good communication is certainly a must to be successful at any business...she certainly should have let you know before you sent her the quilt that she had some ahead of it- and, when she found she was not feeling good enough to be working on them she should have shared that- life happens to everyone, sometimes you can not avoid delays- but good communication should always come first. I would call her- forget the emails- talk to her personally- let her know how you feel about the situation- and that maybe it would be best for her to return the quilt unless she can have it done in a * mutually agreed on time frame* . the whole ''''how long should someone wait'''' question is a relative one- sometimes things happen- if there is good communication, and no deadlines looming a person may be willing to wait a long time *which is also relative- long to me may not be long to you* but if there is no communication the *time frame may feel too long---only you can decide how long you are willing to wait....but a phone call and discussion is certainly needed at this point.