I can relate very well to your problem. I completed a Spinning Star and took it to a highly recommended LAQ only to have her not do anything we discussed she would do. I have begun the long, tedious job of removing the horrible attempt at quilting she did. I truly understand how ill you feel.

Thanks for all the responses. As this is my second quilt I dont think I was aggressive enough in stating what I wanted. (Since at this point of the game I am not sure what to really ask) I also worried I would insult the person who has a good heart. I think in the future I will try and do it myself for awhile-until I learn more. I think I'll move on to number 3 and take this as a lesson learned-I know what I like.

Heres a pic of my daisy doodle-Quilt #1

I hope since you are unhappy that you let her know. How can she help satisfy you if you don't let her know. If you did tell her and she didn't try to resolve the matter then I would make sure she knows why you aren't going back. Especially if she's new she needs quilters to tell her how they really feel before someone isn't so nice and she's left wondering why that "one" person doesn't like her work. Besides I have a moto "If I pay for something I want it done right"; rather it's food or something else.

From what I can see, it looks like a pantograph. I think you would have been happier with a custom quilted design. A custom quilted design would have emphasized the stars instead of quilting through them. Would I take it out? I think I'd wait a while and see if it still bothered me a month from now. If you take it out you have wasted your money and you still will either have to requilt it yourself or pay to get it quilted again.

I agree with Tartan -- I believe you really want custom quilting. The custom quilter looks at the quilt and makes the quilt stand out in its design. The pantographs just do a design all over regardless of the block patterns.

Your question -- ever taken quilting out --- yes, you can do that -- very carefully. Don't just grab a thread and rip --- that may rip the fabric. And you will have to get more backing. Remember, the longarmer will need more than the quilt top size. You may even need more batting. If you're going to do the new one on your home machine, you don't need the extra. You MAY want to look it over good and see if you can ADD to her design (if there is a design)....

I think that quilt looks very nice, but it is YOU who need to be satisfied. Once I sent a quilt out and let the LA do as she liked. I was not happy at first, but after washing it looked really nice. I like the soft wrinkly old fashioned loved look so washing solved my problem!

I think that the quilting is so important -- I have seen quilts "ruined" with poorly designed MQing. The local QS here does a terrible job. I wouldn't take a dog blanket to them. There is a quilter that does a nice job at a different (my fav) shop.

I chose someone here on line because I could see examples of her work. I sent a small baby quit first and then my dearly prized bargello. I usually hand quilt -- right now I am in the middle of 2 that I hope will be done by spring.

By all means, do talk with her to tell her why you are not happy. It may help her to improve. Perhaps she just doesn't have the "artist eye" to enhance a quilt design. And she may also return some of your money

Mim

Good advice-the investment in time and money is alot. I take responsibility for the lack of communication. I am just learning about all the parts of the process. Thanks to all how gave me their thoughts.

I think I can see what you are referring to. The quilting on your white stars, IMHO, appears to be rather hap-hazard and in no way uniform. It seems to be 'all over the place'. I only take my quilting to my nearest sewing machine and do my own. Perhaps you should go back to her and voice your dislike for the work performed.

I took a baby quilt to a shop that does LA quilting for customers. I explained that I wanted a tight quilting when I picked it up it was quilted nice but quilted very far apart. I paid over one hundred dollars for a few lines of quilting. Needless to say I bought my own long arm after that, The shop had beautiful quilts done by them on display but mine looked very cheap after done. Unfortunately the shop owner is a family friend and I couldn't make trouble amoung friends, Lesson learned.