My DD has been BLW'ing/ed(?) since the day before her 6th month b/day (10 days ago) and I just wanted to add a thumbs up for BLW. I did the Annabel Karmel thing with my 2 boys (now 5 and 3), which was great at the time and in fairness I loved weaning them and generally (moods permitting!) they are good eaters.
However, I read the BLW book and it made such sense I decided to do this with my daughter. For the last ten days she's sat with us and had a variety of foods placed on the highchair tray in large chunks to help herself to, nothing cooked separately for her (we're in the habit of adding salt at the table anyway since cooking for the eldest kids). Yesterday she was chewing (I use the word 'chewing' loosely, as she has no teeth) on a chunk of roast lamb/potatoes/brocolli etc and it was a joy to watch!
If you're thinking of trying it I'd urge you to give it a go. Essentially you're just missing out the puree stage so it's nothing to be fearful of (and the mess is actually less than with puree'd food, as the 'splatter' factor is greatly reduced. I just throw a beach towel or old tablecloth on the floor & scoop up after)
Give it a go, it'll make your life easier (no more pots in the freezer for me!)