The 4" finished square throw I wanted to make for a friend's mother who was going through chemo turned into a living nightmare! A friend dropped by and we were chatting while I cut the squares (big mistake!). I prefer to sew blocks instead of sewing long strips together first, then cutting into smaller blocks. I didn't realize until after I had pieced the long strips that one-third of the blocks were 1/4" longer than the other blocks and were mixed randomly in the long strips. Needless to say, nothing lined up. And this was a pattern that most beginners can master with ease!