IrishMom, welcome to active participation. 1st of all there is no right or wrong way to do scrappy. There are so many different ways. But when I do Bonnie’s scrappy, I try to use each color pieces in each step. When I run out of a fabric I just use less fabric choices, until it’s done. I have been known to add in more fabric choices as the project progresses. Depending on how I feel my pieces are going and looking. I did that last year.
IB, to answer your question, how do I select my fabric. 1st of all, I really like this time of year when I can work on Bonnie’s mysteries. Very rare do I ever go with her fabric choices, since I always plan to keep the quilts or give to special family members. So I pic quality scraps and fq & yardage. I start pulling out large fabric pieces in summer from my stash. This year I note I really like a piece of winter fabric that have some of my favorite colors. I also pulled out fall colors, but rejected that b/c I have several fall quilts. Earlier today I found scraps and FQ’s from a wall hanging I did last year, but rejected that b/c I don’t have enough dark and gold fabric to complete the fabric requirements. So that leaves me back to my original 2 selections (which I will post pics soon). I very rarely go with Bonnie’s colors, not a fan of red or yellow. I also decided not to do this years colors b/c I have r/w/b fabric pegged for several other projects. I’m leaning towards snow flake fabrics in dark blue, light to medium blues, and purple or tourque color fabric (1-3 pieces) very close in color range for the red. Then use the piece I liked 1st as a final border, tying all of my color choices together. Is that as clear as mud. I usually enlarge the top to fit a king size bed. So I added at least a 1/2 yard per color) for blocks and borders to the project. But this year I’m just want to make the queen size. One final note, I alway start a project with extra fabric in case I want to enlarge the project or change up my colors or change the final border at the end. That’s my thought process and choosing the fabrics is one of my favorite process in making a quilt.