Quilt Back From Happy Crafters (Reasonable Price Place)-What Do You Think?
 

I just got my quilt back from Happy Crafters, the place in Kansas that several recent posts have mentioned because of their reasonable prices. Overall I think they did a good job, certainly for what I paid. (A total of $83 for the quilting, batting AND backing) plus $17 return shipping costs back to me, for a total of $100) It is a fairly large quilt, about queen size. What I don't like, and it is my fault for not asking in advance, is that the polyester batting they used is high loft, so my quilt is really 'puffy', which I am not crazy about. In fairness to them, I have always used Warm and White cotton batting in the past, which gives a nice, even, fairly flat look. I decided to try polyester on this quilt because I hadn't used it before, but in my ignorance I guess I expected a low loft batting, and didn't ask beforehand. The quilting design is uniform and goes edge to edge, I didn't notice any tucks or puckers, although there were several thread tail ends hanging, some only one inch long, others 4-6 inches long. This was not a 'special' quilt to me, and the reason I chose to send it as the test, so I don't mind dealing with the tails. The backing fabric is soft and has a nice hand to it, a tone on tone tiny white flower print.
I guess my take-away from this experiment is that my local LAQ (who does is freehand and is very creative) gives me a much better overall looking quilt, but at a price that is about 40% more if I factor in the cost of the batting and backing that I furnish to her. So for special gift and family quilts, I will stick with my local LAQ, for those that are not so "special", I would recommend Happy Crafters for the economical cost and pretty good overall quality work. I am attaching photos. What do you think???[ATTACH=CONFIG]482349[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]482350[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]482351[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]482352[/ATTACH]

Freehand/custom quilting is always more expensive and pantograph quilts are generally much cheaper because many LAs have a computerized set up that does all the work. They can set it up and walk away.

Hmmm..
Not sure.. I get the high loft batting deal, and understand that's not a mistake on their part...
But it looks like there's "sort of" puckering in some of pics you posted. Probably appears that way to me as I am like you, I usually use Warm and Natural or a low loft batting...So I'm used to a "flatter" appearance.
Be interesting to see how a quilt would look with low loft batting.
On a side note, love your quilt...green is my fave color.
Kif

For what you paid it is a fair deal. I have never seen it done with this thick a poly batting though. The quilt is gorgeous and I bet the loose quilt pattern and poly batting will make this a very comfy quilt.

On a side note, poly batting is the cheapest batting you can get, so it makes sense they'd have to use it to be able to give you the estimated price. I don't like poly at all, but that's a preference thing for me..

It looks quite good to me. Beautiful quilt too!!

I like your quilt fabrics... perfect for the pattern you used. As for the quilting... I think it was very reasonable for what was done. In my neck of the woods simple pantographs, start at .02 per square inch ,plus thread charge , plus batting, plus backing, plus a set -up charge.

Beautiful quilt ... :D

I think your quilt looks great. I would love it if a LAQ in my area would use the high loft batting because I love the extra fluff.

I think it looks nice and like you said for those everyday quilts the price is right.