I'm with you, although I've noticed that I'm not drawn to a scrappy unless it has a unifying color, such as maybe a white/cream that is used as sashing between the scrappy blocks, then it's more appealing to me. Guess I'm not a true scrappy lover and I have yet to try to make one. Maybe someday.......since my scrap pile is growing!

Thank you for all the great suggestions. I am going to try it this weekend. I will fluff all the cut rectangles in the dryer and then what ever comes out of the bag is what is going to get put together. It will be controlled only in the colors that will go in the quilt. I am usind reds, blues and ivory flannel. Wish me luck!!

Get 2 brown paper bags. Put light bricks in one and dark bricks in the other. Then add mediums to each bag. "Stir" thoroughly.

Then take one from the light bag and one from the dark bag and sew them together ... regardless of whether you think they will go together or should you happen to pull the same medium fabric from each bag!

I think most people do their best creative work when they are enjoying themselves. If scrappy is not your personal bliss, why not do whatever makes you happy? I'm assuming quilting is your hobby and not an obligation. While you're making your structured project, it wouldn't hurt to do a little experimenting - as long as it's fun! - such as switching a few pieces around on your design wall to just see what they might look like. Then it's not a commitment to do that, just an opportunity to try a different way of looking at things. Tell yourself it's a quilt and nobody's life will depend on how you decide to make it. On the other hand, here is a place (plenty of good places, actually) in this world of quilting for highly organized people. Embrace who you are and let your project express you.

I'm a die-hard scrappy quilter, have rarely made anything that WASN'T scrappy. As someone else suggested, if you go to quiltville.com (Bonnie Hunter's site) you will get lots of good ideas and she has a bunch of free patterns. If you're uncomfortable with the kitchen sink approach it can really help to have one or two consistent colors to pull things together, like white/cream sashing. I know I've made one of Bonnie's patterns that combined rectangles (bricks) with black & white 4-patches. There was an awful mishmash of fabrics in it but the black & white pulled it all together and it ended up looking super.

Good luck! I think scrappy quilts are the best.

I just finished 30 blocks of a scrappy pattern, Fun With Bricks. Each block had 24 pieces of scrap fabric, 2x3.5 and four 3.5x3.5. I forced myself to not control the selections, just picked them up and sewed them. I like the outcome and will post a photo of the top when the blocks are sewn together. It will be a long time before I do another like this one, I took out more seams than I sewed together! But I like the scrappy look, and did not have to buy any fabric. I have uncut large pieces of scrap fabric for another quilt, but that is down the line. I will probably do a controlled one, next time.

One thing you can do is to put your pieces in a paper bag, draw out one piece at time and place it in the next posiiton.

Bear in mind that this poster is completely incapable of doing true random------------but I can tell you about it just the same.

I understood the poster to say she had her pattern picked out. She just can not do ramdom?

I was told by many people to do the following: put all your pieces into a container or bag. Pull them out one at a time and sew whatever you have in your hand. I have done this and the quilts are great. The whole point of being scrap quilts is not to match or be organized. Try it. You will like it. I guarantee.

I made a red black and white quilt that was pretty scrappy; my only "controlled" scrappy, actually. I did 9-patch blocks that were "controlled" in that each block was either reds, whites, or blacks, but which pieces made it into the block was not controlled. Then I put the 9-patch blocks together more or less randomly - my only rule there was no two matching blocks could touch. It's actually the first patchwork quilt I made...it's HUGE (120" square) and took me 3 years to get it done because I kept getting intimidated by it, but it's one of my favorite quilts now. Flaws included. :)