I am so sorry that your quilt appears to be lost forever. I just had a similar experience when I sent a quilt to my niece in Kentucky. I sent Priority Mail via USPS Dec 18, it first arrived in Cinncinati OH Saturday following Christmas. I thought surely that it would arrive in Verona KY Monday but did not...from that point it went to PA, MA NJ back to Cinci, back to NJ and then FINALLY it arrived last Friday in Verona. It seems someone had put a round white sticker over a small portion of the zip code on the package so of course the scanners could not compute the intended location..well hello....why on earth did someone not input the rest of the address and GET the full zip code and mark the pkg !!!! Pathetic performance from USPS employees..Our world is so full of the lack of common sense!
Had you tracked the pkg as it traveled through the route?
I certainly would call the LA PO and ask that very same question you posted regarding how the label came of. All employees are not honest and have been guilty of stealing mail for money etc... the wife of a postal carrier got to read all the magazines that others in her town had subscribed to before they did because her husband brought them home first!!