I usually START with a pattern, then I get bored and take a few left and right turns and wind up with something that may not look like the pattern I started with. Some small projects I actually complete using a pattern, others, well they are different. I will look at some of these amazing quilts I see here and try them, but mine are never the same because I deviate from the pattern. I usually draft my patterns (either with EQ7 or graph papeer) and I can't always follow those. I am doomed to do things on the fly.