new quilt

And so, I started a new quilt.  I know, I haven't finished the star one yet, but this one is going to be a Christmas gift and it's a little down to the wire so I need to kind of get this one done first.  Since it's a gift I won't say who it's intended for even though I am fairly positive they don't remotely read my blog, and let's face it, I don't think anyone but my Mom reads this blog!  LOL. 

So, I've been wanting to try out this style for a loooooong time but didn't want to do paper piecing which is all I found for patterns when I did a google search.  My machine does not play well with paper.  So, then I tried improvising a pattern and that did NOT work.  I'm sure if I messed with it long enough I'd figure it out but I gave up and bought a pattern.   
Here's another view:

I'm not finished with the layout and I need to trim up the blocks before sewing them together.  I still have a couple rows to sew, and then pick a border.  I'm really digging the way it's coming together, what do you think?