I have been taking all of my quilts to the same LA'r since I started quilting. I've never asked what the charge will be when discussing how I want it done (I know that was my first big mistake). I've had a couple of queen size quilts done that cost $210 and $120 to quilt (the one for $210 was custom - they said). Well I did my first king size quilt (104 x 114) and when I took it in I talked to one owner about what I wanted and the other owner is the one who quilted it. I'm so upset over how it was quilted. I had asked that the pinwheels not be quilted all over only a stitch in the ditch so they would pop and not to do any heavy stitching so the quilt wouldn't be hard. We settled on a design for the borders and I said I would leave the rest (sashing and background of blocks to their creative eye. Well I was called on Thursday about the quilting and was told on Saturday it was ready (I was shocked that it was done!). This is what I got for $350 - the pinwheels have been outlined 1/4" on the inside and 1/4" on the outside of each blade - a circle in each setting corner stone of the sashing - what I call DNA quilting on the inner border - and the design I chose for the outer border. I was so shocked I couldn't find any words to say so I took it home. My husband was anxious to see it and asked before I could get it unfolded how I liked it; I didn't answer just unfolded it and let him see. I wanted to see if his reaction was the same as mine - it was. I called and told her I was not happy and said what I had wanted. My husband took it back to them right then (I couldn't go because I knew I would cry). This quilt meant so much to me and I feel it's ruined because it's not going to look right on the back when they do the stitch-in-the-ditch because of the way they stitched the 1/4" inside and out. After setting here typing all this out I know what I must do. I'm going to call and tell her not to do anything until I come back in and talk to her about what we can do to fix this. My question is do you think for the amount of "custom"quilting (their words), that I was charge fairly?
After typing all of this out I knew what I needed to do. I called her and she said she had been thinking about it also. She want's to echo the line further into the pinwheels (this is exactly what I did NOT want in the first place). I told her not to do anything and I would come back to the shop later in the week (I've got to have more time to compose myself) and we will go over what can be done it fix it. Because the background and backing fabric has these "embossed like" dots I'm afraid the stitching cannot be removed without it messing up the fabric. I'm going to experiment with this from some leftovers to see if that's true before I go back; if it works out OK I may have the stitching around the pinwheels removed.