You said that you didn't like odd number blocks to work with. One thing I do to get the look I like is to change the size of my block. I'm doing a quilt right now that I resized a block from 12 to 8 inches so that I could have more design showing. A little more work, but it does come out nice and then you could make it an even number. I also try to make my baby quilts a little larger, so that it then can be used on a toddler bed when they start to get to be a big boy or girl. :-D