I agree. But there are all sorts of scrappies. And if you have bags of scraps, why can't scrappies be only in a certain color palette, or all different colors? Let's say I have 3 trash bags of scraps. I can go through them and pull out all the reds and blues and make a red and blue scrappy. Put the reds in one corner of a 4 patch and the blues in the other and make a nice scrappy design. Bonnie Hunter does this all the time. They are definitely scrappy.

But your definition of scrappy may definitely be different from mine. I've seen some scrappies that definitely look like a very well planned quilt--and not very scrappy at all. But since each person is the one defining--maybe to them it is. Maybe they are used to a two color quilt, so using 12 in one quilt makes it scrappy. Or maybe they are using their leftovers and even though to me, it doesn't look like a "scrap quilt", it actually is.

I've heard the terms 'controlled scrappy' or 'planned scrappy'. To me this means that you maybe use some yardage in addition to the scraps to add a bit of coordination to the blocks. Or perhaps you pull all the reds, or blues etc. or even lights & darks. These are the scrap quilts that I'm most drawn to.

I agree with everyone here, one person's scrappy may not be another's. A few years ago I decided to make a "green" quilt for my son, who has green eyes. It had over 200 different green fabrics and 50 or so background fabrics yet looked very unified because it was basically a two-color quilt. To me, it qualifies as scrappy but maybe someone else would say, No, there's only two colors in it.

I frequently do scrappy quilts and pick the fabrics by a theme -- fall, or all solids, or all brights. When I do make a "grab and go" scrappy there is still some organizing factor to pull it together -- the solid diagonal stripe in string quilts is an example, or a consistent background. Otherwise they are not enjoyed as much by my family, which is where most of my quilts end up. The quilt in my avatar is an example -- a wide variety of fabrics, but the consistent black and white pulled it together.

For me scrappy quilts are fabrics left over from my planned projects.

I made four of the same quilts for my staff that look like the one that brandeesmom made. I did QAYG, and put the sashing after six blocks.. I love the way they came out, but would never do QAYG again.. I think it took me twice as long, and hated every minute of it.. I grabbed pieces out of a bag, and as long as they weren't the same fabric, it got sewed.. I would do this technique for scrappy again.. I am not making string quilts for nieces, and nephews, and they are all using scraps, and I'm pulling pieces that same way I did the scrappy, except, I have the same strip in the middle of all the blocks, and the blocks are 10"..
One day when I figure out why I can't post pictures, I will post them.. I have tried all different ways, and it still doesn't work..

My idea of scrappy is pulling from your stash and using odds and ends, usually not larger pieces cut down. That said I buy small amounts of fabric to start to make scrappy style quilts. I like civil war reproduction fabric and quilts designs from the past. I hand piece and hand quilt my projects and think the handwork element combined with the variety of reproduction fabrics used in the projects lend themselves to scrappy looks since people in the 1800s often had to work from what they had on hand or what they could find in stock and afford to purchase. Mine are controlled in that I am buying small cuts of fabric, charm sizes, reproduction scrap packs from vendors, etc to begin with and all my scraps are from the same era so there are no modern prints mixed in.

Agree. There's more than one kind of scrappy. I like making both.

Here's a picture of my most recent. It's kind of :rolleyes: controled.. in that I used a black strip in the middle of each block.

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HillCountryGal, I love your use of black in that quilt above. It makes all of the other colors stand out. ~ Cindy

I'm cleaning my sewing room and have found a Mystery Quilt that I did several years ago. I never got around to finishing it. It's the ugliest thing I have ever made. I'm thinking that maybe if I "unsew" the squares and rearrange them adding a solid unifying color maybe all won't be lost. I'll never do a mystery quilt again. Need to know where I'm going.

I love to just reach in the tub and pull out at random. Just don't put two of the same fabric next to each other, and if that happens the quilt police can just move on. As Kaygoodhand said, you can always donate it. Just have fun and enjoy yourself!