Your quilt is lovely in the purples and lavenders and I agree that it is just as lovely right-side up as it is wrong-side up. When you said you added 1/2" to the pieces are you saying you cut your strips 1/2" wider or when you cut your strip sets you cut those units 1/2" wider? Also if you used fewer fabrics did you cut more of some fabrics to make up for the number of strips in a strip set? You were very brave. I have altered many a pattern from the original instructions but I would be a chicken to do that with a bargello since I don't have any comprehension of how they are designed. Nice work!