The name of the charm pack was "Persimmon" and though thoroughly modern, the muted colors suggested something from the past to me. So I designed a "plus" block that used the width of the 5" charm with 2 muslin sides, split in half, trimmed to 5", then added the other 5" arm. Each arm was 2" wide.
Then I sewed it all 4 sides to a muslin 5" square, marked the diagonal lines and cut them (a method for making square in a square that works if you don't need sharp, bordered edges.) Since the background and the 5" square were muslin, this was a good accurate method to use.
A few of the fabrics were too light, they were simply lost on the unbleached muslin. After completing the quilt, I poured some coffee on the blocks that were too light and put it out in the sun for a few hours. After washing, the coffee had very softly colored the light fabrics, and stained the muslin in a few spots, helping me achieve the "aged" look I imagined when I first saw the charm collection. A few of the blues were also too light, I used inktense watercolor pencils to add a little deeper blue or brown on those pluses.
This is a small quilt, around 36" by 42". No border. The binding was a piece of brown scrap from the scrap box. It would work in an antique cradle, or just displayed on the quilt rack in my dining room where I display my smaller quilts.
