Marti, make a quilt for your grandmother's doilies! Make blocks that would fit and be dark enough for the doilie to show up on. Use a narrow zigzag on your machine and attach the doilies to each block. If you had a picture of the grandmother print it on fabric and put it in the center block. Embroider her name and children's names and the year she was born. What a tribute it would be to her and would look great hanging in a little girls room!

How close is this friend to you? Is it someone you would be willing to spend a lot of time and work on a quilt? I mean, are you doing this willingly because you love your friend, or did you get this because you're a "quilter?" If you really, really don't want to spend all this time and energy on a quilt made out of "poor quality cotton" that is fraying badly and is warped out of shape, then don't. Give it back to her and tell her the reasons you don't want to work on it, but primarily that it will take far more time and effort than you originally anticipated. Let her know how many hours of tedious work you'd have to spend just to restore a poor quality old quilt. That's what I'd do -- and in fact, have done. It came out very well in the end, so follow your head on this one. IMHO.

Your post gave me goose bumps - what a wonderful story. Did you know the Blohm family from Yuma? If so, I am very good friends with one of the daughters, Maggy.

I took apart a tied quilt and repaired it. Like yours, it had fraying and stretching. I backed each block with a lightweight fusible stabilizer, then replaced the sashing and borders. The thin cotton had a lot more body and went back together quite well. Then I had a LA quilter do an all-over stipple and the quilt still lives.

You may have to press a stabilizer to each square which would give them some stability.

I love these ideas. I'm going to try an asymmetrical boarder on my quilt. It is my first one in many years, that I have done without "my quilt club" from WI that I miss terribly. My quilt measures 3-4 inches off from top to bottom, maybe this will help me.