You can make the blocks any size you wish. The nine patches I am making are made with 2" strips sewn together into strips sets of 3 fabrics each. The blocks finish at 5" square before they are joined to each other. The snowball blocks I am making also end up 5" square before they are joined to each other (of course---they have to be the same size as the nine patches). Those are made with a 5" square of colored fabric and four 2.5" squares, one for each corner (sew just outside a drawn diagonal line, corner to corner, and then trim out the middle layer or both bottom layers on the outside corners, whatever is your preference.) Now when you make the four squares for the Snowball corners that large, you don't have to match points when the squares are sewn to the nine patches, which makes the quilt very easy to construct. This slightly changes the appearance of the finished pattern. Hth. It's a very pretty pattern.