Do you agonize over what colors to put next to each other in a scrappy? I want this to look nice, and I worry that something will be close to something else that will not go with it.

YES!!!! I'm bookmarking this and will watch for answers! Thanks for asking -- I have 4 bins of scraps that I SHOULD do something with!

One of these days I want to do the paper bag method. Throw all the squares in a paperbag and the one you pull out is the one you sew next. That should be interesting to say the least.....lol!

the best part of scrappy quilts is nothing AND everything go together..It's nice to have a balance of lights, mediums, and darks in there, but mostly it's the random placing of the scraps that really adds to the character of the quilt, so be daring, go ahead, put a hot pink next to an olive green, put teal next to red, etc... the more opposites the better, that's why it's called a scrappy... :roll: :lol:

You're overthinking it. Just sew stuff together. Don't even try and match. Matching doesn't work for scrap quilts. Clashing is what makes a scrap quilt come to life and be stunning.

This is why I cannot do scrappy

Personally, I don't think there are any colors you can't put side by side. That is half the fun of a scrappy quilt. I don't look at color as much as value, light, medium and dark. That makes selection a lot easier. This is supposed to be fun....why make it harder then necessary? :D

Ditter

The most difficult quilt my obsessive/compulsive daughter ever made was a scrappy. She agonized over it. I told her to put her hand in the bag and grab and sew. Very hard for her. Once she got past the first few blocks she loved it. Do not try to make sense of it....and do not look at it and say What if? Have fun.

exactly! put them in a bin next to your sewing machine, and just grab and sew..your not suppposed to sweat about scrappy!
i know some can't do it..they gotta follow the rules and such, i have a friend who is that way! she just can't do it..! but she makes the most beautiful quilts, and she is very organized..

I'd like to draw from a bag, but it is a boxed squares pattern. Four pieces surround a little center square. Maybe I will relax a bit, if I can put them out in a row or something....

That is exactly what I do. I cut my scraps into 5" squares and whatever I grab goes next in the row. It's funny, but they all seem to work well together. These are quilts that I tie for "puffy quilts" (as one GS said). They are just old fashioned comfort quilts, nice and cheery. I made one for one of my Godsons when he went to collage. It is now 27 years old and they still use it. It's getting pretty threadbare, but their kids still love it. They call it the sick quilt. Whenever anyone gets sick, they want that quilt. I also put 2 together, sew diagonally and then cut and I have HST. Every quilt doesn't necessarily have to have a spacifid pattern to be beautiful and loved. Also, the ones that I have enough of I sew into 9 patches to put together. Some are sashed, some not. I just finished my 4th one since 1/1. Also, with scrappys you don't need a pattern. With 5" squares 18 rows across and 20 down make a great quilt for a full sized bed. (actually it's a little big, but that's the way I like them. They also make very colorful baby quilts. I made one for each of my kids and they loved them.

I haven't done any of her patterns yet, but I'm inspired by Bonnie Hunter's scrap quilts.
www.quiltville.com

Same here. I need order and a pattern.

When I first started I couldn't even put two different prints in the same block. It HAD to be 1 solid and 1 print. Sure glad I got over that but it was a struggle. Try just making a doll quilt first. Since dolls can't really see, it won't matter what it looks like. Right? Then once you see how pretty the doll quilt is you can work up to bigger quilts.

It's funny that this topic came up today. I am a new new newbie...haven't got the first piece cut for my first quilt yet. I made a couple baby quilts, but that was like 30 years ago!
Last night while I was looking at patterns, I kept thinking to myself that while they are pretty, some beautiful ones out there, they just look like pieces of art to me. I'd see a pattern that I thought was nice, but kept thinking "that doesn't look cozy and comfortable like Mamaw's quilts always did" or "nice, but nothing as homey as Granny used to make". Then it hit me! The quilts that they made decades ago were all 'scrappy quilts', made from cloth left over from making clothes, or old clothes cut apart. I can't imagine either of them EVER went into a store with the intention of buying material for a quilt. Those were the quilts that you could spend hours looking at - looking for scraps from clothes you remembered someone wearing.....nothing says love (to me) more than a scrappy quilt made by my grandmother.
Carol B

A lot of your older quilts didn't have borders either. They just had blocks from edge to edge. Quite a few of my mom's had multiple fabrics in the bindings too. I just posted a pix of one of mom's quilts under Some of my Ladies In Waiting.

I agree with scissorqueen, anything goes, use the paper bag method!!! Once you let yourself goooooooo then it'll be fine!! Have fun!

I agree. Just grab and go. Don't think on this one. The crazier, the better. When you complete it, it will be the best experience you will ever have (because it frees the mind).

I too was overwhelmed with the decisions on doing a scrappy quilt.

I decided to do my blocks in the same color family.

I made tubes of strips, sliced off a strip, opened it up and added it to another strip from the same tube, but I moved it over by one section. The result was a block portion that looked like it would fit into a trip around the world quilt.

I have purples, blues, greens, reds, pinks, burgandies, blacks, browns, and yellows. I sewed them from dark to light.

I decided to do my blocks in the same color family.

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At one point, I had tons and tons of blue fabric so I made that into a scrap quilt. I used a white sashing and one yellow as the center of each block.
I am thinking of doing the same thing with pink now.

Very sad. I am the same way. I think too much when it comes to scrappy!

Boston - I like your purples - can you explain the method regarding the "tube"? I would love to try it!

Schwanton,

I think you want lilaciris. I have never made the tube pattern, but it does sound intriguing.

On one of the threads (I can't remember which one) there was a link to a video on Utube about tube piecing. It was pretty cool. The woman sewed two strips together, pressed them open then sewed one another strip on the same with as the two together. She sewed in on both sides, right sides facing, then put her 45 degree line on one seam and cut her triangle. She then slid it to the seam on the other side and cut another triangle. When she pressed the cut triangles open she had a square with two stipes on one side and a triangle on the other. It was cool, and looked easy.

me too, it all has to match when I do one.

Thank you. It looks like something I would like to try!

I am itching to do a scrappy...just have not taken 'the big plunge' yet.

You hit the nail on the head for me. I could not figure out why I was not crazy about some of the new designs. They just don't seem like everyday, usable quilts to me.

I love to do scrappy quilts, however, I try not to use colors side by side that really clash. Even though it's scrappy, I still want some order.

I second the comment on Bonnie Hunter's website (quiltville.com). The only rule I use with scrap quilts is no two adjoining pieces can be the same fabric.

I totally agree :D

I do the laundry basket thing like that and it is fun. I work one block at a time and then arrange when all are completed and at that time decide on sashing if I haven't already. If I do need a dominate color theme, I will pick up some new fabric in that color, for sashing and to work into each block to tie them together.

Love this post!!! Thanks for sharing :)

ctack2 you are so right, i still love looking at really familiar patterns in quilts. it is very comforting.

I do. Some colors just can't go next to other colors. Even in a scrappy quilt, I am picky.

Sometimes I make sections in a scrappy "anything goes" manner. When I put those sections together, I try not to have any one color or value be overpowering.

I also presort my scraps and pull out the odd pieces that would not go. (I agree with maryb119).

You could do what's called a controlled scrap quilt. You pick all the colors you'd like in the quilt and cut them into scraps.

Couple things....


Boston...to answer your original question, I made a scrappy looking lap quilt once. It was your sister that helped me make sure I didn't have exactly the same fabric next to eachother. It took us all morning. We just pulled stuff out of the bag, then arranged it a little. Here is one of the strips she helped me with:

[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...nprogress3.jpg[/IMG]


In regards to tube quilting, I think Bargello's are made that way. I made my Stairway to Heaven like that. You pick what width you want. In the picture shown, she picked 2 1/2" strips. I picked 5 1/2" strips. You sew each strip in order you want. The picture posted went from darker to lighter. Mine was Patriotic for my Army son, so it had solid red, solid white, solid blue and overlapping flag print. I kept stitching until I had 16 strips with the same repeat over and over again. I knew I was going to have 16 rows. When I had all 16 strips sewn together, I stitched strip 1 to strip 16 creating a tube. You then cross cut on width you want. The picture posted was cross cut at 2 1/2". I cross cut mine at 5 1/2". Then I had 16 rings. Then, you pick out one seam for each ring. You have to plan where you pick the seam out so you can make your gradation go over one square. When the quilt was done, it looked like this:

[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1252296210.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1252296212.jpg[/IMG]

My Mother made 32 scrappy quilts out of wool. Each of her children and each grandchild got one. Most were fabrics Mom had kept from sewing projects years before. We all recognized some of the pieces in our individual quilts and cherish them still today.

My Mother in law simply used the light and dark method, print, strip, floral, etc. But she did use light and dark of similar colors. I've got three queen size (she never made full size as the family members were all big, including her) she made for us as a wedding gift 51 years ago. They are still going, going, going, although a bit tattered. Made with love and scraps, the best kind. Silvia :lol: