When I'm facing a really challenging project like this I photocopy the pattern and even make sections bigger if I can. Then I use a yellow maker and pencil to go through it and mark or underline important details. Still confused? I do it again and repeat until I feel more confident. Then I use a red or black pen to mark the areas where I know for sure how I want to proceed. I blow up copies of the blocks if necessary so I can see for sure what I'm doing. This whole process might take me several days since I stop and ponder, erase and start over etc. I never mark on the original pattern until I know for sure what I'm doing. After all that I make a block out of scraps if possible just to be sure. I keep all my notes etc in a big baggy so I can refer back. This has sure saved me some costly mistakes in cutting, piecing etc.