If you were me?
 

A customer asked me to piece a simple top with alternating squares with Orange, white & sliver/gray...they will be 12" squares...she wants it for her wedding in March...she wants just the top done, it will be queen size...they are going to pin it on a big board and people are going to sign it (cool idea) but she wants me to quote her a price and I'm like ummm.....I guess it would take me oh about 4-5hrs to do it...what to charge..any ideas?

Note: she wants me to finish it totally after the wedding....so I better write up a contract that we agree to make JUST the top and then after the wedding she will need to reschedule with me to have it quilted..as I have other quilts I need to get to work on ;)

Thanks all!

Is she providing materials? How big... Queen varies a lot ? Also, I would do something to keep the edges from fraying and I would offer to pick up appropriate pens to write with and make a sign/suggest a sign asking guests to only use those pens.

sorry. I don't know about price but if you are picking up fabrics, pure washing and ironing them, getting pens, somehow backing fabrics to stabilize them, serging edges to prevent fraying, etc, I would charge $100 plus materials.

If she intends for guest to sign the quilt top, by all means include the pens. I would also suggest you provide quite a few templates so someone could assist the guest in writing within the squares leaving pleasant borders.

Hopefully she will assign someone who knows what to do as the 'guardian' of the quilt top during the reception.

Double the cost of the materials for the top for just that much of the quilt and write up a contract for the rest. One never gets paid for their labor.

If the guests are to write anywhere they want, you may have problems when it comes time to finish. Older signature quilts usually controlled where names/sentiments were placed so they were not buried by stitches. I have been involved in some of these projects and strongly advise the bride to provide squares (stabilized on a firm backing), not a complete top, for her guests. A comfortable table and chairs would make it easier to write. Folks unused to writing on fabric can have a difficult time and worry about mistakes. It's a lot easier to discard a square with an error than to rip it out of a finished top, and also not embarrass the erring person or distress the bride.

And AliKat is 100% correct with her suggestions. Have full time supervision. (I haven't a clue about pricing.)

This would be my recommendation as well. Stabilize squares for guests to write on, and provide a template or markings on top showing the part of the block in which they should write. Have lots of extra blocks in case of errors. The blocks can be put together after the wedding.

For signing the blocks, it will be easier for the guests if the blocks are backed with freezer paper ironed on...otherwise the fabric "gives" while signing and it is hard to get clear writing. I agree that it would be much easier for the guests to be signing on blocks instead of a sewn together quilt top.