Ooh, I like Quiltwoman's suggestion. Since you say your fabric is all rather light, the dark sashing might give it more "pop". If my math is right, one yard would be enough for both quilts. I made a quilt similar to this, and it was nice because the dark strips visually hide places where my corners didn't match.
Bkay's brick pattern is what I was going to suggest. It will require minimal cutting (just cutting some rectangles in half for some edges), and also has the advantage that the corners are staggered, so if it doesn't line up perfectly it won't be visible in the final product.
Both these patterns are very doable as a first quilt. You could even do one of each!