Welcome back litacats. So sorry to hear that you've had so much going on that it "stole" your will to create. But, it sounds like timing is everything. And, it now your time to CREATE again. What a nice surprise to find a fabric on Ebay that meant so much to you. Please make sure to mark the quilt very carefully with your friends name and what not. I am sure she will love the quilt you make and bring her much her much warmth and comfort from a friend.
I am not sure how to re-size pictures on my computer. I use a free host, photobucket.com to do all my photo re-sizing. I wrote a step by step tutorial on how to use Photobucket in my blog here on the quilt board if you choose to open a FREE account with them. They don't ask for any banking or credit card info, and they don't require any subscriptions and don't ask for any personal info that you wouldn't want to give on the net. And, I don't receive any kick backs of any kind for suggesting them. I just use them myself. And have been happy with the service they provide.