I adore feathers, ruler work...any custom quilting. I hate E2E and won't do pantos, I like quilting from the front of my machine where I can see what I am doing. I have been piecing for 3 years and LA quilting for 2 years. Best practice for me is to draw, draw, draw! It builds muscle memory and translates well to the longarm. I also went to Quilting with Machines in Huron, Ohio this past September and took classes for 4 days from folks like Karen McTavish, Kimmy Brunner, Mindy Wiley Casperson, and Jamie Wallen. Had a blast and learned so much!!! If you are interested in Quilting with Machines, just google it and their website will give you all the information you need for it for next year.
This is the back of a customer's quilt (shows the quilting so well!) that I did this summer:
back
[ATTACH=CONFIG]150488[/ATTACH]
front
[ATTACH=CONFIG]150489[/ATTACH]