I also like yellow brick road for fat quarters. I remember a coworker's mom was diagnosed with cervical cancer and it had spread..I had some swap blocks I was going to do but they were 4 1/2 inches and needed alternating squares cut or more blocks made...I sat down with them and the thought hit me - 'girl you better do something FASTER so she can enjoy this quilt. thankfully I had some fast patterns and pulled one out that was squares sewn together then somehow cut so they looked on point - can't remember the pattern but it was easy - I used some floral flannels I had been saving and had a super duper soft flannet I bought mainly because it felt so nice - I finished the quilt on a Fri/Sat and took the quilt to him the next day. I think she used it 2-3 weeks before she passed and I'm glad I went with something fast. the other quilt she probably would have used maybe a week and it wouldn't have been as soft.
when I was going to do some I Spy quilts someone on another forum told me to just quilt the top to fleece - I wanted another opinion so I had a top done and quilte to some fleece and tossed over my dad and told him to check it out. he was going through chemo and he fell asleep under it almost immediately. it was his favorite quilt to use very soft and warm without feeling heavy. easy to carry too.
hope your friend has a good prognosis- hopefully not cancer but even with cancer they've come a long ways.