BFW and Amma - I've used Anita's method for paper-piecing blocks LARGER than the ones in her book. It involves a bit of work, but I like the precision of paper-piecing, so for me, it's worth the extra work.
I ALWAYS cut templates for paper-piecing, because it means no wasting of fabric. Paper-piecing doesn't save time - it leads to precision piecing.
I use 1/4" graph paper to create blocks bigger than the ones in the book. Then I trace them on TISSUE paper with a Sharpie pen, which I but by the butt-load at Costco. When you finish paper-piecing, tissue-paper tears off VERY easily. It sounds like a lot of work, but if it's a block with several points, it's worth it.
Klue recently posted info about another paper that she REALLY likes for paper-piecing (on the Christmas Dear Jane Swap thread). She says it's cheap and easy to tear off. I'll try that when I get around to it LOL
I designed my own block for the black and white swap - Tumbling Zebras -and put it together using Anita's methodology. There really was NO other way to make it come out 'right' besides paper piecing. It took me several drafts to get it right. The final design looked very funny on paper - because it zig-zagged on both side edges - but the result was worth it.
By 'right' I mean that I wanted the triangles to be tumbling off the centers
of the triangle below them. I thought I still had the pictures of the Tumbling Zebra block in my computer to show you, but I don't. Let me know if you want to see it, and I'll take another tomorrow post it on this thread.