My very first quilt was a memory quilt for my brother. I did squares and then a border. I used his pillow case and linen to add pictures of him. On other squares I added his military patches. I was just learning to use the sewing machine and used decorative stitching around some of the pictures. Once it was done, I added his name tags from various jobs and his medals. Today, I have it hanging in my hallway. The size of the blocks was based on how much fabric the shirt had and had enough fabric to make all of blocks the same size. I hope this helps. It is not so much the pattern you use, it's the love you have in your heart that is stitched into the quilt - it makes it priceless.