them. The ugliness disappears like magic! Throw the cut pieces in a bag and pull them out without looking - sew them together - you will be surprised at nice it turns out.

You may not like my suggestion, but if I had a huge pile of scraps that didn't go together at all, I think I would willingly, and purposely put them all together and make the ugliest quilt possible - simply to always be able to laugh at and show off as one of my favorite projects due to how funny it looks.

Sometimes ugly fabric becomes beautiful in a scrap quilt. But if you really hate it I would try to find it a good home.

those fabrics will look great in a scrap quilt
just start cutting them for a quilt you like on quiltville
put a few blocks together lay them out and walk across the room
now don't they look great!

They would also look good made into mats for animal shelters.

Fabric Bowls.

You could cut strips and make fabric bowls, or mugs mats etc. You'll find a tutorial in the tutorials section that should get you started.

Here is one I love called Cathedral Stars:

http://quiltville.com/cathedralstars.shtml

but it's done in solids.

Someone posted a BEAUTIFUL scrappy quilt on here this morning but I don't remember the name of the thread. It had two strips of color sewn together, each end cut at a 45 degree angle and a white triangle sewn on. Three strips made up each block and each block was turned differently. I'll bet you could do the same thing and it would be really pretty. Click on Search then type in Scrappy and just see what comes up. If you look closely at some of the fabric used in scrappy quilts you'll be surprized at how ugly it is yet in when you put a bunch together it turns out to be gorgeous.

Bonnie has such great patterns on her quiltville site, you are sure to find something to do with them. Once they are cut, you will loose some of those prints, and you will be able to view them more by value...lite, med, dark. A super easy pattern to look at on her site is the Boxy Stars! The prints get lost in the contrast...check it out! And also look at some of her Crumb Cake quilts...amazing what that gal can do with a scrap of fabric! That is why I cried when my hubby left my scrap bin at the dumpster when we moved from Hawaii....all of those beautiful fabrics that I had used to make some of my very first quilts....I can only hope that someone saw them and picked them up before they actually got pitched into the dumpster...what a sad thought!
I am the lady who raids all of the gals trash bags after a class or workshop to bring home their scraps....LOL You will be amazed at what will come together out of that "mess of fabric", and if all else fails....stitch a small top together, practice your FMQ on it, and then donate it in small mats to your vet or a local shelter...there is no such thing as an ugly quilt to a dog or cat who is sleeping on concrete...no such thing as wasted fabric...LOL (it all just wants to be loved!)