loisf

Here are two partially completed scrappy tops that I have just made. One is controlled for color, but uses every kind of fabric from solids, to batiks, to Civil War prints. The other contains every color and pattern, but is controlled for light and dark. You can do anything that appeals to you.

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Pagzz

Beautiful quilts Loisf.

Quilterdale

Almost every quilt I make is made from the scraps that are donated to me. People give them to me because I make a lot of quilts for our local firefighters to use to raise money, or to the breast cancer benefits held every year and that sort of thing. I believe VALUE is more important than color in making scrappy quilts. I'm posting two pictures of charity quilts I made so you can see that even though I use all pink scraps for the breast cancer awareness quilt, it looks like the ribbon is folded across itself because of the different values in light/dark I used. And the one made with one inch squares is the same. I used whatever piece of fabric came to hand but if it was light it got sewn to the light side and if dark to the dark side. If you look closely you will see that sometimes I miscalculated the value and put it in the wrong group. So what. It is still a lovely quilt and the people who receive them are very happy to get them. Do your own thing but pay attention to the value.

RST

Scrappy doesn't have to mean random placement. My avatar quilt is extremely scrappy, with everything from batik to novelty print to calico and seasonal.

My rule for myself in making very scrappy quilts -- the more divergent the fabrics are, the smaller the pieces. Generally with scrappy quilts I like the individual fabrics and prints to be something only noticable with close inspection. From a distance I want all the various pieces to take a back seat to the overall design.

tuckyquilter

I do mostly scrappy and am normally pleased with the outcome. I literally use what I grab for the most part, not caring if it's civil war, 30's retro or modern. Used more scraps for the keyboard ends to make it a bit longer. This is a good example.

mea12

Thank you everyone. Each quilt is amazing. I just can't imagine the thousands of pieces in quilterdale's second scrappy above! That one is a masterpiece. All are lovely. I took the advice about "values" to heart and that was definitely what the problem was. i now have 3 piles of light/dark/medium to pull from but i have 2-3x more mediums than either light or dark. no problem..stash abounds so will cut more of each.

Snooze2978

I never liked scrappy before till I tried one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns...........then I fell in love with scrappy. Now I try to use scraps in every quilt. Sometimes its a controlled scrappy, sometimes it anything goes. Still can't keep up with the scrap bin but I'm making some progress. Right now I'm using scraps in the veggie and fruit style putting them into long strips with a navy blue between them, adding a decorative stitch between them and these will become the front side of my new kitchen placemats. The backside are also scraps but wider strips, again with decorative stitching. Love when I can make something from just scraps so to me its a freebie.