I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I will say that after looking at the pattern I like the solid white with the scraps to create a "resting" spot for the eye, and the sashings help break it up too.

I did notice on the pattern it said the finished size was "66 by 66" which is a lot smaller that what it appears on the photo.

Happy quilting!

I think that what makes a scrappy quilt really stand out is contrast. I love to see several fabrics in a similar family and then there's one "feature fabric" that is a totally opposite color. For example...lots of blues and greens and then a small spot of the feature fabric of brick, or tomato red. The reds are on the opposite side of the color wheel and they really make the blues and greens shine. Lights and darks work that way too. If you have lots of light fabrics, then throw in a charcoal, or dark, steel grey and see what happens...some tomato red might look good too...I really like tomato red. :D

~ Cindy

Yes, I think it can be too scrappy but not with your pattern if you make sure the contrast with the lights and darks are good. I went to a retreat with a famous quilter and followed her directions for bringing all the scraps. Mine looked absolutely awful when I finished my little piece. Almost all of the others brought their own ideas about fabric and their pieces looked great. I learned a lesson here. Look at your pattern and make sure that if there is a design that you ear mark them in special fabric.

I have LOTS of HST's, some sewn together and some just as they were 'cut off' from blocks on all kinds of quilts (like from trimming Flying Geese). One day I will sort out the sizes and try to come up with the size I can get from all of them and make a scrappy quilt. Not all the light side of the HST's are white or off white so it will be interesting and very time consuming for a layout. My old quilt club members would have just thrown those cuts away but I rescued them. LOL

I wish I was more confident about choosing fabrics for a scrappy quilt. I have plenty of scraps, I just don't know what to choose to put together. A friend helped me pick some one time, I started and half way through I threw it all in the trash. It just looked like a mess to me!

I do not choose scraps by era or color or types of prints. The only thing I consider is the contrast of lights and darks. Today 'scraps' seems to mean 'leftovers from projects' to many quilters, but vintage scrap quilts came from a quilter's scrap bag that was a collection of any piece of usable fabric she could save or trade for. My only rule is that its 100% cotton and good quality- so it will last and all pieces will wear at the same rate. The more colors, sizes of prints, plaids, stripes, 30's to present, the more interesting the quilt will be. I'm going to attempt to post four blocks for my Spderweb quilt I am currently working on between other projects. You will see fruit, chickewire, roses, bandanas, stripes and many other prints. What makes it all work together is the solid white. Well it will not let me post the files. I will keep trying...

This is one of the pix that would not post... this is a test and it seems my pix need to be resized to post.

I don't think it can ever be too scrappy, but if your quilt was muddy, maybe you didn't pay enough attention to value and contrast. Have fun with your next one.

I think you can't get too scrappy, however you can keep it from being muddy by using light and darks through out.

According to Bonnie Hunter, the "queen" of scrappy quilts, there's no such thing as too scrappy!! My Celtic Soltice quilt has well over 5,000 pieces in it.