ramona-quilter Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 This quilt started out so nice. The piecer is flawless. This is my first (and probably last) quilt from her. It is a lovely pattern and great fabrics; wide back. She told me to do whatever I wanted. The quilt top was 89 x 110. She wanted Warm & Natural. I have it on the roll so was worried that the 90" wide roll was true. I cut off a piece 120". I went to put the backing on and noticed it had a pin in it. In my brochure, I tell customers to put a pin in the top if the quilt is directional. But this was the backing; I had used it before and never realized it was directional. Hmmm. I loaded the backing (top up) on the take-up roller. I laid the batting and then floated the quilt top on the batting and pin basted. I was grateful for all the extra room on the sides. Don't get ahead of the story, now. I decided to measure the quilt backing from side to side just to be sure. Remember the quilt is 110" long. I was relieved that it was 112 but with a 3.25" wide selvage. Since there was a little less than 109" of quilting space, I was certain now that this could not be the top and bottom. Otherwise, either the top or bottom would be quilted into the white selvage of this red backing. Shoot, wouldn't that be an awful mistake to make. I was about a 18" from the bottom and wanted to get a photo of this cool ribbon cross in the 9-patch. The stencil is by Cory Pepper from StenSource; its called C.L Flowing Ribbons. Cool, huh? :cool: As I was walking into the studio with my camera, something didn't seem right but I couldn't figure it out. So I took the photo of the ribbon 9-patch and backed up. That's when I saw it. OMG. What's wrong with this picture??? The backing is about 14" shorter than the quilt top. I left a message for the piecer to call me. I know that I can piece more backing on but what a bonehead move. The whole idea of a wide back is to avoid a seam. I can hear Dawn Cavanaugh's words from class. "Measure the top and the backing". I'm wondering how long it is going to take me to cross-out the word "Professional" from my business cards..... I am packing a suitcase right now and leaving town. I'm going to go live in a cave somewhere. Goodbye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oh, Linda! I don't have a cave but I do quilt in the basement and I'd love for you to come live with me! The quilting is beautiful and despite your frustration now, the customer is going to love it. Stop beating yourself up .. most of us have probably done the same thing. I did it once and thankfully, it was on my own quilt. Now that you've done it, you can probably be quite sure it will never happen to you again. Here's what I do when I'm getting ready to load a quilt. Not only do I keep all my sizes and info in QuickBooks, I do the intake sheet and then I keep a cheap spiral notebook next to the longarm. I will write: Linda's plaid quilt Top: 89 x 96 Backing: 100 x 112 At this point, I'll go back and put a check mark over either the 89 or 96 mark and this lets me know which way I am going to load the quilt -- either the 89" sides will get attached to the leaders or the 96" sides. It all depends on whether I'm doing a panto, a Baptist Fan or whether there are seams in the backing. I will usually measure again just to be sure because once was definitely enough to come up short on the backing. I also write down each color/brand/type thread I'm using, top and bobbin in this notebook and then I also put this on the invoice so that if the customer ever has to have stitching replaced, or if I've missed a spot and have to re-load the quilt, I can find out which thread I used without having to guess. Linda, I know how you feel but it was something that could have happened to any of us and it can be easily solved. At least there aren't holes in the quilt! If you decide to come live in my cave, I'll be home on Thursday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busybee Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 OH my Linda. You are human, this is a learning experience, chalk it up and go on. I guess some learn harder then others , have a good laugh when things die down and remember when!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can just hear you screaming. Nita PS so would I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltingtina Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oh Linda, I am so sorry that happened to you. I recently did the same thing (on a much smaller quilt). It too was a first quilt from a new customer. I chalked it up to a rookie mistake. I ended up frogging the whole thing. It took days...I couldn't work on it constantly, I have kids. Interesting thing is that it only took about 4 hours to put in those stitches, but it seemed like an eternity to get them out! Anyway, it turned out great, and the customer was very happy....I didn't tell her about the frogging. I think your customer will understand. It will be okay. Keep breathing. Let us know what happens. Remember, most caves do not have internet access, so don't go packing yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizziesgirl Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 GASP! Bless your heart, I'm praying right now but I know that is not going to make that fabric grow. Just one of those things that you tell yourself I hope that I never do that AGAIN. Again, bless your heart, mine goes out to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catsigler Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oh, you poor girl! If ever there was a reason to pin baste, this is it! I'm convinced. Of all the challenges there are to worry about, this will not be one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingupastorm Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oh Linda I am so sorry.......................................not going to tell you what you should have done because you already know that. I truely feel for you and I hope that you are able to recover and that the customer will take it in stride. None of us are perfect. By the way the quilting looks wonderful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryll Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 I did this when I was renting a machine in a quilt store. The owner of the store was not pleased with me. We did manage to find some fairly well matched fabric and get it on. Needless to say I won't go back to rent a machine again. She really made me feel like I was a pain. It cost 95 dollars to rent the machine. I wanted to try out a stitch regulated machine. Well it's back to the Ultimate 2 till Lenni arrives. P.S. The quilt came out really nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 It's OK, really it is! It can be fixed. Don't be too hard on yourself. Who really cares about a join on the back, everyones going to be too preoccupied "oohhhhing" and "ahhhing" at your beautiful quilting! You've come too far to become a cave dweller now so unpack them bags lol Chin up Linda Satu p.s I'm a little challenged with measuring so I always place the backing, batting and top on the floor 1st and make sure I've got enough of everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda, If you decide to move to a cave, then by all means, head on over to southern Utah where Myrna Ficken lives. She's right near God's country: Breathtakingly beautiful Zion National Park and I think there are lots of caves in those rock formations, so you can pick and choose from quite a few sizes and shapes, and the bonus part is, when you need a shower, you can head over and hang with Myrna as she's not too far away living in her BRAND NEW BEAUTIFUL HOUSE! ( lol... ) Seriously, though. You caught this booboo in time. Can you imagine if you found it later as you were rolling the quilt and then had to FROG your stitches because you ran out of space??? YIKES! I think you did a beautiful job on the quilting. WOW! Like others all said above, this is fixable and frankly, not that big of a deal. You can probably come up with some creative ideas to piece the backing so it looks nice and "professional." One thing I've done before is piece some leftover quilt blocks (leftover from the top) and pieced them (off center) on to the backing. It looked really cool, I think! Speaking of "Professional Quilters" -- I think they could all get together in a room and write a book on all of the SNAFUs they've done during their professional quilting careers. Wouldn't that be a hoot-n-a-half? Hey... that might be a pretty good publishing idea! Hmmmm.... (thinking, thinking...) A book just might be in the midst... lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyonden Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oh Linda - I know exactly how you feel. Both my husband and I have done this. Life does go on. It's embarrassing but usually the customer takes it in stride and can give you more material or something to fill in. There are times we take fabric from the sides and sew it onto the bottom when it runs short. Don't think you have enough though with the salvages so large. Yup, we have learned the hard way to measure both pieces. Right on the top of the work order, I write the size of the top and the bottom then measure again before loading the pieces just to be sure. It will be all right. After all, the customer miscalculated also right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda, I did exactly the same thing...sounds like we all have...don't mark out professional, it would take way too long. There a millions of caves in Missouri - come on out and I will be your pace car again Or like JudyL said, I quilt in my basement - it is just like a cave. Your quilting looks fabulous, by the way. Your customer is going to love it. MB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerri Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 The quilting looks beautiful, keep the Professional,, it will be fine and on to the next quilt. Aren't these are the moments in Longarming when we say to ourselves, why do I love this?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beverly Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda, had a class from Linda Rydjord at the Pincushion in Davis, CA a couple of months ago. She had to piece her backing so she made a three block quilt label, (label was middle block) added a piece on each side and then the large piece going across the top of the labels. I think the blocks were about ten or twelve inches. It was beautiful. Looked as though she had planed it all along. Something to keep in mind for the next time. Not!! -- Good luck. Let us know how you resolved the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 oh, that is a very good idea!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 The same thing happened to me, but it turned out to be the customer's problem in the end. Yes, I should have mesured more accurately, but so should she have measured more accurately. In the end, I took it off the machine (thankfully it was zippered on, not pinned on), explained to the customer what had happened, and gave her the option of bringing more backing and I would attach it or she could take it with her to attach it herself. She opted to bring more fabric. It all worked out well, inspite of this glitch. Sometimes things just happen. Your quilting will more than make up for this little glitch. In the end, lessons learned by both parties. No harm, no foul - just a little frustration and inconvenience. You do great work. Don't let this quench your talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda, I feel your pain! Remember that the reason I shared the "measure your top and back" tip in class was because I had done the exact same thing! You're in great company! Have a piece of chocolate and get out of that cave! Hugs, Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane@bcq Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 I have also done this, you only do it once. So you are done. From the numbers you posted, with the wide salvage this backing would not have been large enough any way. The customer would have had to have it pieced or gotten a whole new piece any way. The name of the stencil designer is Pepper Cory, I love her stuff and she is suck a great person. I had the pleasure of working with her at spring market in 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrammaJoy Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Okay, you need to change your business cards to: Even MORE Professional Than Before So sorry this happened to you. Bet it never happens again though. Hugs, Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadows4 Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda: You really did a beautiful job on your quilting. If your customer is worth quilting for again she'll see the overall beauty of your quilting, not search around for mistakes. You are a quilter who cares about quilting and the finished product. There are many around who don't care about it, just wanting the money (which is nice, I admit). Hopefully she will see your skill and dedication to your job. If not, at least you are better off in the long run because of the lessons learned. I did the same thing on a quilt. Thankfully it was a freebie for a family member, so they really couldn't complain much. But I learned a big lesson because of that. Again, you did beautiful work on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadows4 Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Diane@bcq: I had to giggle when I saw your post about Cory Pepper!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadows4 Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Oopsy! I meant Pepper Cory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 I love typos...we're not laughin at ya, we're laughin with ya!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrystitcher Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 There is a song I love and the message is: "There are no mistakes, only lessons to be learned." Take it in stride - we are all human, at least it is on the back so who really cares - the front is what counts and it looks beautiful. But as soon as I saw your photo, my heart sank, been there with a customer quilt and felt sick for you. Give her a discount, she'll understand. We quilters are very forgiving people! Sharon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplydivine Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Linda, You are such a wonderful story teller! You made me laugh out loud! My stomach dropped as I was reading it! Good job on the pictures! I can't imagine anyone being upset with you, you're so nice. It's an honest, one-time mistake. Plus your quilting is so beautiful! Give her 10% off the next quilt or some freebie if it will make YOU feel better. I have a feeling it will all turn out well and you'll look back on this one day and have a good chuckle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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