Sorry to hear about your quilt. I was a new quilter and took my first flannel quilt to a recommended long arm quilter. She quilted my quilt and then gave me a letter along with the bill for the quilting that turned out to be a critique saying that my piecing was very good for a new quilter but the flannel was not to her liking! Sad thing was at the time the flannel was all in the 10.00 a yard range-- so was not the thin cheap kind but she felt the qaulity was not very good!! First and last quilt that went to her....turns out she was a fairly new LA quilted!!

sorry you feel your quilt is ruined, but would like a description of what/how it was ruined. big tucks? tears? just not looking the way you pictured in your mind?

i don't send quilts out or use a LA myself, but what i "think" is happening out there is having your own LA is becoming so popular (and an expensive investment)some salesman are pitching "you can easily pay this off by quilting for others". People are doing just that, but without enough experience. Saw the same thing happen many years ago when home knitting machines became popular and again when emb. machines were all the rage. Fact is though, most will not make money with any of these. Unless you are willing to put the time in perfecting your skills, it just won't happen.

Others here have given some very good suggestions. please look into your options before giving up on the quilt

Thanks for the support and replies. I am at work and connot post pictures until I get home tonight. When I say ruined, here are some of hte issues:
she used a scallop pattern, but the scllops are in no way uniform, some are flat some are huge running into the next row. There are many broken threads and uneven stitches. And there is the border - on one end she quilted the obrder, the other end ... nothing. and on the borders on the sides what a mess, she quilted into them, starting a stoppoing at various places. there are some scallops that area mess, one looks like her machine got away from her and it looks like a duck. Another palce the same happend and ther is a loop right in the middle of a scallop. You would agree I am sure that it is a mess. I brought the quilt to work with me to show a couple of friends, they are speechless.
I think she is just too new at using her machine for quilting. In talking to her yesterday I was informed she only got the machine in Dec. She has quilted for years, by hand and on her domestic machine, the quilts I saw were nice, but not done on the new machine. Her main fault was just not being ready to quilt for others using this machine. I will not pass her name on to anyone, but I just don't think I can go back an confront her. I am so not good at things like that. I should have not been so trusting of the recommendation.
The more I think about it, I think I will leave it be, I know that ripping it out will be time consuming and I would possibly just get frustrated and toss it aside. Makes me sad to look at it so I think I will move on. At least it can be used for a quilt even it my niece does not want it as a spread. She may not have a problem with it, she is not a picky person and has been so excited about getting the quilt. I will make her another one in the near future.

And for fun at college the girls in her dorm can play "where's the duck" sort of like where's Waldo, the one who finds the duck shaped scallop is the winner! - Just a joke but - but I am trying to find some humor to keep from crying. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, I think I lost on this one.

If you "de quilt" it & yes I have done it! Use a mustache trimmer, I used a battery operation one and just shaved over the stitches and used my seam ripper to just pick up where I needed to. It did take a full day but you cannot tell it every had a stitch! The quilt was saved and ready to be "re quilted"

Ok, I was able to get a few pics off of my facebook account I will try to post these. And no, I didn't not post these pics on fb, just sent them privately to a friend last night - I needed a shoulder to cry on. This is a small sample of many issues, I think you will see I am not over reacting.
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Oh, that's too bad. I agree, that is not quality quilting at all. But as others have said - wash it, and much of this will be less visible. I bet your niece will still love it. The colours looks lovely.

Perhaps I missed something here,,,,,but what Exactly is wrong with the quilting....Puckers, pleats......
Do you think you have time to rip it apart and requilt it in time ?????

How sad!... That is exactly why I will only quilt my own. Different ones have asked me to, but I know I'M not ready to do that and I have a FEAR of ruining someones beautiful work. So sorry this happened to you, after you worked so hard on the top!...

ok...didn't see the pictures when I posted this message. How about this idea.
Give it to your niece, as is, explain to her what you feel is wrong with the quilt, tell her you are going to make her another new one and she will have for Christmas or before and then the first one can be turned into a dog bed.
I would definatly confront the LAQ, the personal recommendation person and the LQS show them the quilt, don't just talk about it.....they need to SEE it for sure...that is worst than my first FMQ I did a hundred years ago.....Get your money back, stand your ground....be strong, but stay Nice.....

I can see your concerns, but once it's washed most will not be as noticeable.
remember, this quilt is going off to college for four years. It will be a warm reminder of your love for your niece not a piece of art in her dorm room. She will only see the love you put into it.