So happy to see your landscape quilt and hear your description of winging it.....it makes me feel like I'm not alone when I design a pattern "in my heads" and work it out. I have a plan to do a quilt I call, Portland Rain, for my GD. Nothing unusual in the panel scene (a Kincade sky) appliqued falling leaves and "raindrops" for the quilting. Thats the part I keep practicing; getting a real feel of rain. But thats the part I love-and hate, because its hard to create a special effect.
Thank you for sharing and encouraging