A new quilt top

I know I'm not supposed to be sitting and sewing, but just a little bit of sewing a day and voila! A quilt top! It was hard to pace myself though. I could have it all done in an afternoon, but I controlled myself! That was a new thing. I bought this pattern and fabric for a friend of mine and treated myself too. (it's a common thing between us--heehee). Anyway, she lives in SC now, so I've been going to her house every day for a little bit to sew....and eat...and laugh... It's nice to catch up with long distance friends. We don't get that very often, so it's been nice. I love this fabric and loved this pattern. Wasn't there someone on this ring that made one for shop model? I'd like to know what she thought of the pattern. This is a very simple quilt to do, but the quilt designer made it VERY complicated. Yes, it's hard to believe, but she did. And I don't understand her reasoning behind some of the things she did. Like when we cut the blocks apart (another big ordeal--that we did our own thing), and sewed them back together--they were 8 3/4", like she said. But then, she fussy cut her sashings (to the point of taking template material, tracing each circle along with color) to be 9". ??? Then you had to mark 1/8" lines all around the sashings to lay the block on to sew. So, in other words, the sashings were 1/4" seams and the blocks were 1/8" seams. I'm sure I'm not making sense--but neither did her pattern. To take such a simple design and complicate it so much would make a beginner give up. So, we just looked at the picture and then did our own thing. I really wish I knew her reasoning behind everything she did. Oh well, it's done now and is pretty and will look good on my sewing room wall.