No quilt police, but perhaps the quilt CIA...........(mwahahahaha)
I'm still only on my 4th block, and I've followed her patterns. I think once I'm feeling more comfortable with the new things (i.e. reverse applique, doing the innies and outies of the commas/swirlies) I can feel more comfortable in tweaking the pattern.
The reverse applique sure takes a longer time to do, but I like the different "textured" look of it. I couldn't figure out why my points were turning out fuzzy, but I realized that I'm using a looser weave fabric (my Shadow Play) instead of the batiks. Thanks to Patti for mentioning toothpicks to poke threads in underneath!