I'm sure the basis of this problem is the fact that non-quilters simply have no idea of the effort, the time, the personal inpouring of energy (psychic , physical, emotional, and artistic) that goes into a quilt. They see it as an exercise that is repetitive and therefore not requiring even much thought! They also don't realize the numbef of hours we put into a quilt, or the relief, reward, gratification we feel when we finish a quilt. For many of us "it is done!" which also is a strong emotional/psychic celebration, no matter how brief.
Send her this as a quote and then tell her, if you want, lets get together over coffee and talk about what to do. Make sure she buys the extra fabric (skirt addition sounds like the best idea to me) for whatever you decide, and even matching thread. Non quilters have no idea how much a spool of good thread costs, much less the $10/yd that most fabric cost.
If you do it this way, you have a good chance of strengthening your friendship even more. You will have educated her in a new (quiler's) way and trusted her to understand where you are coming from. You are respecting who she is and where she is in the cosmos (which is not a quilter's cosmos) and she will see where you are.