I have made most of the Dear Jane blocks (I have 22 left). The blocks are really small, 4" finished but I made mine 6" finished. There is a lot of applique in the quilt and personally, I do not like to applique with batiks. You do not get smooth, round corners with batiks, at least that is what I have found. I just know that I don't like my applique as much with batiks and try to avoid them. (On the other side, you should not use a loose weave fabric either, as it frays.) As for the directions, I'm sure that they are using the same directions provided by the Dear Jane CD. We made the quilt in 4 years, 4-5 blocks a month. It was fun but I don't think I would of stuck to it if I wasn't in a class. I'm happy I did it. Have fun! Hope you like to paper-piece because there is a lot of that too.