"she is now saying that she doesn't want to do it at all since we can't afford the machine her friend has"
My thought is, if she loves quilting it wouldn't matter what kind of machine you have. She sounds young, and sometimes you get the best stitches from an older machine that does just straight stitches. and sometimes you can pick those up at yard sales or craigslist for $25.00 Those are very nice to learn on. It sounds like she learned how to use her friends machine, so she would be more comfortable with one like it. I think she could get any kind of sewing machine and she would find all the support and encouragement right here on the board to do some fabulous quilts, its not the machine that makes the quilts great it is the creativity of the operator.