Large Chinese Lanterns

I was hoping to make all the lanterns for my Chinese Lantern quilt by yesterday, but I only finished the nine large ones.

I was slowed down a little bit by operator error.  I made the green one first and managed to make three mistakes that I had to rip out.  This was very annoying since the stitch length was only 1.5.  

I eventually got the hang of it and proceeded happily along, assembly-line fashion, until I got to the block you see at the top.  Each block starts with the center band, and I had wanted to use the small Heather Ross print from The Sewcial Lounge on all of them.  But I accidentally grabbed the wrong fabric, which I didn't notice until after I stitched the narrow grey bands on either side. 

Aack - here we go again!!!    I couldn't bear the thought of ripping out more miniature stitches, and I didn't really have the time to keep correcting mistakes if I want to finish a quilt, an apron and a pincushion by Thursday.  Therefore, I assured myself it was OK!  And it didn't take me long to believe it, either.

Here's the "correct" version of that block.  I think I prefer the "mistake."

If you're counting, you see I only showed seven blocks, but said I made nine.  The other two are additional green and turquoise blocks.

For the seven small lanterns coming up, I'm not sure what colors I'll use.  I do want to have a nice mix of warm and cool colors, so I'll probably just plan one at a time, throw it up on the design board with the large lanterns, then see what's needed next.