I've never been in the box, any box...way too confining.
Learning something new with each quilt I make is a very high priority for me. It's pretty much the reason I quilt.
I don't use other people's patterns and seldom use my own more than once, never without changes of some kind. I have a habit of designing quilts without thinking about how to construct them until afterwards, so I usually sew by the seat of my pants. So far, it's always worked out.