Originally Posted by thepolyparrot

There was a really great Block of the Week on Barbara Brackman's Blog:
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/s...&max-results=1 (Click on "Newer Posts" to get to block #1 and continue)

The participants had a discussion group on flickr, in which we shared tips on particularly difficult blocks and lots of pictures to show you how colors and fabrics go together. http://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwa...s2011/discuss/ (Click on one of the discussion links to see all the different blocks posted for that week.)

I learned SO much, following this blog - looking at what the other quilters had done. It improved my quilting by making me pay attention to the orientation of fabrics, placement of light and darks - it was a HUGE help to me. And I did it at my own pace - some weeks I got the blocks done on Saturday and sometimes I dragged behind by 3 or 4 weeks. If you want to play with different blocks all day, this gives you 52 options.

And the history on the blog is tremendous - lots of obscure little details about that era in the United States. We had participants from all over the world, and our British and Australian sisters were especially enthusiastic.