Buttercup Quilt

I've been binding my little heart away this weekend. 

This quilt pattern is called Buttercup from my favorite book these days called Stop, Drop & Roll by Heather Mulder Peterson.  I am a big fan of hers.  This was my second project (my Baby Bloomer wall hanging was the first) from that book.  

Both were fun, fast and whimsical little projects that are brightening up my quilt collection.  Most of the fabrics are from Riley Blake's Sublime line. The oranges are from their Bloom & Grow line and the polka dots are Mary Englebreit's (love those!)

All of the applique was fast.  I used a few different methods.  There's a little hand applique and a little machine applique (using Heat n' Bond and a couple different stitches).  Heather's directions make it easy and fast! 

This is my backing.  Do you see the little knots on there?  You don't notice them from the front but they are all over the back.  This happened another time that this quilter quilted something for me.  Last time she said she wouldn't charge me, but when I went to pick it up I told her it wasn't that noticeable so I paid her full price.  I probably shouldn't have done that, but I did.  So when it happened this time, I called her and talked with her about it.  She will be giving me some credit on my next quilt (or doing it for free?) so that will be nice.  Not sure what happened here, but it is kind of a bummer.  I get so frustrated sometimes, because it seems like there is always something wrong with the quilts that I get back.  Not sure if I expect too much (?) or what...  Anyways.  I love it from the front and she really did do a great job - she free handed all of the quilting.  She did tight quilting and the design was beautiful.  She said she checked to see if it looked o.k. on the back and just didn't notice the knots. 

Do you have any advice on how to get the most out of a quilt job?  I've been getting things quilted by professional longarm quilters for probably about 10 years now and I just can't believe how often I get one back that has problems.  A lot of times it is a scale issue.  A couple of times it's been this knot issue.  Then there was my raw-edge fiasco...   Sorry.  I don't mean to complain, but I'm just wondering what I can do to help avoid these situations in the future?  I'm really sick of not being completely happy when I get a quilt back.  You spend a lot of money and time on these things and it's really sad when they come back with problems...

I just need to focus on the postive.  I love the quilt and those knots can be fixed, they just take a lot of time to work out.  Anyways, this quilt is off to Just Sew tomorrow for display so it's good-bye for now.