The centers don't have to be red - they can be anything you want.
I'm working on a scrappy log cabin at the moment. I didn't co-ordinate the centers. My "consistency" or "rest for the eyes" was in my color combination - the dark logs are the same color family.
If I did a truly scrappy quilt, I would probably choose a color from one of these; light/mid yellow, orange, light/mid red. (I lean more towards orange).
my log cabin on the basting table
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