I am a piecer and if you cut sepperate triangles and then tried to sew them together I would have gotten the same results. I use rulers that help get the triangles correct.
For years I used Elanor Burns, Quilt in a Day, special rulers but I switched this summer to June Taylor perfect Half Square and Quarter Square Triangles. I like that even better. If you use that it will give you those perfect Ohio Stars you want.
Here is a video showing you how to use it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvBURxlgwFo
I really like your table runner. It is very pretty.
By the way I think your applique is awesome and I wished I could aplique like that.