The group's name was derived from a maverick block in quiltmaking, which is the one block in a quilt that is not like any other block, but works well with the overall quilt pattern. Over late night coffee at Border's Books, the group was christened. Main Street was where the group's original meeting places, Common Threads quilt shop, and later the Mesa Southwest Museum, were located.

When the group grew and moved to the present meeting location at Hatton Hall in Tempe, they dropped the street name and are now just referred to as the Mavericks. The group's membership has grown from the founding four to more than 50 over the years, and their success is enhanced by each member's diversity. The professional backgrounds of Mavericks members include teaching, nursing, engineering, safety consulting, video producing and writing as well as fiber artists, painters, garment designers and professional quiltmakers from the Phoenix metro area, northern and southern Arizona. The Mavericks is a chapter of the Arizona Quilter's Guild (AQG), a statewide organization ArizonaQuiltersGuild

The group has at least one gallery show each year, sponsors a national teacher at least once each year, and provides workshops and lectures by Mavericks members, local professional artists as well as instructors from ASU and community colleges. Monthly programs cover a wide range of topics such as:

• Designing with black and white
• Putting words into a design
• Working out of your comfort zone
• Surface design
• Working with color
• Composition exercises
• Fabric collage
• Collaborative meetings where members design and assemble quilts