Need help understanding why I don't like to do certain quilts or blocks?
 

So here is my dilemma I recently saw a family member do a scrap quilt and it was very pretty. But I have never been able to put one together. I have a lot of different pieces of fabric that I could use for a scrap quilt I just don't want to. Right know I am trying to put one together but the only way I was able to is to put solids with the prints. I'm not sure why but it really bothers me to put together colors/prints that don't go together. It stresses me out to the point were it just looks like a big mess or I'm afraid it will look ugly. I think some of it might be my ADHD because I do the same thing with printed paper if there is too much going on with it ---I can't look at it. And couldn't imagine why anyone would want to. I would like to know your thoughts.

I wouldn't worry about it. We all like different things. I really like quilts with white in them. I really like quilts with four or four shades of the same color in them. Not everyone likes the same thing. It sounds like you like quilts that have a place for your eyes to rest. I like those too. I also like scrappy quilts, but I am not interested in making one.

There is room for all of us in the quilting world. Oh, yeah...and my favorite quilt is something purple. Like I said, room for all of us. :) It would be so boring if we were all the same.

Dina

I understand exactly where you're coming from.

I myself have to have a certain "orderliness" to what few scrap quilts I have done. If you look at my avatar, you will see what I consider to be my most "successful" scrap quilt (a Bonnie Hunter pattern). I HAD to have a certain amount of "order" or "continuity" to it, otherwise it would make me nuts.

Just willy-nilly is completely beyond me.

I think for me, it partly due to vision problems - certain amount of color-blindness as well as poor vision in general - and me being a little bit OCD.

So, don't feel bad, you're not alone! :)

I can't do a random scrappy quilt either! What I do is controlled scrappy, where I select some scrap yardage, buy the rest if I don't have enough for that pattern/size and combine these for a quilt. Usually I am grouping based on colors first, then print/value.
I have fabrics that just never seem to "fit", and I just donate those to others making charity quilts who need fabric. It just isn't worth it to try to force ourselves to make something we don't like!!!

I would not worry about it.

If you don't like it or don't want to do it - and no one is offering to pay you a million dollars to do it - don't.

I love scrappies but I do have guidelines. I like batiks and white or off white. The batiks carry the color in the quilt and the off whites or whites give the eye a place to rest. It can also be done with black as long as it carries some form of uniformity. I have a really hard time with mismatched prints.

I am very careful with the pattern I chose to do. I hope to NEVER make another quarter square triangle quilt again. Give me my strip piecing and I am happy as a lark with no problems. Just choose whatever patterns you want to make and don't worry about what others are doing. :)

I also much prefer a 'controlled' scrappy. for instance, specific color choices, a single repeating fabric in all the blocks, a neutral sashing etc. As previous posters have said, there is such a wide range of quilting options, you can have the luxury of choosing to do only what appeals to you. No one said you have to like them all!

I consider quilting an art form. I certainly don't like all styles of art equally, but I can appreciate the effort and the talent that goes into each piece nonetheless.

Quilts are the same. I don't like scrappy quilts at all and have gone almost 50 years without making one. I do, however, understand the pleasure they give to other quilters and users and that's what matters I believe.

There's no real need to understand 'why' you don't like making them is there? It's just not your taste/style. Simple as that. Better to pour your time and talent into a quilt style that you love because that love always shows in the end product.

It's easy: You don't like it so don't do it. I don't like bargellos so I won't ever make one. With all the different patterns and fabrics out there, the options are huge. I wouldn't spend precious time on something that doesn't give me joy. Now that said, I have started projects and found out that I didn't like it much after I started. Sometimes I passed the project on to someone else and sometimes I decided to finish it, just to say I did. Generally though, I have a pretty good idea what works for me and what doesn't.

As for the fabrics and colors, have you considered taking a color class? It really opened my eyes to what actually goes together and what doesn't (and why).