You have been busy!

Wow, I got tired just hearing about all you've gotten done! :D
But seriously, that's awesome.
I love scrappy quilts but I'm not a scrap saver. They make me nervous! lol

Julia, you have been very productive! Wow! And I know just what you mean about that cutting board . Mine goes from clear to chaotic in about 15 minutes flat!
But it’s a fun 15 minutes!

As for scrappy, I have never been successful at the grab bag method. I have this need to control the colors and the contrast. I always start with a multicolored print to be my palette. But currently I am bored with my scraps and ready to cut into totally fresh fabric . So that’s my next project when I get the three I’m working on out the door

Sounds like you are busy in your sewing room...I don’t get much sewing done in the summer as I’d rather be outdoors while the short summer days in Maine last.

I am also a “controlled” scrappy quilter. In fact, I’m pretty OCD and it took me sometime before I even tried to make scrappy quilts.

Whenever we have one of these discussions about randomness, it always makes me remember decorating the Christmas tree with my college boyfriend David. David was a real, live genius and an engineering student. He'd also grown up in a strange household with a distant scientist father who left him and his twin brother at home with their mother, who was suffering from mental illness. So, surprisingly, it was the first time he had ever decorated a tree. We were hanging the balls on the tree, and he asked how we were supposed to do it. "Just distribute them ramdomly around the tree." And there's the thing about genius scientists: they use the same words as the rest of us, but they are really speaking a different language.

After a few minutes I worked my way around to the side of the tree where Dave was industriously hanging little gold balls. And there were 2 touching each other! Ornament heresy! "Hey! I thought you were going to spread them out evenly!" "No, you said randomly. That's a random collision!" He seemed so proud, but I could tell from the twinkle in his eye that he was teasing me. That scamp!

I love scrappy and seldom many anything else but I often will adjust it just a little by using just one color way. For instance I will pull all pieces from my bin of green fabrics. I may dip into another color for "pop". This works for me. Love the results. Just another option to the scrappy way of quilting.

I'm also a controlled scrappy person...just can't let my hair down and go wild...LOL

I found that as long as I do the grab bag, I'm happy with the way my scrap quilts turn out. I've tried controlled, but get too frustrated over "does this go ok, or should I try another scrap?"

The key for me with grab bag is to have scraps as close to the sizes and shapes I want to use so I have less cutting with what I grab out of the bag. The quilt blocks I am doing right now are simple strip blocks. I was inspired by someone here to open up the scraps again and dig in to do a stirp quilt. My newly cleared and cleaned cutting counter is now covered in scraps and I can barely find a place to cut without doing a swipe across the board first.
I had planned on going out early to the Farmers Market but change of plans. I have a headache this morning that means on driving right now. So I am sitting here trying to adjust to the morning with as little discomfort as possible. I have already completed 1 block though. I took a pic of both the completed blocks and my cutting counter to give an idea what happens when I am scrapping. The bag is under the edge of the table hanging on a drawer. I will toss everything back in and begin again after I sort more scraps from another bin.

You sure were productive today, even with a headache. I literally "crawled" out of bed at 7 am to feed the dogs and let them out (knee surgery is scheduled for next week) and have only gotten them and me fed. I hope to finish putting the borders on my Harry Potter lap quilt today and sandwich before DH and DS get back from RAGBRAI, the bike ride across Iowa. It has been a quiet week after all the family from both coasts were here a week and left last Friday. Several days were consumed with laundry!

To answer your question: I haven't been able to do random scrappy. I even had trouble using a FQ bundle and making a Turning Twenty the first time around. I've gotten better but definitely a controlled scrapper here. Even my selvage strip blocks are all done in like colors LOL