I have been quilting about 40 years and quickly got tired of driving myself crazy trying to accurately piece etc. Fabric is not a finate medium, it stretches, shrinks and has a grain. The part I like best is the handquilting. I love the advent of preprinted "cheaters cloth" I purchase some yardage of it, slap on some borders and start quilting. When I get finished only a real quilter with a sharp eye can tell it wasn't carefully pieced before being quilted. The quilting process is also a lot easier without those many seams to traverse. The original idea about "patchwork" was to use up the fabric no woman could afford to discard. It is truly an American idea. If you look at quilted items made before there was an American country it was "wholecloth" and made into wallhangings, coverlets and even padding to be worn under armour etc. Thrifty American homemakers came up with the idea of using their leftover scraps from garment and home sewing to make attractive yet practical bedding. Developing patterns was their way of expressing themselves and also being practical.