chickenscratch Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 batting snob. I hate to admit it, but I have turned into a batting snob. I guess I've spoiled myself using QD and Hobbs. Sure I use the Mountain Mist once in a while for QOV and wall hangings and stuff, but not in a nice quilt. What brought on this confession, you wonder? Aggravation, stress, frustration! I finished the lattice quilt with that nasty batting and now I'm trying to work on her 50 year old, hand pieced, not square, needs a DD cup bra; and I have to deal with the same crappy batting. Who makes this Glory batting anyway? It is thin in some places, thick in some places, puffed up in some places, etc. etc. What do you do when the batting is just awful? Do you call the customer and tell them, or just muddle through and try not to lose your mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 uuuh, been there (yesterday, and the one before that). I have my hubby's Aunt who purchased 4 quilts from an auction that an old lady passed away. Awful, awful, awful piecing, etc. This woman "pieced" her pieces together so she could make a triangle for the block piece...(do you get what im saying?) I really should post a pic here...and maybe I will. Anyway, the first quilt, nothing, and i mean NOTHING is squared up on this thing. I think she guessed at what sizes to cut the fabric pieces, then hand stitched the thing together and it is wonky and i mean WONKY. I meandered the best I could on this thing, tugging, stretching, smoothing, whatever it took. I ended up with 3 puckers in it (yes on the top...not the bottom). The bottom actually looks pretty. (Of course it does....its plain and all one piece.) The other quilt, the lady was trying to make a crazy quilt, but took 2 24" wide muslin's and stitched together for the base of this quilt. No batting was used, then she just "tucked under" the edges (in places, mind you,) but some she missed, then straight stitched them on top of each other. Some fabrics you can see thru to the other fabric underneith it. Then she used black thread in the bobbin and white on the top. I ribbon stitched this thing to try and hide the fact that she folded, then stitched this thing together. So, I added warm and natural batting, and she brought me a cheap peach colored backing (yuck). I used peach thread in the bobbin and white on top. I wanted to ship all 4 of these back to her saying "no thank you". I dont think people understand here....I really think they think we can make masterpieces out of S**T! (Sorry if i've offended anyone....but it really is crappy stuff! Im off to get the camera, then i'll post a pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Sheri, You're echoing my thinking. The only reason I'm still fussing with this one is because this lady has 28 more quilts at her house that she has pieced, and they are all lovely. She is looking for a quilter. Her lattice quilt was pieced very nicely, and except for the batting, no trouble to stitch up. This antique one is terrible. I keep thinking I should call her and tell her the trouble I'm having, but then the little voice in my head tells me not to; that she'll think I can't handle it and she won't let me do her other quilts. Oh well, back to fight with this quilt. The fact that she wants holly leaves on it is NOT helping. A simple meander or flowers or something might cover the problems. Holly leaves in the inaccurate piecing is just making the inaccurate piecing look that much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I had a batt that was not good. It had hard blue fibers running through the batt. It was a Mountain Mist batting so I called the company and they replaced the batt for me. It arrived in a timely manner and I finished the job. I don't mind the low loft poly batt by mountain mist. It is not my favorite to quilt but I don't have trouble with it. I have problems with skipped stitches with the fairfield batt sold at Michaels and JoAnns Sew 'n Crafty batt. I will not use those and will inform my customers that it is a problem batt. They will get a different batt once they understand the problem. Glory batt, I do believe, is one of the new Mountain Mist products....give them a call. They'll tell you if it is theirs. Good luck, Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I have a new customer who is 83 years old and is starting to show signs of, what I think are demensia (sp?). I explained to her that I needed the back to be 8" long and 8" wider than the front. She told me that she had the batting and the thread. I told her I need to use my own thread, and would use her batting. It is Mountain Mist. This lady had a mid arm machine at one time, and acts like she knows about quilting, but I think she is out dated. Anyway...to add to the story, I picked up her quilt on Thursday, she called me on Friday asking me if I was planning to "stretch the top" to match the extra 8" on the back. (Told her that I am out about 6 weeks, may try to go ahead and sneak her's in ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Here's the back of the quilt. looks like im going to have to post them all seperately, as I dont know how to posts more than one at a time. PATTYS QUILT BACK.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Heres the front: PATTYS QUILT 1.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 a close up of front showing how this old gal did this: PATTYS QUILT 2.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Can you see how she folded then sewed it? PATTYS QUILT 3.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Sheri-- The back looks great and the front is inspired!! What a good idea to do the ribbon stitching over the intersections---I assume to help tack down all those folded edges. But the top does look good--the stitching helps combine all those (not particularly attractive ) fabrics. Wonderful job and good design!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Hi Sheri - I think that you have made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I think one of the problems that we LA'rs have is that we can do this rags to silk thing easier & we maybe try harder than our customers. They send us the troublesome quilts as they know that they can't do it on a DM. just a thought. but I do think that you made this quilt with your ribbon stitching. She had better like it cause it probably has never looked better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Thank you, thank you. Hubby agreed. 15 hours to do this thing, can you believe it? I think it was all the start/stops. You can only go so far on a crazy quilt continuous line, before you hit a dead end. There are parts of this quilt that show the "D CUP" thing, but all in all, not too bad. I also washed it in cold water to help do a minimal shrink thing hoping it would aid in the "old antique" look. P.S. Im only charging her $25 since she's family. I think she's getting a diamond in my opinion! LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I feel all of your pain, because I too have just finished a quilt I would have not done (but the $ was very good). This lady brought me a top that was 116" X 116" (I normally don't like to do quilts larger than 114" square, but figured that the 2 extra inches wouldn't be that big a deal....wrong!!!). First of all the quilt was done all in HOMESPUNS!!! yuck!, Had 3 outer borders (which was not completely square but considering the size of this thing and the fabrics used not bad). Second the back was also all homespuns, and pieced to make it large enough. Third she brought me Mountain Mist poly batt...to look at it it resembles alot like hobbs polydown. That is until you start to quilt it on the machine, plus the batting ended up being a couple of inches short on one end so I had to improvise towards the end. The pattern I used on this quilt was the CL swirls king template (which only measures 115" in legnth, did not realize this when the quilt was dropped off and the lady chose the design). So I had to improvise a little on this. I love the swirls template and I can't wait to use it on one of the other quilts I have here that is smaller and is made out of batiks. But this last one was horrible to work with because of the homespuns, the weave of the fabric is so loose that the stitches don't lay as nice as I am use to them laying, no matter what stitch legnth I used or needle size it didn't make it look any better. Lesson learned is this... No more accepting Mountain Mist batting (no exceptions). And no more taking in all homespun pieced quilts (no matter how much $ it will be for). It's just not worth the headaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryll Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 I have purchased some of the Fairfield at Joannes and I thought it was supposed to be a good brand but it's all stretchy and it seemed to even poke through on the back. I couldn't resist because it was 40 % off. I may live to regret purchasing it. It was the 80 cotton and 20 poly. No more of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Joann, YES, I am with you re: the homespuns. They are good for craft items, but Definitlyl Not On A Quilt! As we all say, we definitly Live and Learn, dont we? LOL! And the Mountain Mis, yucky phooey, sry, i cant stand the stuff. I have never and I mean never had any trouble with Warm and Natural. I swear by it. I've both hand and machine quilted with that and it never fails me. cheryl, I've heard nothing but bad things re: Joann batting. I've heard its comprable to Wally World products. (That's walmart for you non slang gals). Sry, but we all call Walmart Wally World around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Teresa-- No need to confess that you are a "batting snob" as if that is a bad thing. Tell people you are a "WEB-Pro". Just made that up--stands for "Well-Educated Batting Professional"!!! Have a fake certificate made for the wall and point it out when you talk to your customers about batting choices! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Sheri, If you like warm 'n natural...you would probably like the organic cotton heirloom by Hobbs. It is like warm 'n natural and has a scrim so it doesn't stretch out of shape, but what I like is that it is softer and lighter. It has a real nice feel and hand to it. Also, I like the regular cotton heirloom by Hobbs. It is the same way. Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Linda, You are too funny. I like that idea. You notice I'm sitting at the computer rather than working on that quilt. It took me an hour to sew one block. I'm having to float at and pin it and work one block at a time to try to make it look like something; Then it took about 2 hours to rip out what I had done because it looked terrible (just really set off the horrible piecing). Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It is that really pretty red and white quilt I posted pictures of about 3 weeks ago. From far away it is gorgeous, from up close it is a nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Teresa, what about using mono-poly on the top of that red/white? I think it would be worth a try.... What i've been doing is after I quilt it, I got permission to wash the quilt in cold water, then toss her in the dryer for some possible small shrinkage. It aids in the "antique used" look to the quilt. With your's being "red", I DEFINITLY would purchase the bottle of Retayne!!! And add that to the wash to prevent any bleeding. Just a thought, but that way it wouldn't show any mistakes due to the quilt being "wonky", wavy, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I'm really surprised at how many of you don't like Mountain Mist. I've on my 3rd roll of Rose and I love it. I've been using the Gold which is 50/50 and have had no problems with it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Hi Sheri, I think you did a fab job! I'm impressed with your ribbon stitch as I've not seen it before ......I know, I need to get out more! lol Great way to make something more stable. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted October 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Judy, Maybe it's the level of Mountain Mist. I have used some of it before and it's not too big a problem. I got the kind from Hobby Lobby. I don't know if it is Rose or Gold or whatever. This batting the lady brought me is definitely worse than Mountain Mist. One thing I have to say is it has these big hard places in it here and there, needle has a hard time stitchinig through those and thread breaks. I will not buy this kind of batting. I'll have to copy what it says on the bag for you all, so you know not to buy this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gable428 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 I love Hobbs 80/20 and their 100% cotton. I tried the Quilters Dream in a few small quilts and I just don't like it. I know a lot of quilters love it, but it's not for me. Aren't we lucky we have so many choices out here?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merryjo2003 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Sheri, I love what you did. I think you really made something nice outa something so-so. I'm not a big fan of crazy quilts, especially those that are all fancied up with decorative top stitching. (very hard to quilt for me) I would have just done an easy panto that kinda melted into the backround. Your idea did so much more justice to this quilt than mine would have. Kudos to you! Mind if I borrow your idea sometime? As for batting, the only one I have used to date that I don't particularly care for is Warm N Natural. It seems to leave lots of tiny pokies for me. It quilts fine, but I don't like the pokies. It is nice and flat for a wall hanging. I like something that defines the quilting a little more, personally. I have one customer who supplies her batting and always uses it, whether it's a wall hanging or a king size quilt. I don't mind customers supplying their own batting. I just try to show them examples of other quilts with a more appropriate type of batt so they hopefully change their ways. Sometimes they just don't know. If their quilt has a lot of fullness, I try to steer them to a poly batt with some loft that is more forgiving with the fullness. Otherwise, I just try to do my best with whatever they have, and explain the results may be better with another type of batt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 I have enjoyed reading this post! Yes Teresa - I agee with you. I can't stand the way the MM kindof gets "stuck" to my fingers.... dry skin and all, it just feels wrong. Sheri - I really like how you did that crazy quilt, thanks for posting the pics and the great idea! Bummer to get stuck "in a corner". That happens to me sometimes when I McTavish, but there I can sneak in and around again!That wouldn't be possible on what you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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