So sorry for your loss. It's so very hard to lose a friend, but the quilts you make will be like having part of her live on. My favorite pattern is the simple square of a feature focus fabric alternating with a 9-patch, and you can even make that square be a snowball block. I also like the 8-pointed star block, with Eleanor Burns quick and easy flying geese technique it works up quickly and you can easily change the square center with 4-patch, 9-patch, pin wheel, etc. for variation. Hope this helps.