As it turns out, I don't like the lack of contrast between the inner star and the inner purple diamond. It is one thing to lay out pieces after they are cut and shuffle them around. It is another thing to be able to visualize the piece before you have cut anything.It is also important to think about how a fabric which seems to be black may give you large light-colored areas when it has been cut.
The July 2015 post shows what the typical instructions for a block look like. They are black and white, and the different fabrics are shown by using different designs, which may not be anything like what you are working with. I think you could get some idea of the finished piece by holding adjacent fabrics next to each other and trying really hard to visualize the finished piece. I was more focused on how the totality of fabrics in the block worked together.
Alternatively, I think if you followed Marti Michell's suggested fabrics consistently you would get a very nice result. That is difficult to do in this BOM program when fabrics are switched out all the time. One month a certain fabric is B, the next month it is D and a new fabric is used as B.
Lessons learned:
Stick with the tones/patterns suggested in the instructions or used in your model (if you are like me).
OR
Spend a lot of time thinking about, visualizing, and holding fabrics next to each other before cutting (if you like to be creative and don't like to follow directions).
