Welcome to the wonderful world of quilting from Ontario, Canada. You'll find lots of help here on the QB.The first pattern to start with that is easy is a 9 patch block. That is exactly what it sounds like, 9 squares of fabric layed out in a checkerboard pattern and stitched together to form a block. After you do some blocks, you decide how you want to stitch them together to form a quilt top. There is a tutorial on this board on Disappearing 9 patch which shows you how to recut the blocks to form a new pattern if your feeling adventurous.
I am assuming that you have the regular sewing equipment already? If you don't have a sewing machine you can still hand sew a quilt together but it will take you a loooooong time. For quilting today a real time saver is a rotary cutter, ruler and mat. You can start with somthing small like a placemat or tablerunner first to get started. Good luck!