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I do quilting for people. They give me the sewn top, the batting and the back. I put them together by quilting them. I did a quilt for a lady a year ago that was horrible. It did not lay flat and I had an awful time with it. I vowed never to quilt for this lady again. I just receive a voice message from the lady. She has another quilt she wants me to do for her. She is a terrible sewer and I don’t want to do any more quilt for her. What do I do?
If you do not want to do it simply say, No. One does not have to say yes to be polite. Say no firmly yet kindly and perhaps send her to a different quilting service.
It would be helpful to have an excuse when you say no. You could say that you’re not taking any new work at the moment, or that you’re too busy to do it in her desired time frame. You could also quote her a very high price (the price at which you would deal with the problems if she said yes to it). Lastly, you could tell her the truth and just say that you had a lot of difficulties with her last quilt and prefer not to take on another one. (These last two could be combined: “Your last quilt was really difficult, and I prefer not to take on another one. But if you have your heart set on me doing it, I’ll have to charge you X (or per hour or whatever).”
If you know the name and telephone number of somebody else, I would mention it. ie: “I’m so sorry Jane. I don’t have time at the moment to take on another project but if you give Sally a call she might be able to help you out.” You don’t want to end up with one of those awkward situations where she calls back 2 weeks later with a “are you ready yet?”
Just say you don’t have the time right now. Saying no isn’t rude.