I make charity quilts and use scrappy backings all the time.

Of course, it is faster to use one big piece of fabric, but scrappy works just fine.

Yes, which ever way it works, squares or whole pieces.

This is why I think it's a matter of personal preference. For a wallhanging I would know what the back looks like even if no one else ever sees it, so it would bug me if I didn't do something nice with it. But not everyone feels that way. Just how some people prefer coordinating really matchy fabrics for their tops and some people like everything but the kitchen sink scrap quilts.

Another factor is cost - you're in America, I see. I'm in the UK and routinely pay £10/m for fabric, but I can get something much cheaper for backing wallhangings. I really can't afford to waste good fabric on a backing which no one will see. Nor do I usually buy large quantities of fabric at a time, I generally get quarter metre cuts.

I do get the "but I know it's there" thing, though, as I'm always careful that the backs of my quilts look neat even when no one will see them.

That's true I'm sure cost factors into it as well. A lot of quilters from the UK order online from the US to save on fabric cost. Even after shipping you may still save quite a bit by ordering overseas.

love your quilt: top, back AND the binding! way to go!

I agree with Lobster, actually, I usually use muslin or a sheet for backing.

I don't know if you can get bedsheets cheaply in the UK, but they seem to work really well for larger quilts. Who knows, we might come to the point where we BUY sheets, cut them up and make them into quilts (if we can find them cheaply enough)! So far I have been able to use leftover blocks and fabrics from the tops for my backs, but not much longer.

I've done that occasionally to get a certain fabric, but the shipping costs tend to be rather high, I hate waiting that long for the fabric, and I can't order more than £17's worth at a time in case of getting hit by customs.

Oddly enough, I've been chatting with a shop in England, and they get a surprising number of orders from the US. Yes, it costs far more, but the advantage is that we get fabrics quite a bit later in the UK, so some people do this when a certain fabric has been discontinued in the US but is still on sale in the UK.

I've been making scrappy backings with almost all of my bed quilts and throws that I've made in the last year. It's a great way to use up the scraps of fabric that you loved when you started the project but have had your fill of in the meantime. It helps control the size of the stash. Basically, there are no rules when I do this - I sew, trim, sew some more and see what I end up with. However, a friend of mine had a great idea, when she pieces the back, she'll do it whichever way works except that she'll usually make an extra row of the blocks and runs them along the top of the quilt. That way, when it's on the bed, if you just want to turn down the top of the quilt rather than tuck everything in, it's still decorative and matches the quilttop.