Eight Point Star: Blogging from A to Z

I have always loved star quilt patterns.  The are many ways to make star quilt blocks, but I have especially loved the eight point star made from eight 45 degree diamonds.  This was not covered in the quilting class that I took several years ago, and everyone says that working with diamonds can be challenging, but I do have a book that gives some instructions, so I thought that I would give it a whirl.  First I traced a paper template from the book to use as a pattern for cutting my diamonds.  I cut four red patterned diamonds, and four dark blue diamonds.  I then sewed each red diamond to a blue diamond along one edge, making four units.  Next I sewed the four units into two units:

The last step was to sew the two halves of the star together.

As you can see, my points don't match up very well, and I haven't quite figured out how to trim down or press the bulk from the eight points all meeting together to make a nice flat block.  I'm going to have to work some more on this one before I can add the white squares and triangles around the star to complete the block.  Any suggestions?

I also just came across a pattern for an eight point star block made from half-square triangles like those used for the broken dishes pattern.  I may just have to try that method soon, because I really do like Eight Point Stars!