I agree - you can get better points with paper piecing. I've attached photos of my first attempt at doing a Carol Doak Challenge with the quilt attached. Tons and tons of points.
I also attached a practice piece I did first - the 4th of July placemat. Both were fun to do and I love pp. I'm not that great in the cutting area, so this works out beautifully for me.
Since on a limited budget I buy the newspaper pads from craft store (using coupon of course). I learned to buy the large -somthing like 10x16 pad - then cut each page in half again and you get double the amount for pennies. With a paper cutter this goes very fast and my type of cost.
I also put my stitches at 1.5 and the paper tears wonderfully. When joining larger blocks I use a 3.5 or 4 stitch length the first time to make doubly sure the points meet, then do it again with the 1.5 stitch length.
Karen