wow she sure put you on the spot ! i would return it to her and tell her this was not done the correct way and it cant be quilted till it is done the correct way , and that she is the one that sold it so she needs to make it right, and if she doesnt want to do that i would walk away from it if i were you and take the loss you have and write it off as a lesson from your "friend"

I used to let "friends" walk all over me in the same way. I didn't have courage to speak up, not wanting to cause ruffles and offend anyone. Believe me, the first time you do it won't hurt at all. You will feel sooooo much better once you return the quilt, explain what needs to be done on her part to finish it for another quilter, then let her be on her way. Don't back down. If that destroys the friendship, you don't have much of a friend in her.

I agree you have gotten some sound advice on here. I still struggle myself with learning to let someone know if I can't do something saying "no" is hard for me. However It is like my HS. band director said "I take the blame when ya'll do bad and give ya'll the credit when ya'll do good." say if you were to quilt it as it is and the buyer complians saying that is not what was promised then it could bite you in the ....

Methinks that you need to bill her for $400 for the quilting lessons. After all, it took 2 years and it surely was worth a lot more than that. Sounds reasonable.....

June in Cincinnati

MMM i fully understand your predicament you can either be straight with her and tell her you do not want to quilt it as the quilt has too many wrong piecing or you could go ahead and quilt it bearing in mind the amount of work you would have to do but if you do decide to do the second choice i personally think you should get 3 quarters of the payment she gets for the quilt.
I do think this woman is using you for her own needs and real friends do not do this.
If this where me i would feel rotten but i would tell her to take her quilt home with her and sort it out herself after all you have the upper hand here without you to do the quilt she wont get any payment for it from this other person so she will end up looking the biggest fool

Return it to the lady and maybe even consider keeping half of the deposit she gave you for rental of a machine, for your time and material you already have invested in it. I think yout should get the whole $100, but that would probably create more problems. Tell her to take it to a quilter in the area and let him/her tell why the quilt cannot be quilted as is. I do not think she is a friend to take advantage of you and it has been 2 years?

Glad to hear you are going to return it to her.....I wouldn't even go out of my way to give names or phone numbers of LA or LQS. Let her figure it out. She is a user.

Agree with Murphy on this one! She needs it back in her lap to finish properly and then she can take it to the long arm quilter. If she is a friend, it will blow over, an aquaintence well she needs to learn that you did a kindness to her originally. You won't miss her if you didn't have her as a friend. Sounds harsh, but sometimes a simple no works wonders.

If it was me, I would call her up and say: "I've been working on the quilt since you dropped it off. Frankly, it's a mess because the seams don't match, they weren't pressed and the top is very uneven. Also, the threads weren't clipped and it's very time consumming to clip them all. The other day, I spent 3 hours trying to get it ready for quilting and I'm not even halfway there. I don't feel comfortable quilting this size on my home machine in the condition it's in since it is to be sold. I'd like you to pick it and I'll return your deposit."

Whatever her protests, tell her no, that you can't work on it any longer and to pick it up. Or you'll deliver it. Then just walk away--you've learned your lesson.

I second the quote. Give it back to her saying that it is best down by a professional LA. May in Jersey