Practical Processes: Scrappy Squares

I got some really excellent questions about piecing together my Problem Prints quilt, thank you! So often my emphasis is on the emotional process, rather than the practical, because I quilt for expression and therapy. :) And I forget to write how I put it all together.
For this quilt, and the next one I'm working on, I did actually think a lot about piecing it together, so thanks for the prompt to think through the process and write it down!

The two quilts I talk about here, use squares. The Problem Prints Quilt is made up of 2.5" squares, all from my multicoloured stash. The next quilt will be from 5" charms from all over the world, donated for my friends who lost their home and everything in it (Thank you!!). There is a huge mix of colour and style, but I'm using the same 'rules of thumb' so I'll share them here:

•  I don't lay the quilt out at any time. I chain piece from a big splattering of squares next to my machine. But I do make sure each pair of squares matches. And by matches, I usually mean in value, colour, print size. So that my Problem Prints Quilt wasn't too busy, I matched like prints. I like to create little pockets of colour and value (light and dark) rather than spread them evenly.  I wanted it to look more like water than a chequerboard.  

• I sewed together 2 squares, then sewed those rectangles together to make another square, then those to make a bigger rectangle, and so on till I had 9 big squares. And each time I sewed a seam, I tried to put together pieces that looked good together. This means that even though you have wildly different prints in the same quilt, and even prints you don't like, they each sit nicely in their little part of the whole.
• Someone asked about browns/grey. Part of my leaving out grey was that all my greys (and I don't have many) are very useful! And this was a mix of my 'useless' prints. And my browns were also very multicoloured (as you can see in the picture above.) and I always find them hard to use. The other reason is that my problem prints were mostly colourful vines, which included browns. So while it's a scrappy quilt, I guess there was still pretty strict colour rules.

• As you can see in my next quilt, there are no colour rules! But I'm still following similar guidelines where I can. My friend Jodi came over last Thursday to sew them up with me and we did end up laying these pieced squares out on my bed. I think she was a little scared it was going to be a mess! :) In the end we decided that a gradual shift from light to dark, from one corner diagonally across to the opposite, would be really effective. I do like the eye to know where to move or focus.
• In this process, I decided, 'If in doubt, add Denyse." There's such a mix here of upcycled vintage fabric, more traditional prints, and modern, that Denyse Schmidt's modern take on traditional styles has turned out to be a real glue between all these different patterns. I can match her small, regular prints with almost everything! I have tried to match same values together, but in this case, I'm prioritising colour.

In the end, quilts like this are one big experiment. And that's definitely how I faced the first quilt. And for me attitude makes up the experience just as much as technique. I'm learning more this year to approach making with a 'let's see how this works!' frame of mind. It's helping me to have more fun and be more adventurous.
I don't think there's a greater compliment than questions about how a project came together, thank you! Always feel free to ask more, and to add here how you make yours work too.
Happy sewing,
Jodi. x