I like big blocks--14 to 16 inches--placed on very lightweight muslin. Unlike other people, I don't cut the blocks into quarters and rejoin them. Instead, I am pretty careful about placing the first diagonal piece--the one that goes from corner to corner down the middle. I'm looking right now at the one that had red Christmas print in that position, surrounded by random scraps. It is really a pretty quilt. The advantages of using big blocks include (1) it takes a smalll number of blocks to make a wide quilt, e.g., four 16 inch blocks will come close to make a quilt 64 inches wide; five 16 inch blocks will come close to making a quilt 80 inches long. If you put a four inch border around it, you've got really good twin size quilt. (2) Because there are fewer joining seams, there is less bulk to be quilted. (3) Because there is less bulk the quilt washes and dries faster. Good luck with your string quilt. They are my favorite quilt to make. froggyintexas