I'm sorry to hear about this. I think I know exactly what you're talking about. I'm making a quilt for my DH, but he didn't care for the design on half of the blocks, so made his own - templates and all. Needless to say, that complicated my life immensely in a heartbeat. One, I'd never worked with templates and applique, and two, DH could only see this whole affair as "simple" as he did not have a clue to the construction issues I was now facing.
Well, here we are, three and a half years later. I've struggled with that project off and on during that time, ripping and restarting, trying to accomplish what he wanted and not knowing how to do it. It didn't help that he kept telling me how "simple" this should be. Well, at my lowest point, just before Christmas 08, I got SO frustrated I finally said, "Fine, if you think this is so simple, YOU DO IT."
He took my invitation, but I had to stop him within the first 5 minutes or he might have ruined my sewing machine. I'll spare you the details. Needless to say, this silly problem has caused a rift between us after 24 years of marriage. Obviously, I would feel bad working on other projects during these three years, but I was just having such a hard time.
Finally, this New Years, I just resolved to finish it the best way I could. I now have the top done, and I'll be darned if we're not having a discussion on how the backing should be put together! He wants me to enter this quilt in our little local show in Sept, but I don't know. Trouble is, when others see it, they tell me how awesome it is and that I should enter it. Too bad something that was initially a gift of love has turned into such a burr in our saddles.
Is your project for your DH or someone else? If it's for someone else, I'd just go ahead and do whatever you feel comfortable with. If it were for him, that might be a different story, lol. Criticism can be a difficult thing to deal with for a variety of reasons. Constructive criticism can even help us learn, depending on who is giving it and how. My DH is an artist, so for example, he does see color differently than I do, but this isn't his art, it's mine. I often take his comments under advisement, but sometimes our color schemes have little to do with Art Class and more to do with our inner creativity. Don't let your DH stifle that in you!
Good luck to you. If you don't mind, I'd like to show you a pic of what my DH and I have been haggling over all this time.
Karla
"Happy Trails" quilt for DH. My layout, no specific pattern.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]34681[/ATTACH]
DH's own pattern, 6 different pieces, including a 3D boot strap.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]34897[/ATTACH]