Questions about scrappy quilts
 

I've got a question for all of you who make such beautiful scrap quilts. Do you make the blocks as you accumulate scraps or do you wait until you have enough for a quilt? Do you sort the scraps by light/medium/dark or mix at random? Do you mix fabric styles - vintage/modern/juvenile/batik/traditional/floral? I know these sound like very controlled scrappy questions; but I'm afraid if I start adding strips without any thought and make blocks as I create scraps from a quilt project I won't like the end result. The scrap quilt I'm considering is the diamond pattern using a small page (5x8) phone book with a black or dark fabric as the center stripe.

i sort my scraps to dark/medium/light. i wait to do the quilt blocks all at once since i have plenty of room to store scraps. the only other control i do is not to use the same fabric close to another one of the same.

The most successful scrap quilts tend to use everything and anything together willy nilly. And actually, the fabrics that clash give it the most sparkle after it's done. The use of one solid dark will pull your quilt together.

all of the above .... depending upon feeling at the time. I have lots of orphan blocks that do go into scrap quilts and then I have jelly roll scrap quilts, scrap quilts where I just sewing plain blocks together (some all florals, some plaids, one that was solid colors, some mixed) ... And there's always the quilt that is still ideas where I bought/obtained some of the fabric. If I start something and it doesn't feel "right", it becomes a mug rug, hot pad, table runner, etc. Some of these efforts go to a local dog shelter ... the dogs and cats love to curl up on them.
I do have hesitation finishing projects so I do have lots of unfinished projects .....

Our quilt guild is doing a quilt using 8 1/2" square blocks on phone book pages. We did a dark diagonal stripe in the middle and any colors wanted on either side. They will be sewn together in groups of four to make a large diamond shape. Then these blocks will be joined together to make the quilts for the Ronald MacDonald House. We are working from 3 big bags of scraps. No two blocks are the same in colors or strip widths. So far they look great!

My string quilt is done block by block....and then sits until I think I have enough of a new variety oof strings to go on ...I am in the process of prepping scraps for a grandmas flower garden..I am going to cut the hexagons and save them until I have enough for the quilt (or at least the majority)..I tend to save scraps in shoe boxes, prepped to be alikee (ex: strings, 2 1/2 strips, certain size squares, hexagons etc)

Let me start by saying I have thousands of cut squares, rectangles and triangles.
I cut leftover and fabric I'll never use into squares ranging from 1 1/2" to 6"
They are then sorted.
Most of the 6" squares are novelities and they are just stored in a large box.
A lot of the 4 1/2s and 5s are also novelities and those I sort by type : children, flowers, sports etc.

The 1 1/2"s, 2"s, 2 1/2"s. 3"s and 3 1/2"s are sorted by value: dark, medium and light
Usually I use these in square blocks - how many are in the block depends on the size of the square.
Any block with 16 or more squares always has 3 black squares in it. I learned this from someone on an old Simply Quilts show and it makes a world of difference.

I sort my scraps into Asians, brights, pastels, homespuns and batiks. Most I cut into strips, but larger leftover pieces I leave whole in case I need 5" squares at some point. Right now I have 25 strip-pieced 8.5" squares completed in autumn colors and will continue to add to that stash as I use browns, golds and greens in other quilts.

All of the suggestions you gave are right. Everyone has there own idea of scrappy and organizing. I personally like the kind where you close your eyes and grab fabric. I do however sort mine by color. It makes things easier to find if I need a certain color.

This sounds fabulous! I hope you'll be able to post some pictures of these!!!