Wanabee Quiltin

I personally think you have to have some type of color scheme for a sampler quilt to look decent. I was in a guild once and we had a sampler quilt lesson each month. I decided to go with about 4 colors and used the same background. The 4 colors did vary and had different prints each, maybe the gold had 5 or 6 prints but they all went together. Another woman just made them out of whatever and when she showed her quilt, it wasn't pretty at all even though she did a good job making the blocks. My quilt turned out great, the quilt top just looked connected.

quilterpurpledog

There are such opportunities with sampler quilts. I have made several and studied them at quilt shows. Some have a color continuity whether it is one fabric coordinated into every block. Others feature a mixture of techniques such as pieced blocks, applique, paper piecing, etc. One that I saw one time that was really an eye catcher was a single pattern in the blocks but a different color scheme in every block; eg. monochromatic, analogous, complementary, etc. So, the long and short of it is that a sampler is whatever you want it to be. Sometimes, it is the border treatment that pulls it all together. Have fun with it.

MadQuilter

I think a sampler needs to have SOMETHING that says "we belong together." It could be the type of block (all stars for example), color ways, color values, fabric style (all 30s for example). So there are lots of ways to create cohesion in a sampler quilt. Some people might be OK with completely random fabrics - I am not that fond of totally random.

Judith1005

Hi Teresa, I don't believe that Samplers always have to coordinate. Here is a link to a Free Sampler that I happened across about a year ago. (And, it was older when I found it.) http://aprilrosenthal.com/2013/01/28...nuary-sparkle/ The designer was really nice when I emailed her with questions. The only common thread to this Sampler is that it has one word in each block. I am making it scrappy and have pulled only fabrics from my stash to use. (At least so far.) I may sash or border it to try to bring it together when I finish the blocks. My blocks pictured below.
And, this is a scrappy Halloween quilt that I am making out of Swap blocks from here on the board. The continuity in this quilt is the theme.
And, here is one more link to another thread here on the Quiltboard that has a scrappy quilt made with misc. donated blocks. It gives you a really good idea how Samplers really don't have to be matchy matchy. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...e-t237347.html