Chele, that fabric is AMAZING! The center of the block sure is an optical illusion-- it jumps right up to a point.
Connie, I did end up paper-piecing. I've become allergic to templates and this block was just soooo fast and easy to graph out and piece in rows. I did make it smaller than 12". I think it's a shade smaller than 8". I make a lot of wallhangings and blocks around that size work best for me.