Actually, the Jacob's Ladder that I've posted is very quick to make up. Here are links to a few so you can see what they look like. I made Dylon's in 4 days, start to finish! It's 60" x 84".

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38327-1.htm

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38328-1.htm

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38658-1.htm

Sorry to hear about your brother, and people who don't quilt and know nothing about quilting will buy a ticket just to have a hand made quilt. I just donated two to a benefit and people went nuts over them. One was scrappy. Good Luck Marge

Thanks, if I can swing it I may make two, the benefit is in on May 8th so I need to get my butt in gear, I just started to learn how to machine quilt so this is going to be a big undertaking but my brother in law and sister in law need the money.

I just saw a quilt made by a woman who just lost her husband to cancer. It was the ribbon that has come to symbolize so many things lately, breast cancer, support for soldiers, or mothers against drunk driving to name a few. She appliqued ribbons onto background fabric in all the colors that represent different forms of cancer and will give it to the Relay for Life people to raffle off. something to think about.

I'm so sorry for your brother. What a wonderful thing you are doing to help out.

I like the Depression Block. You could use the ribbon colors for the blocks.

http://www.quilterscache.com/D/DepressionBlock.html

I've found the chinese coin pattern to be really quick. especially if you don't measure and use scraps...who says each rectangle has to be the same width anyway?
Sorry to hear about your BIL--warm wishes for him! Good luck in the auction!
http://quilterscache.com/C/ChineseCoinsBlock.html
or http://quilterscache.com/R/RomanSquareBlock.html

I think the easiest way to machine quilt is to use a walking foot and make curvy lines from one end to the other. It can be cross-hatched this way too (curvy lines from top-to-bottom plus curvey lines from side-to-side). You don't have to worry about evenness of stitches as in FMQ, and you also don't have to worry about keeping the stitching exactly straight as in STD or straight lines.

I would recommend heavily starching the background before layering the sandwich, as then you also do not have to worry about puckers in the backing fabric.

Oh, and spray baste the quilt sandwich -- much faster than any other method and works great for machine quilting. 505 is probably the best of the spray. Just be sure to spray baste in a well-ventilated area.

there are so many of them.

Sorry to hear about your brother in law. Yellow Brick Road is fast and easy. So is Fat Quarter Shuffle.

I thing any of the patterns will work & be easy. I think the color choice will make any quilt stunning. I was at a quilt show last weekend and a sinple log cabin in tans and blacks-all beautiful prints was getting more "looks" than more complicated pastels. Happy thoughts go a long way to healing.