You're all most kind. I have put this StarFlower quilt aside a few times. I just brought it back out this a.m. after taking time away from it to make a machine embroidered quilt for a child and a pieced king sized top just for fun. I never had a moment doing either one where I was unhappy or frustrated with them.
There was a lot of unplanned hand stitching in this StarFlower quilt. I couldn't get the points to match right using my machine so I ended up having to finish most of them by hand and not doing a very good job of it. Then, because the "melons" are constructed of 6 different colors, sewn chevron style, the seam allowances did not want to lie down, so I hand basted them down before I put the quilt sandwich together. Then I machine stitched around them all so they are forced to stay put; I'm removing the basting this morning. The binding is already sewn on topside and the next step would naturally be to hand stitch it to the bottom, but AGAIN, the points are a mess and I have to un-stitch most of them and re-do them by hand. I'm fairly used to making lemonade out of lemons, but this quilt has really tried my patience. I think that my biggest failure here was a lack of spray starch. I think if the black fabric and the multi-colored melons had been starched stiff as a board, I might have had more control and less problems. There are lots of quilts with curves that I want to make and I'm not going to let this one keep me from doing them.
None of my family or friends like the StarFlower, so I can keep it for myself or give it to charity. I have a simple design to quilt in each of the black centers, easier done by hand than by machine. I'll quilt one or two blocks before I attempt to repair the binding and then decide whether to continue the Star Flower effort or give it up.
Thanks so much for your input!