Recently, I saved your post without having time to read it. Now I can see why there are five pages of praise on your first assignment. You did a wonderful job--and look at those mitered corners within the stripes. Like you, I too hate working with stripes.
Now quoting your words on page one:
"You have to understand…everyone showing me how to do this is right handed and as I am left handed I was having a heck of a time getting things to go in the right direction. It kept coming out backwards. I finally figured out how to do the same thing left handed and have it come out right."
May I offer a suggestion that has helped me show a long-time friend how to quilt. (We both were stenographers in the late 1960s--just to date ourselves!) Anyway, she retired, had never sewn and wanted to take up quilting as I had done.
The connection to you, AnngelAnne, is that she too is left-handed. We solved our problem by my standing on one side of the table and doing the design or cutting, while she stood on the opposite side thus making the observation from her point of view, left-handed.
Good luck and try this opposite side method when right-handers show you quilting tips.