Lesson Learned ....Again

I took a quilt class on Friday taught by a woman in our guild. We were told to bring 10 baggies of precut fabric to share. Once there we shared our fabric and learned our block. It was then that I realized that I had learned this block in a values class with Charlotte. But our block was under a different name because the author had found a neat trick to make the blocks perfect each time and easier. That part was neat. We each brought our own background fabric too. Of course we picked a background without knowing what we were getting so that made a difference. Some of the combinations didn't work at all. When I got my wildly different baggie of cut pieces, I quickly realized (again) that I always say I like scrappy but what I got was a muddy mess. What I really like is controlled scrappy so while these exchange things seem like a good idea, I end up with something I don't like. So, I decided how I wanted to use the blocks, put the top together and am giving it as a charity quilt. Why do I have to learn some lessons more than once?  I will say the technique is slick and too hard to explain but I can show you sometime if you want. Mine are called Mary's Unit. Here is my quilt top and a close up of one block. There are 9 mini-blocks in the block.Of course we picked a background without knowing too so that made a difference. Some of the combinations didn't work at all.