A Little Bit Practical, A Little Bit of Whimsy

When I moved into this house, I found a toddler bed in the basement. It needed a little repair and some paint, but nothing too demanding. After getting a new mattress, it only needed a quilt to go over it:

I obliged with this pink concoction. (I had just got my new Viking Sapphire machine and wanted to try out free motion quilting. I got some good practice on this quilt.) I had a few nieces of the right age at the time and went a little crazy with the pink. That was in 2007.

But, to be honest, it didn't stop there. I also found a pink fitted sheet at Goodwill still in good shape, and was using a pink single sheet (twin size? full size? I can't keep the name of sizes straight. In any case, it was smaller than a double) as a top sheet. I just had to fold it into quarters to get it to fit! Ok, ok, I also have a cotton blanket folded on it in pink and white stripes.

The problem that came up recently is that my pink pillowcase gave up the ghost. I had always had in mind that I could use the single sheet to make one and at the same time make a sheet that actually fit the bed.

So one evening over the weekend, that's exactly what I did:
Now that was a bit of utilitarian sewing barely above mending.

So then I had a little fun:
Doesn't a pink confection like this bed deserve a little decoration on top? Just a simple pinwheel square with a border from more leftovers from the sheet.

I looked through my quilt scraps and could only find more of the polka-dot fabric. Then I remembered that I had bought some fat quarters and used every last inch of them to make the stripes in the quilt. It's a good thing I liked the polka-dots (since it was my only choice). It was also a great contrast to another shade of pink that I had in my stash.

I needed something quick and fun that night so I put the pillow cover together but some other time I'll take apart the outside seams and quilt the front. Since I have the pillow front put together, the quilting will be something quick and fun to do another day when I'm in the mood for some one on one time with the sewing machine.

The only problem with all this is...the next visitors getting to the right age for this bed are two nephews. It just might be time to redecorate soon...