I don't make scrappy quilts myself. I don't know why, I just haven't. I will someday. One gal in our guild does beautiful scrappy quilts and what she does is uses scraps, but uses one color for the light. Or a couple that look close to each other and the quilts she makes are absolutely wonderful.

I know some people do have a problem with that. However, I have made a couple scrappys and I just love the way they turn out. I think you will too.

I read once that if you don't like the color combination, your pieces are too large.

I just cut my pieces and lay them all out together on the living room floor and keep moving them all around until I'm happy with how it looks. THEN I take a picture. and only move a couple pieces and put them together and back in place.

I've always had my colors match, but am working through several scrappy patterns. On www.quiltville.com site, I am cutting strips to do a scrappy bargello, and crumb blocks. Need to tackle all those small pieces piling up!!
I figure that if I don't like it even when it is done, I can always give it away!! But now it is play time! :)

If you really want adventure, take a paper bag, throw your scraps into it, and just pull out a piece and the next and next,
it is amazing how it just goes together. It is so fun to see
the outcome! Good Luck.

I made a tumbling blocks scrappy quilt. I took all my scraps and divided into lights, mediums and darks. Then I went through and decided what went with what. I did a small section at a time and layed it out on the spare queen bed. It got hard towards the end because I used up a lot of scraps. I couldn't just take any two pieces and sew them together.

Here are my two new favorite books that helped me "get over" the scrappy coordination hurdle. I got them through my local library's INTER-LIBRARY LOAN program - I was able to read the books and try a few things before buying:

Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts by Lynn Roddy Brown
Published by That Patchwork Place in 2006
ISBN 13: 978-1564776853

Simple Strategies for Block-swap Quilts by Lynn Roddy Brown
Published by That Patchwork Place in 2009
ISBN 13: 978-1564778581

Each book approaches the "problem" from a different angle. I joined an on-line quilt block swap group that swaps every other month, and participation is optional. The coordinator posts the schedule of swaps which set forth the size, color, theme or whatever of the swap. ALSO, this book helped me use up my fat quarters in such a way that the resulting nice-looking quilts are scrappy without any swapping. (Does that make sense?)

To quote Harriet Hargrave, "Scrape quilts depend more on the effect created by the use of light, medium, and dark, as well as texture from the print, than they do on color. If you look at many old quilts, you'll find that more times than not the colors do not relate to one another, but the pattern emerges because of the value changes and surface (print) interest in the fabric.

"Begin by sorting your fabrics, scraps and all, into three piles: light, medium and dark... As you sort through your fabrics, you may find that these piles are becoming stunning color combinations for a quilt. You almost can't have too many fabrics when making a scrap quilt -- often the hardest part is deciding which ones to eliminate.

"We often buy fabric because it's 'pretty,' ignoring the value and texture completely. If you were to examine old scrap quilts, you would find fabrics in them that you would not consider buying. There are even complete blocks that we don't care for when examined individualy. However, when you look at the overall quilt, the effect is wonderful. If you're serious about making stunning scrap quilts, you need to make an effort to break out of buying only the pretty fabrics and start collecting some 'dogs' and 'uglies' so that your quilts will have life and depth."

To quote Harriet Hargrave, "Scrape quilts depend more on the effect created by the use of light, medium, and dark, as well as texture from the print, than they do on color. If you look at many old quilts, you'll find that more times than not the colors do not relate to one another, but the pattern emerges because of the value changes and surface (print) interest in the fabric.

"Begin by sorting your fabrics, scraps and all, into three piles: light, medium and dark... As you sort through your fabrics, you may find that these piles are becoming stunning color combinations for a quilt. You almost can't have too many fabrics when making a scrap quilt -- often the hardest part is deciding which ones to eliminate.

"We often buy fabric because it's 'pretty,' ignoring the value and texture completely. If you were to examine old scrap quilts, you would find fabrics in them that you would not consider buying. There are even complete blocks that we don't care for when examined individualy. However, when you look at the overall quilt, the effect is wonderful. If you're serious about making stunning scrap quilts, you need to make an effort to break out of buying only the pretty fabrics and start collecting some 'dogs' and 'uglies' so that your quilts will have life and depth."

I too love scrappy quilts. I sometimes take odd or left over blocks and make a quilt. My grand- childern fight over them.