squashed pumpkins

I came across a lovely tutorial for a patchwork ball from one of my favourite bloggers- Melissa at tinyhappy.typepad.com
Here it is here
http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2008/05/how-to-a-simple.html
Being a beginner crafter I thought I would give it a go- mine have ended up looking more like squashed pumpkins (well that's what the hubby said when he saw them) but the girls are loving them so that's nice. I went to Bernina and got some little bells to put into the balls so Stella really likes that :)
I think my problem is that I need to make my petals a bit longer and skinnier. Also I need to learn how to hand sew the seam together by using the ladder stitch which I haven't tried yet. I have two newly
pregnant friends so I really want to make one for each of them as a wee congratulations gift.