I recently completed my first real quilt, a 124x124 made with deer panels, 9- patch blocks and flying geese down all sides
It is suppose to fit a california king bed, anyway, I presently live in Indiana, but am moving back to florida. I went to fl. for a month. While I was there I had a very recommended quilter do my quilt. She said she could do it and quoted me a price. She had some problems and called to say she couldnot do it all. So center is done and 2 of the 4 sides. my problem is I have never even tried to quilt, let alone try to make leaf patterns, free handed. Also the flying geese need something. I dont know whether to sew them down or not. I cannot afford to pay someone to quilt, the lady ended up charging $50.00 more,
so any suggestions on how to finish this will be appreciated.
Thanks Lindav

Oh my goodness what a mess!! I wonder why she only half completed the quilt? That seems a bit odd. I have no suggestions unfortunately other than trying to find someone else to complete it, but I wish you all the best and I am so sorry this happened to you!!

Rachel

A price quote is a price quote. She needs to "bite the bullet" and finish the project!

I'm not understanding why you had to pay $50.00 more for a quilt that she had not finished the quilting. I don't think you would be able to finish quilting a quilt that size on your own. It is too big to feed through the throat of a regular sewing machine & it sounds like you are not a long arm quilter yourself.

I'm confused. It's half done and you had to pay her, and even pay extra???

What was the problem. Did she have trouble with her machine? What was the reason for even charging you full price, let alone an extra $50? The quilt it to big for you to do on your own. You could do it by hand, but only if you want to have it finished in 4-5 years. If you paid her by check, I would put a stop payment on it right away.

I was upset too. But what can you do. Bite the bullet and go on. I am going to try it on my machine after I find a stencil of a leaf or trace one.

Thanks

I am so sorry that happened to you. I don't know what you can do to fix it. It seems to me that she should bite the bullet and finish your quilt. A deal is a deal. I don't understand why you had to pay extra for something that is only partly done. Hope you can get it fixed.
Sue

Apparently it was to big for her long arm. She measured it at 118x118 then when she got it on her machine it was 124x124 (what I had told her it was)And I think she charged the extra amount for going aroun the squares the flying geese were in. the rest of the quilt has leaves and random stitches. I guess I will practice all this week and try to get er done.

Thanks for all your concern and remarks.

linda

I want to see it when you are finished! :)

I am goinh to try to post it when I get it done, then you will be able to see i am a newbie.

I think I would try and find someone else. That is an awful big quilt for you to try to do.

If she couldn't do it on her LA I think you'll have a heck of a time doing it on your machine. Do you have any quilting buddies? Perhaps they would get together with you and help you hand quilt like in the 'good old days' Good luck.

Wow! This is terrible! I can't wait to see it. I'm so sorry that this lady did this to you. I wish you luck getting it completed.

Wait a minute, she charged you $50 more than she quoted and she didn't finish the quilt? I certainly wouldn't have paid her until the quilt was done, and then I wouldn't have paid her the extra $50. She gave you a quote, and that's only what you should have to pay, unless you had requested additional quilting or something. She should have finished the quilting and stood by her quote. I wish I had a solution to your problem though. Hopefully, someone on board will have an answer for you.

I think finishing it yourself sounds great. It's a big quilt, but just worry about the part in front of your needle. You might want to make sure you have something to support the weight of the quilt behind your machine and off to the left side, like a card table or ironing board.

I read a blog by a machine quilter named Debby Brown. She's been featuring some videos on simple fill designs - here's the link: http://higheredhands.blogspot.com/

Just remember - you CAN do this!

Janet

Janet, thanks for the link!! I am embarking on machine quilting and need as many visuals as possible.

You're welcome! She uses a Handiquilter a lot, but the current series, she's using a Janome 6600. It looks so easy when she does it. :)

Janet

Hmm. I agree with most folks. Although it sounds like she is an experienced long arm quilter, she probably didn't take into account the fact that the machine doesn't really go to the edges of the frame. I have a 120" frame, but can really only quilt about 108-110". The quilt probably fit her frame, but she couldn't do the edges. She should have turned the quilt to do the other 2 sides and NOT have charged you extra!!

Oh my goodness!!! What a terrible thing to happen. If you are no confidant on the FMQ part, maybe you can put on a walking foot and stitch in the ditch on the straight parts first? Sort of get a feel for working with that large a quilt. Remember the saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Good Luck!

I don't want to dish anyone, but I can't imagine not finishing a job, much less charging for it! I sure wasn't raised that way. She sounds VERY unprofessional!!!!!!!

Thanks for the link, I will look at it .

This whole thing definitely sounds like a " What the ^&&*( ?"

What does the quilting look like so far that this ** entity ** did?

Is it decent?

I think I would try to find another longarmer with quilt in arms (or at least pictures) that would be able to finish it.

If any professional gives me a quote for the job, I would expect them to complete the job at the price they gave me. If she measured incorrectly, that is her error and she has to make it right. What a horrible experience for you.

Did she do some of the borders? you can get a piece of plexi-glass or clear plastic trace what she has done and use that to create a template so that what you do is the same.

Other than that She should have told you before she started quilting it that she wouldn't have been able to complete it and that there would be an additional charge. She would have known from the time she started adding the quilt to the rack.

I don't think there is any way i would pay for a job that was not done. If Iwere you I would go back and have a chat and get my money back.

take that quilt and go right back to that person and tell them that you paid to have it finished and you expect to have it finished. If she isn't capable, then she will have to pay someone else to do it (not your problem). If she won't help you, then demand a full refund and find another LA. And be sure to tell her that you will tell every person you know what she did to you. Sometimes maintaining their "good reputation" will motivate her to take care of the problem. DO NOT let her off the hook.

Since the center is done (the hardest part) I would try and FMQ the two remaining side pieces. Look at it as an opportunity to practice FMQ without having to do the whole quilt.

She should have stuck to her price quote, or LESS since she didn't finish...

Wow, I have to agree with everyone else in that what this LA quilter did isn't right. This is a very large quilt and it sounds like her frame wasn't large enought to do the whole width of the quilt. But as others have said, she needed to unpin and and turn it so she could do the other sides and probably more than once in order to reach all the corners. I can't believe she charged you more than quoted and didn't even finish the quilt! She should have also known what her rack limitations were before taking on the job, it makes me think she hasn't been LAing for very long to know what could and could not fit on her rack. I can't believe she came highly recommended to you. I too, think you should go back to her but it sounds like you have reconciled yourself to not dealing with her (or him) any more. I would still go back and give her one more opportunity to make it right. If she does not you need to warn others about her bad business practices.

I have to ask... Are you happy with what she did do?

As far as completing it yourself, at least the center is done and FMQ the remaining borders will be easier to do because you don't have to cram too much of the quilt in the throat of your machine. However, it takes a lot of practice to get even stitches and smooth movements FMQ on any machine. I would be inclined to handquilt the remainder of it. At least you have a ton more control handquilting and should be able to more easily replicate the quilting motifs she used on the LA, even though the stitching will look different from what she has done. You should also mention something to the people who highly recommended this quilter so they know she (or he) isn't all they thought she was.

Oh my. If you were closer to me I would finish it for you. What I couldn't get to on my LA I could finish on my midarm (lives in a large sewing table)

But since you aren't close, take your time and practice. There have been some good ideas for you. Then "git-r-done"

I bet you will do just fine! :)

The price she quoted was for the whole quilt not just part. I would have paid her part of the quote. If she finished 1/2 then only pay 1/2. She will not have a very good reputation and I hope she doesn't do this for a living.

Yes I am very happy with what she did. She made leaves and random swirls. I just hope my quilting will not show! I am going to play around on scrap material before I touch my quilt.

Wow Thanks Hinterland for that wonderful link...One could either use the tutorials for machine quilting or longarm freehand...woohoo. As for the longarmer not finishing the quilt, like it has been mentioned before, she should have turned the quilt on her frame.

She should not have charged you more, in fact, she should have refunded you something, and or, better...just not started it. Sometimes you get a better reputation by refusing stuff you can not do than by attempting things you can't.

I wonder if you couldn't take it to a LQS and do the long arm yourself? We have a few places in Orlando that will let you work on something and give you a lesson at the same time....

AND...since I live in Florida, and am making a Calif. King size quilt...I would like you to please PM the ladys name. I wont make it Public, but I wont use her. MY Goodness, Bad service.

I would rather not reveal her name, but I will tell you it is not close to Orlando.

If it is not out of your way, you need to stand up to this lady. Take your quilt with you when you go to talk to her. Tell her firmly but nicely that you had paid the agreed price and that she did not have the right to demand more money from you. Tell her you need the $50. back, and that she needs to finish the quilt or refund the rest of your money. Tell her that the two of you had a verbal contract. If you don't confront her, she'll do it again. Perhaps you're not the first one she's done it to. She can quilt an oversize quilt on her frame. It takes a little more effort and you do have to turn the quilt a lot, but it can be successfully done. You select the top edge and one of the corners and follow that corner down it's side. On the opposite side you let the quilt top
drop off the inside edge, and you clamp throught the double layer of the quilt sandwich. You continue to quilt like this until upu get to the bottom. You unpin the top and bottom and slide the quilt over to where the remaing top corner is in the quilting area along with the top edge. You repin, allow the excess quilt on the other side to drop off. You can clamp through a double layer of quilt sandwich, and start quilting where you left off and continue down the length and side of the quilt till you get to the bottom. :?:

I agree, she quoted you a price and if she couldn't do it, she shouldn't have started. In addition, she shouldn't have charged you the extra money without contacting you first to explain that it would cost more and you agreed to it.

Good luck in getting it finished. The LQS idea is good. A quilt that large would be hard to finish by hand without a group as someone else said.

Wow, I wish I could help you!! I wouldn't pay until the job was finished. A professional person would do whatever it took to get it finished. I hope you can get it done!!

I am back in Ind. now. I will be moving towards the first of august. I wanted to give it to my son before I leave. He lives in INd.

Why in the heck cant she finish it. She took it and gave you a price, She needs to finish it.. And charging you more when she didnt finish it.. No Way.. Dont pay her. Pay when the job is done... So sorry this has happend to you.