Dear Melissa
Try patterns from www.cottontales.net. They often use fat quarters or you can modify that to 1/4 yards of fabric that pleases you as opposed to lots of fat quarters. But the company seems to have simple patterns and I've completed a few already and have had good results. Go for the lap size projects, since you can finish them faster , and when young kids take up so much of our time and concentration, that is important.
Good luck.