When I make the scrappy quilts, and want some order to it, I lay out the pieces and just over lap them. That way I can make sure I am not putting 3 blues together, and it is pleasing to the eye. And I do about 6 rows - sometimes 7. And then as I pick them up, I always go left to right and then pin them together with the first one is going to be the far left piece. I leave the note pinned to the left piece and then I know when I pick a row up which direction it goes.
I was forever sewing the rows together and then realized I had put them together upside down. This step helped me to keep them in order.