That sounds familiar! I was told that the owner of a quilt shop did things with her freehand quilting. the employees just gushed. I was horrified with what I received!! I don't have the fortitude to rip it all out (queen) but now I have to take care of the bare spots and a 2.5" border all around with nothing in it! Painful lesson.

The very first quilt I pieced was for my nephew's first baby. I took the quilt to a popular LQS in my area that several people in my guild used for LA work. The store owner does the quilting himself on two machines setup right in the store. I guess I should have suspected something when I went to pick the quilt up, because while the saleswomen checked me out, the guy who does the actual quilting kept looking over at us. The next day when I pulled the quilt out of the packaging to start on the binding, I was shocked to see the back had been sewn on lopsided (like at a 33-degree angle). One corner was slightly short of the top, while the other corner had inches of extra fabric. I drove back to the store (a 1 hour drive each way) to tell the LA guy how unhappy I was with his work. His response was that I didn't Tell him to sew the backing on straight. Wow - I didn't specify that the backing should be sewn with the fabric right side out either! Luckily, I've sewed for many years so I was able to salvage the quilt. Needless to say I haven't been back to that shop for fabric and I'm not shy about sharing my experience with that shop with other quilters. -Bonnie

Wow Bonnie that was really stupid on his part. Did he not realize it was gonna cost him in the long run ? For sure would be last time I was in his store.

If you can't find someone in your area, there are longarmers all over the US. Here are two links: Judi Madsen, Greenfairy Quilts does wonderful work https://www.judimadsen.com/collectio...ting-services; as does Natalie at Piece and Quilt http://www.pieceandquilt.com/2006/08...ia-bonner.html.