I love scrap quilts because they remind me of my great grandmother's quilts....they used what they had. I like to pay attention to some colors so that there is a contrast of sorts. I lay the blocks on the (clean) floor and take a picture as somehow the picture gives a better view and then you can rearrange them to suit your taste. Best wishes on your endeavor.

thanks ckcowl. I am just learning about colors and placement too and am looking forward to making a scrappy quilt. I will keep in mind your information. I love this site!

Recipe for scrappy quilting. Do not fret over matching. Cut your squares and put the lights in one paper bag and the darks inanother paper bag. Pick one from each and sew. It will look like a mish-mash but it works. My daughter is obbessive compulsive and she made a quilt using this method. Muslin for sashing usually works well. Good luck on your adventure.

Have you thought about a log cabin? it would create visual intrest, and the pieces would be small so that if you had any that didn't really 'go together' it wouldn't be that noticeable! Here is a great tutorial I've used for a sampler quilt - http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2...eek-day-3.html

Well it depends on the pattern. I like to use both light and dark fabrics for contrast. Have you decided what to make?

There are many ways to approach a scrappy quilt.
I tend to favor using contrast: darks vs lights.

I'll find or design a pattern and decide the position
of darks and lights within the block and roll with it.
(Perfect example is my avatar using a block I designed.)

String quilts are so much fun!
You can randomly grab a strip of fabric and go at it..
Or you can plan the position of color values and use that plan on each block and turn out some very attractive quilts.

...and you will have never really looked at the colors while you made it because the values have done all the work!

one of the most fun quilt classes I ever took was a scrap quilt from Mary Ellen Hopkins she had everyone bring some fabric lights and darks ant the lights went in a paper bag the darks in another and you drew one out of each bag sewed them together and we had some neat looking quilts oh yes if someone wanted to get chosy on picking a color they got blind folded and Marty Ellen is also the author of Its OK to sit on my Quilt

It is whatever you like.

I am a real scrappy type person, but I think that I am beginning to lean toward either color planning each block, or doing as you suggested - - one color in a certain place in the block with the other spaces being a mixture.
Have you been to http://www.quiltville.com
yet? She specializes in scrappy and you will get to see many free patterns with Bonnie Hunter's unique perception on scrappy <wave>

Most of my scrappy are of the controlled variety. I tend to pick from a set number of colors and stick to that. I sort my scraps by color so it's easy for me to do it that way. The other way I scrappy is by theme. IE: Panda quilt, horse quilt, florals. So that still falls into the controlled area. I have never done a full out scrappy where you just grab and sew, although I will do that within my controlled choices.

Anything goes. Just make sure you have some light, medium and dark colors to make it look interesting. If it looks too busy to you, add some sashing and borders in solids or blenders. The main thing is that you like it when it's finished.

I pretty much do all scrap quilts, and agree that Bonnie Hunter's site is excellent......have used lots of her ideas.
Color isn't as important as values of the colors is what I have found.

I'm working on a scrappy string quilt. Not impressed with the results.
So, I'm going to sash it and think that will straighten it out. Its going to be donated but I do want it to be attractive. The next one I'm going to do one color with either a punch of white or yellow.

I made a bow tie scrap quilt. The blocks were white with a different color bow tie. Sure used up lots of scraps.

Here is some really good advise on scrap quilts

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-127283-1.htm

Love the colors! How do you make it without batting?

I really love all types of scrappy quilts. When I make one, I seem to need one color to ground all the other busy ones, a place that lets the eyes rest. I find the more variety, the better the quilt. You will never have a failure with a scrappy quilt.

I think the quilt in my avatar is an example of what you are saying about the sashing ... remember - - as we build a quilt we are really a lot closer to the product than even the next owners will ever be. This causes us to devalue the beauty (one wrong color strip in the wrong place tends to warp our outlook, I think) ... always look at things from a distance to get a better perspective <wave>

a bigger picture of my avatar - - a strippy quilt with sashing <wave>

Here is a good example of a controlled scrappy quilt. I made it for my DGS, he wanted orange, but I had to add some greens and blues and blacks to break up the color a bit and add some interest and definition to the pattern I wanted.
So even tho it's scrappy, I controlled the number of colors and used a definite overall pattern, tho I didn't control how the colors went together in the strip areas too much.

For a bit more harmony - use colors from only half or 2/3 of the color wheel, but use lots of shades of those colors.
Try just looking at the different colors you want to use before you start sewing random colors together.
An example of this is autumn/thanksgiving colors.
Whites and black and other very dark colors are very tricky to use in most scrappy quilts, they are just too too
contrasty, and can spoil the harmony. Try leaving them out before your final decision.

Isn't trying to figure out a scrappy quilt and use of color a "fun" exercise? LOL <wave>

One reason I love it is that it's such fun and a wonderful way to distract me from my pain. It's very effective!

Just make sure that you get yourself a good pair of Rag Quilting Scissors. There actually are scissor designed for Rag Quilting. They're small but very heavy duty. The lower blade is serrated so that it holds all types of fabrics especially the slippery ones like silk and satins much better. This means cleaner, more precise cuts. You can find them online by googling Quilters Rag Scissors

FYI - The lower blade of any scissors does not do the cutting. It holds the fabrics. The top blade cuts the material.

Happy Scissoring

Now I wish I would have put sashing in my string scrap quilt. That black really set it off. Love

put your pieces in a bag and take out one at a time
the more random your pieces the better it looks
what quilt ore you making in scrappy

there is controlled scrappy where you use all shades of one or two or 3 colore for example red, white and blue
or traditionally scrappy you use what you have


this is my everything in the pot scrappy quilt
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-126943-1.htm



another scrappy example
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-128306-1.htm