I just recently completed the top of a king-sized Hawaiian quilt; it was one of Nancy Chong's patterns. I worked like crazy on it and it took me only about six months to complete the applique. Now, I finally have backing fabric and need to quilt it. It sounds to me like $1000 is a good price, unless you decide you hate the process. If you don't find it soothing and fun, it will be tedious. Also, because of the size, it is not a portable project. I would do it, sitting with DH, in front of the TV watching sports--I think I went through football, basketball, and baseball seasons. I used a batik for the applique and a white-on-white for the background. To me, it is gorgeous. However, because I have dogs who are allowed on the bed, I don't have a clue where I'll use it!?! when I started the work, I said that I would never do another. By the time I finished, I was looking at patterns for the next one.

How did you do yours? The quilter I met had 25-30 individual blocks, her version was portable because she could work on one block at a time. It was gorgeous, too. She did batik applique on top of batik background. It was VERY colorful!

Did you do your Hawaiian quilt on one giant background?

Hi Silver Needle - I have done some Hawaiian applique - Pacific Rim is a good place to look. Vicky Flemings book "Hawaiian Applque" is good there are more books out there - check Amazon.
Your pricing seem right...but if you have never done this before do NOT choose solid colors for the applique part - batiks or a small print hide a lot of small errors (which you will make) and choose a block that has a lot of rounded corners instead of points ( unless you are good at needle turning pts). This takes a lot of time and you have to work on it everyday to finish it. Unless you love hand quilting have it professional quilted in an echo pattern. I can not remember the name of the video but I checked it out at the public library it is a great video (an hour long) on hawaiian applique. Good luck -- they will love it when it is done. Oh yeah, the Ulna fruit ( Breadfruit) is a traditional one to make for a first quilt.

the traditional Hawaiian quilts are solid on solid background. The echo quilting would be time consuming in handwork. the ones i saw while i was over there, had the quilting very close together (1/4-1/2"). Obviously with some batting that wouldn't be necessary, though i probably wouldn't go beyond 3/4" just because the quilting is a big part of the design feature.
There is a wonderful series on Hawaiian quilting that has the patterns available from the Bishop Museum Bookstore in Honolulu. I'm willing to bet you could order one or more of the 4 books of patterns.
The Breadfruit pattern is traditional for prosperity and isn't too hard. Or as you said, you could do a series of the simpler ones in patchwork, which isn't something i have seen done before.
you can also order patterns for pillows from FabricMart in Honolulu, several of those could become quilt focuses.
i now have several patterns from their and two of the books for the Bucket List of quilts before i pass on list.

As I have done a Hawaiian applique block, I feel $1000.00 is a good starting point. I think the size should determine the final price point. It will be a work of Love. He will charish it for ever. The Kona cotton should work fine for the background and the blocks. Also remember that the quilting should be spaced from the tip of your thumb to the first knuckle about 1 inch for the echo quilting. Enjoy the process. Luann in CT

the close quilting is also a tradition. The women worked without a hoop and measured the lines of echo quilting by their finger.

as for how I appliqued such a ginormous piece (about 108x108), I would fold it up, then pull out the section I was working on and maneuver my left hand underneath however I could. Obviously, the borders were relatively simple. But the piece is heavy so I'd need my lap and couch to support it.

I am a computerized (Intelliquilter) longarm quilter. I got the impression he would not be disappointed if it were machine quilted instead of hand quilted. I have done some echo quilting around appliqué and it turned out well.

Vicky is a member of our guild. She sometimes fuses and machine-appliqués her work. You might consider that method for a time/cost-saver.