I totally mimic. I see a quilt that I think is beautiful and I say to myself, I want to recreate that, or I say, I can do that too! A pattern can be great, but if its not done in "my colors" then I don't want to do it. Oftentimes quilt books are done with black and white drawings and I "just can't see" the quilt. However after just having said that, I bought an alphabet panel and I designed my own idea for how it will go together.