I got a book from the library from Gai Perry called "Color from the Heart." It had a project where you made a pillow out of two inch squares. You cut them up, put them in a bag, pulled them out at random and set them out to sew together. You were allowed to make one or two swaps of squares if you felt it necessary, but it was a lesson in letting go and accepting true scrappiness.
If the design sitting before you really rubbed you wrong, you could put all the pieces back in the bag and start over. That's what I had to do, and surprisingly I liked it a lot better the second time around. I still treasure that pillow, it was a good learning experience.