For me, quilting is art mixed with functionality mixed with love mixed with therapy... My quilts will never be shown (except at Show-and-Tell at guild), but the few I've made have been beautiful in the eye of each recipient. It's hard to explain the grip quilting holds on us, isn't it...
I, too, hope that someday my quilts are "discovered" by some great-great-relative of some kind (no grands yet...) and treasured for the love stitched into them.