My reaction for any person in need of a lap quilt is to make it cheerful, so I am inagreement with you. I would suggest that you plan a quickie for right now, and possibly a 2nd later. I would suggest something like the field of diamonds or the QAYG I posted recently. For the QAYG, and fairly large scale focus fabric would do nicely. I am posting 4 recent lap quilts to give you some suggestions, but really, quick and colorful is the key.