please follow the directions

Did you ever take one of those tests in elementary school that is designed to measure your ability to follow directions? You know, the one that has about 30 numbered directions starting with:

"1. Read items 2-30 before you write anything."

The next 28 items are commands like "draw a circle in the upper left corner of this page" and "draw a smiley face at the end of this sentence".

And then the last line says:

"30. Write your first and last name in the upper right corner and make no other marks on this paper. Put your pencil down on your desk when you have finished."

Yeah, so my paper was filled with smudged eraser marks indicating that I had, in fact, NOT read all the directions, but just dove right in doing what items 2-29 directed, but not what the very first direction indicated.

I remember that test vividly, and most acutely on days like last week when (once again) I didn't read all the directions carefully.

This is my corrected version of the first Dotty Stars block. It has quite a few more dark pieces than the original. The first time I just dove in and madly started cutting 3" half-square triangles in lights and darks without reading that I needed 3 times as many darks as lights. Nor did I read that once I composed a sub-unit of 4 triangles (1 dark and 3 light) I only needed to repeat that 3 times, not 15 - the other 12 sub-units should be made of 1 light and 3 darks. So the resulting finished block didn't have enough darks and none of the seams were pressed correctly. It looked okay from the front, but I knew it could be better, so I took it apart and did it as directed.

Lesson learned. Again. Maybe it will stick this time :)