Fuzzy Wuzzy

I recently had a customer ask me if I would do a quilt for her daughter for her birthday, then she said what she wanted was a throw like the one she had that they both loved and it was fuzzy.  Well being the savvey person that I have learned to try to become I asked what she meant by fuzzy and was she speaking of fake fur material.  What I understood from her was what she was really talking about was polar fleece that she had purchased at Walmart and she had picked out the colors that her daughter really loved.  Well my next step was to tell her that I would have to see what she was talking about before I would be able to quote her a price and tell her if this was something I could do so we set up a meeting at the local quilt shop.  Fortunately for me I always get telephone numbers to call in case something happens and I am detained or not able to make the meeting for some reason and I give the customer my number in case they have problems and will not be able to keep the appointment.  The local quilt shop that I go to is a 15 minute drive from home and with the price of gas being what it is I do try to keep unnecessary trips to a minimum. 

This was just one of those days when it was not going to happen in any normal manner and I guess I should have just walked away, but............  After waiting 15 minutes past the scheduled appointment time I called the number I had been given and of course I had to leave a message and I started to drive back home.  Now there are two ways I can go from the shop to my house and they are not close to each other.  It is like opposite directions and one way is by the interstate and the other way is over the mountain, which I don't do in bad weather.  Well it was a pretty day so I decided I would drive over the mountain and started down the road.  Needless to say my cell phone rang and it was the customer who had a multitude of excuses as to why she was not there but everything was okay now and she could meet me, but instead of the quilt shop she wanted to meet me in the parking lot of a local truck stop, (which is okay, not a bad place to meet) but in the opposite direction from where I was going.  Okay I agree to meet her and she says she will be there in 10 minutes and I said okay it will take me about 10 minutes to get there also so I turn around and drive back the way I have come and head to the truck stop/minute market/restaurant.  I get there and pull in the parking lot at the front of the lot and wait.  After waiting another 15 minutes after I arrived I tried to call her again and again I got the answering machine.  I headed home and ........you guessed it, my cell phone rang and it was her and she is on her way and will be there in less than 5 minutes so I turn around again and go back to the truck stop.  I still had to wait on her another 10 minutes and was ready to leave again before she ever got there...............I'm beginning to question is this really worth it?

Well the customer seems to be a very nice younger lady and she shows me what she has and tells me what she wants which is really not bad.  2 Pieces of fabric, fake fur and polar fleece that is the same size and she just wants one on the front and one on the back and a little quilting but wants to keep it fluffy so not a lot of quilting.  Yes I can do this and it looks like with minimal time and effort.  I quote a price and she says thats reasonable.  The she asked when will I have to give you an answer in order to have this back by Sept, because her birthday is in Sept.  Okay I'm 6 months out on my quilting so I have to know by March in order to have this back by Sept.  Oh, it's only February!  She says well I'll give you a call if I decide I want to go ahead with this.  To me this sounds like Okay, if I can't find someone to do it cheaper before then I'll let you do this.  Not what I wanted to hear after all of the trouble I had already gone to and the driving around and inconvience.  I tried to be a good person and just said, Okay, let me know and left.

Well, you guessed it, she called back and wanted me to do the darn thing for her.  She wants a fluffy throw.  She brought me a thin poly batt.  When I explained that the thin poly batt would not add any fluffiness to the throw she wanted to know should she go buy something else.  I told her it was her choice if she wanted something really fluffy she would need to get another batt, but I could use the one she furnished but it would not be like a duvet with that kind of loft.  She decided not to purchase anything else and gave me what she had already bought for the "quilt".

I brought it home and when I got ready to start on the throw and pulled the fabric out I discovered it wasn't even the same size.  I am here to say I do not like fake fur and fleece.  They are stretchy and hard to work with to say the very least.  But I got the job done.  I sewed the two pieced together and got the batting in there and then put it on the quilting maching and did a little quilting to keep the pieced together.

Since the customer specifically said she did not want binding but wanted the back and front sewn together on the sides at least that was one less worry.  Here is what the end product looked like.

We have the green fake fur on one side and a zebra print on the other.

 

 

It is a very fluffy throw and when you feel, it just makes you want to cuddle!

 

As you can tell, very minimal quilting in the throw, just a very large meander.

I'm sure the daughter will enjoy this on cool nights in front of the television.

Remember when you are thinking about different things you can do, be open to new ideals and think about them and if they will work for you and your lifestyle.  This will be great I'm sure for the customers daughter, but in my house you would have a mass of dog hair all over the thing and I would not be a happy camper.  For me, I'll stick with the cotton fabric where I can toss it in the washer and drying and get the doggie hair off!

There are so many things you can do with your quilting and this might be just the thing for a Christmas gift or winter birthday or for the kid who is going off to college!  It isn't expensive and it's easy to make.  Ya'll have fun now!