My Happy Place

I found a new happy place — and fittingly, it’s a charming little quilt shop called My Happy Place. Best of all, it’s only 15 minutes from my front door!

In early December 2025, I stopped-in looking for inspiration. Between work responsibilities and the busy holiday season, I was feeling overwhelmed and craving a project that felt simple, relaxing, and manageable — something I could realistically finish in a week or two.

That’s a little unusual for me, since I normally gravitate toward the most complicated quilt patterns I can find!

I knew I wanted to make something special for each of my two granddaughters, but I needed a project that wouldn’t add more stress to an already busy season. The helpful staff at My Happy Place pointed me toward exactly what I needed: a book called One Block 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson and Fran Morgan. With eight quilt designs to choose from, each pattern is built around a single quilt block repeated throughout the quilt. It doesn’t get much simpler than that!

But somehow, it got even better.

Alongside the book were coordinating quilt kits containing preselected fabrics with exactly enough fabric to complete each quilt. No second-guessing fabric choices. No wandering the aisles wondering if one more print would work better. Everything was ready to go.

And honestly? That simplicity felt wonderful.

Each kit featured adorable fabric combinations, and I quickly picked out two.

The first kit that caught my eye was a collection of fabrics that felt like a mix of winter wonderland and cotton candy all wrapped into one. It featured GINGERBREAD KISSES by Doodlebug Designs for Riley Blake (pictured below). Soft, dreamy, and perfect for celebrating my grandaughter’s very first December birthday. I chose to pair those fabrics with the Connections quilt design from the One Block 3-Yard Quilts book.

The second kit featured fabrics from the Moda Fabrics Laguna Sunrise collection by Sherri McConnell and Chelsi Stratton. I was especially drawn to the beautiful purples in the collection — and I knew my oldest granddaughter would love them too. For that quilt, I selected the Jewels quilt design from the same book. I’ll save the details of that quilt for another blog post.

With my marching orders in hand, I headed home and immediately got to work. Within just a week, I had the first quilt top assembled and ready to load on my longarm machine.

For the quilting, I chose the Butterfly Curls pantograph by Maureen Foster of Humble Bee Quilting — a soft, flowing design that added beautiful texture without overpowering the quilt top.

Before quilting, the quilt top felt simple and almost two-dimensional. Once the Butterfly Curls design was stitched across it, the entire quilt came to life with texture, movement, and softness. I couldn’t wait to wrap my granddaughter up in it!