Miss B: I am an intermediate quilter and I like a challenge. My BFF is pretty new, a perfectionist, and hard on herself. Last January, she and another friend (also a beginner) enrolled in a BOM at the LQS. Knowing BFF, and looking at the quilt, I thought that it was going to be a frustration for her. BTW, it is a Marti Michell design. So I offered to make it with her, using my own fabric. She got the BOM and templates and shared instructions with me. I have to tell you, I HATE those templates! But my friend did quite well. What she liked most was that she didn't feel overwhelmed by the size of the project --just one block a month. And since we were sharing, one of us had to finish so the other could use the templates. She finished all 12 blocks and is over halfway done with sashing and setting. Her goal is to have it to the longarm gal by 3/1.
SO while I agree that Marti Michell designs & templates can be challenging, I suggest you do the best you can. Decide what imperfections you can live with and which seams need to be redone. And... once done, quilting will hide alot of those little errors.