Welcome to the bargello club!!! If more quilters realized how "relatively easy" they are to make, everyone would be making them!!!
I found it easier to fly by the seat of my pants than to follow a pattern. After a few pointers, like you, I designed my own and put it together. The hardest part for me was the SID quilting. Ugg. Designing and piecing the quilt was exciting!!!
BTW: Yours is beautiful!!! Let the awe and envy fly!!!