I know what you mean. When I see pictures of some of these big quilt shows and the level of mastery that is in those quilts I think to myself I will never be that good. But practice and perseverance will get us so much further then we ever imagined.
One of my greatest LA quilting inspirations was our own Green Fairy. She recently posted on her blog pictures of her LA quilting when she first got started. It is postings like this that REALLY inspire me. To see what she was doing when she first started and what she is doing now!
Here is a link it is close to the bottom of the page:
http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/