Big Boy Quilt

When we moved M to a big boy bed many months ago, it was quite an ordeal. Some kids are thrilled to move from their crib to a big boy bed, but our little guy wanted nothing to do with it, and would have a big melt-down, crying for his crib. The problem was that he'd figured out how to climb out of his crib to get out, so going back to the crib was unsafe and out of the question. To sweeten the deal, I made him a "big boy quilt" for his bed, using all sorts of boy novelty prints.

I used that quilt as you go method from Patchwork Style, which allowed me to do straight line quilting without a walking foot, but was really time consuming. Because this whole transition took place in the winter, I ended up backing it with some orange fleece initially intended for a pumpkin outfit. I have to say that I'm less than crazy with the backing, but it was more for function than anything else. We live in a cold, drafty old house, and I figured the quilt would better keep our little guy warm backed with fleece than if it were backed in the pretty truck cotton print I'd originally picked out.

I wanted to make the quilt a bright, colorful addition to M's room, but sometimes I think it's a little too much. Maybe I should have limited myself to using basics in primary colors (checks, stripes, plaids, dots) for the logs, and limiting the novelty prints for use in the center of each block. But then I watch my little guy closely studying the quilt, proudly identifying everything he sees ("Cars!" "Horseys!" "Fishies!"), and I figure that as long as he likes it, that's all that matters.