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In this block you will notice I used mismatched red fabrics and you might want to do the same. I mention the use of this later on in the tut.

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In this picture, you will notice how the points and intersections come together and must meet well. I'll show another pic also, but I did have a few that were (shhh) 1/8" off! haha!

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I like to show the few pics where they do meet well! haha! Here's another one!!

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Block Placement:

In the next few pics, you can see how the blocks were scattered to highlight certain areas. When I look at the quilt, I like to just visualize a lower case "t" going down the block and across and using that to centralize the highlighting blocks when placing the blocks on the design wall. You can use anything as a focal point and artists are great for pointing you to look in the right direction at their work when finished so keeping that in mind, we will focus on the mid-center sections of the quilt as the focal points up, down and across.

You'll notice, too, that there may be an area where some dark blocks congregated. This is okay to let this happen~! There may be some areas where 2 light background blocks came together and I left it that way, or maybe 2 med. colored blocks came neck to neck. That's okay too! You're the artist, after all, so do what you want best! Point the onlooker to the area in the quilt you want emphasized! Sometimes I do; sometimes I don't!

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In one of the pics we'll be looking at the pale background blocks. The pales are needed! Select your palest of pales for a great highlight! One light blue I selected looks white online, but is actually not. It worked great! In life and in nature, there are pale, dull areas and not everything is bright and shiny! We need neutral areas in life and in art! It's the pales that make the darks look good!! It's those darks that make the pales look good! I had wanted to do some low contrast in the pales but never got around to it so the quilt got finished without them, but there's always another time when low contrast will call out to you! The whole idea with the final quilt is to have it look natural and not everything in order as everything is not in order in real life! The artist doesn't always give you the full picture, but sometimes just a hint of something is certainly more appealing and interesting! It's the same thing for quilts! Do the unexpected in a quilt with a shape, a color, a focal point, a mystery, a mismatched color and you will have a 'unique' creation! Put in a surprise element!

Here is a pic of the light background blocks:

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One of the worst things in the world is a quilter not knowing when to stop on her creation! I'm sure you've seen one of those 120x120 quilts that would've looked better if they had stopped at 36x36! Just think how boring it must have been for them to repeat the same 3 colors months/yrs on end 10-ft. wide or more. Since the block only finishes at 5 or 5.25, it certainly is not a size you would want to do that large so it is nice to just give a small sampling of these blocks and use the rest of the spaces to fill in with inner/outer borders to make a lap size or twin size quilt. It kind of gives you a hint of how beautiful a full size quilt of this would be, i.e., that is if you would want to undertake such a large project on. I love this block, but let's face it; it is not a quickly made block! It's one of my most favorite blocks to look at, but not do! I certainly would never PP one for the accuracy alone when you can get a quicker version of one not so perfect! You can see how by the pics of how challenging it can be to not cut corners off, meet all points precisely as well as intersections too! Which block can give you that kind of challenge? Ok. There are a few more like it too! lol.!! Hopefully, you won't cut off as many points as I did in this one! And if you do cut a little corner short, it's no big deal! It will add to the glamour of it we hope!

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Joining Blocks:

In taking the blocks off the design wall, do them row by row and place a piece of masking tape on the beginning block of each row with its appropriate row number. You can see how I've done that in these pics. Lay a single row out and sew them together while keeping them in order at the same time. Then join the rows together.
　
Next is a pic of all the blocks stacked neatly and numbered ready for sewing! Then the following pic shows a close up so you can see the block with masking tape marked #3 on the block for easy identification and keeping it all in order! lol.

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These are the steps to making the block.

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....and pics of the final steps:

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Conclusion:

In closing, I just want to say that I hope this tutorial has been a big help to you! At least by seeing some of the sample blocks, you now have a better idea of what to make and how to get that 'updated antique' look without it being too bright yet still maintaining those wonderful warm colors used in antique quilts that give it that charm. Hope yours turns out great and be sure and post pics of your creations for all of us to enjoy!! Happy quilting! n2