I have talked to her, she is paying me for materials upfront. I will be using Moda Marble type fabric, she wants certain ones and I have sent her to two sites Favorite Fabrics and Marshalldrygoods to choose. I will tell her how many yards I will need so she can pay me. Once I get the money, I will then order the fabric and start the quilt.
I am using the book by Eleanor Burns Radiant Star which is a Strip pieced quilt. I have both books that she did on the Radiant Star and dvd on this and plan on doing my own homework while waiting on her to pay me.
I also told her it would probably be next year before I would have it done, she is ok with this.
This will be a nice challenge for me as I got to pick the pattern, she lives in Texas so the star fit.
I have not made up my mind yet if I will charge for my time or not, this is a learning experience for me which is going to be worth it's weight in gold!
I do appreciate everyone's imput from their own experiences, it does help thank you so much.

have fun making the quilt

If you don't charge for your time, could it become a habit for
her to ask for you to make others without charging for labor?

I am ok with it, she is a special friend to me. There are things that I have omitted and will not disclose that are the base of the decision to charge for my time or not to.
For this person, I am happy to do it for the cost of materials and shipping if that is what it ends up being, it will make me happy knowing how she will cherrish it.

Thanks, it doesn't look like a hard pattern, if it had been I would have chosen something else, before she asked I was thinking of doing a wall hanging for my parents not this Christmas but next year's Christmas. The Radiant Star would be the pattern, I have the fabric set aside for that already out of my current stash.

Your a wonderful friend..have fun!!

Thank you, I am looking forward to doing this quilt = the challenge of it

I'm doing one for a very close friend's great nephew. I know the whole family. I took her to the quilt store to pick out fabrics and she paid. I'm not charging for this. I've made her two purses she loves. She does other nice things for me so it all comes out in the wash so to speak.

for special friends, I give special gifts! I am in the process of making a quilt for a friend for only the cost of materials. I love the fabrics she chose and I quilt like crazy anyway, so with wonderful fabrics and a home that will love the quilt, we are both winners. At least, that's how I look at it. She wants to pay for my time too. No way could anyone afford that. My offer was, if she wants to spend more money, put it towards my other friend's relay for life fundraising. Then it's a 3-way winning situation.

After much consideration, I sent my friend an email asking if I could do a table runner for her instead of the queen size quilt.
Now to wait and see what happens.
I took everyone's comments into consideration on my decision, and knowing how I can only stand for short periods of time due to a back problem and bad knees, a table runner would be easier on me for cutting and pressing overall.
I do realize she may get upset, that is her choice, I have to consider the time and drain on my body doing a large project.