It seems to me by looking at everyone's comments that something different works for everyone. I don't currently have that kind of money to spend on a BOM, but some of my friends have been doing the Civil War Quilts and have been enjoying them. There are some things you can't put a price tag on. People spend lots of money on vacations and they find value in them. I kind of think it's the same way with a quilt. If the quilt costs $500 dollars, I would think it would have to be very special and something that the money is not the bottom line. As a lot of people have said, you can make a lot of very pretty quilts for less, but sometimes there are certain quilts/patterns that just speak to you.