Ha! My friend has the same problem, but it is her teenage SON who leaps onto the couch with the denim quilt! It seemed to be a pretty hot comodity last winter; everyone fought over it because of its' heavy warmth.
I wanted to add...the reason I advise to lay-flat-to-dry is because the DRYER is the machine that wears our clothing out, besides us and our use of the item. All that tumbling, rubbing against itself, other clothes and the dryer-drum creates friction and wear. When combined with the high heat of a dryer ... I believe it just helps to wear them out even faster, in addition if you use low heat then the fabrics must tumble longer to dry, creating even more wear.
In winter I use the dryer exclusively, but during nicer weather I prefer to hang our things outside and then fluff in the dryer 10-15min to fluff and break the stiffness out of the fabrics.
With quilts, the place of greatest wear, is usually the binding as it takes a beating from the machines (wash/dry) and our hands constantly pulling and tugging at it. Anything made well, though ... should be able to stand years of use and even moderate abuse. One of my first quilts, which I made almost 13yrs ago, is still alive and well. It is certainly faded, as it was used through my nephew's wet-the-bed years and had multiple wash/drys in a week for several years ... but it is still holding together and I've not had to make a repair to it, yet! To me, it looks like your friend did a bang-up job with your denim quilt and you should have many, MANY, years of enjoyment from it. Every time you wrap up in it, think of it as a hug from your friend.
heidi