Perfection?

Looking at the new edition of any quilting magazine, you think wow that looks great, why do my quilts turn out so well not so perfect. Quilting is an art not everyone has the same take on the same stitches. While the work in the magazines is absolutely beautiful, the artists have years of experience and thousands and thousands of dollars behind the work. Can I produce the same work with my machine and skill, maybe, some day. But then that begs one to question, would I want to? At times and with some projects yes. But the antique quilts that are collected today were made with no sewing machine and not for beauty but for propose. So I asked my self while looking at my uneven stitches on my Lauren Quilt what is the purpose of this quilt? Well to say it simply, to give a quilt to Lauren that she can cuddle up to when she is 1, 20 or 50 and say my mom made this for me when I was still in her belly. I am not entering it in a contest or having it judged by anyone but my self. (OK so I am so my worst critic.) So I need to relax and take a deep breath and except my uneven stitches and lop sided applique and just hope that when my oldest son said "Mom, Lauren will not know the difference" he was telling the truth.

Now on to lessons learned so far...
1.) thick thread is not for quilting, this is what was causing my looping on the back side.
2.) it really sucks to have to take out quilted stitches that are not even
3.) I have already learned this lesson, but it is worth stating again. quilting on a roll is great but a mess when it is time to take off the paper. ;)

If I get some good time in today i actually think I can have the quilting done today, I only have 3 more rolls. I can attack the binding tomorrow and then I will be done.