Nonnie, I'm sorry this has been so frustrating. Good for you for not giving up! It seems it's been beneficial to have several methods available to use: pp, rotary, template. Something for everyone, and like you found, if one method doesn't work as well, try another one. Even with your rough time with these, your resulting blocks are beautiful!
As for blocks coming out 1/4" shy, would it help to block these to try to coax them into the right size? I haven't tried it before, but have read about it on the board here and people say it works if you only need to grow your blocks a smidge. If anyone tries and finds it successful, please let us know.