Teal and Cream Flower Checkerboard Bed Cover Crochet Pattern

This bed cover is a cheerful checkerboard of two colors. Half of the squares are a deep teal and half are a soft cream, and every single square holds a lacy cream flower with eight rounded petals. On the teal squares the flowers pop out bright and bold, and on the cream squares they sit quietly, tone on tone, so you notice their texture more than their color. Put together, the bed has a fresh, lively rhythm that still feels calm and tidy. It looks detailed, but there is only one square and one flower to learn.

Each square is a solid granny square worked in the round from a magic ring. Instead of groups with chain spaces, you work a double crochet into every stitch, so the fabric is dense, smooth and warm, the perfect background for a flower. Six rounds of double crochet build the square, with two double crochet, a chain two and two more double crochet at each corner. A final round of single crochet gives every square a clean, straight edge. Each square ends on 100 single crochet with four corner spaces, which keeps the joining very even.

The flower is made separately in cream. It starts with a round of sixteen double crochet in a magic ring, then a round of double crochet with one chain between each stitch, which makes a ring of tiny holes that give the flower its lacy look. In the last round you work a single crochet and a fan of seven double crochet around the ring, eight times, to make eight round petals. The finished flower is about 3.5 inches across and lies nice and flat. You sew it to the center of every square with its long tail.

The queen size uses 195 squares in a grid of 13 squares across and 15 squares down, with 98 teal squares and 97 cream squares set in a checkerboard. Each blocked square is about 7 inches, so the joined center measures about 91 by 105 inches. A border of cream, teal and a cream shell round adds about 1.5 inches on every side, for a finished size of roughly 94 by 108 inches. That covers a queen mattress and drapes down both sides toward the floor.

The squares are joined with a cream slip stitch seam through the back loops of the last round. Worked in cream, the seam disappears into the cream squares and makes a thin, neat line along the teal ones, so the checkerboard looks crisp and sharp. The border repeats both colors and ends with a cream shell edge, which softens the outside with a gentle scallop that echoes the round petals of the flowers.

The finished bed cover is soft, warm and full of character. The solid squares feel cozy and substantial, and the flowers add a light, lacy texture you can feel with your fingertips. I would call this an intermediate project, mostly because of its size. The stitches are simple enough for a confident beginner, but 195 squares and 195 flowers ask for steady tension and a lot of patience. If you love a long, peaceful project you can pick up any time, this one will keep you busy and happy for a whole season.

I love teal. It sits right between blue and green, like the sea on a sunny day, and it always makes me think of summers at the shore with my sisters. Paired with cream, it feels fresh and clean without being cold. In a bedroom with white furniture and light curtains, this bed cover looks bright and breezy, and in a room with warm wood it looks cozy and classic. It is the kind of color that wakes up a plain room the moment you smooth it over the bed in the morning.

I also love that every square is small and quick. One solid square takes me about thirty five minutes, and one flower about fifteen, so I can always finish a complete piece in a single evening. A square and a hook fit in my handbag, and I take them everywhere: to the doctor's office, to my grandson's ball games, out on the porch with my coffee. Every finished square goes into a basket, and watching that basket fill up is the best motivation I know.

The flowers are my favorite part. They are so quick that I make them in batches while I watch a show, and I keep a little pile of them ready for the squares. I love the tiny holes in the middle round, which make each flower look like old lace. Sewing a cream flower onto a teal square always makes me smile, because that is the moment the square comes alive. On the cream squares, the flowers look like they were carved in, which I find just as lovely.

Here are a few more reasons this one stays close to my heart:

• There is only one square and one flower to learn, so your hands soon know them by heart.
• The checkerboard looks bold but is easy to plan and lay out.
• The flat flowers lie smooth, so the bed cover is comfortable to sleep under.
• It makes a cheerful gift for a new home or a guest room.

Each of these makes the long road to the finish feel gentle and easy to enjoy.

A handmade bed cover changes a room like nothing else. When I make the bed and pull the cover straight, the checkerboard lines up so neatly that the whole room looks finished. Guests always reach out to touch the flowers, and they always ask how many squares there are. When I tell them nearly two hundred, they shake their heads and laugh. I love that a simple square, made again and again, can become something people stop to admire.

This project taught me to slow down and enjoy the middle part. On a big bed cover there is always a stretch where the basket seems to stop filling up. I learned to stop counting and just enjoy each square for itself, the feel of the yarn, the rhythm of the hook, the little flower waiting to be sewn on. When I worked the last shell and spread the cover across the bed, I was almost sad to be finished. That is how I know a pattern is a good one.

Try a new color pair. The checkerboard works with any strong color next to cream. Navy and cream feels crisp and coastal, and dusty rose and cream is soft and romantic. Mustard gold and cream is cheerful and vintage, and sage green and cream is calm and gentle. Keep all the flowers cream so they tie the two colors of squares together.

Make it for a different bed. Every square is about 7 inches, so changing the size only means changing the grid. Add or remove a column to change the width, and add or remove a row to change the length. With an odd number of squares in each row, the checkerboard still works perfectly. Here is a quick guide with the border included:

• Twin: 9 across by 15 down, 135 squares, about 66 by 108 inches
• Full: 11 across by 15 down, 165 squares, about 80 by 108 inches
• Queen: 13 across by 15 down, 195 squares, about 94 by 108 inches
• King: 15 across by 15 down, 225 squares, about 108 by 108 inches

For a taller bed or a longer drape, add one more row to the length.

Make a sofa throw. A grid of 7 squares across by 9 squares down uses 63 squares and makes a throw of about 52 by 66 inches with the border. It is a lovely size for the back of a couch or the foot of the bed, and it uses about a third of the yarn of the queen size. It is also a good way to try the pattern before you commit to the full bed. If you love it, just keep going and turn it into a bed cover later.

Make a baby blanket. A grid of 5 squares across by 5 squares down gives you 25 squares and a blanket of about 38 by 38 inches. The flowers are flat, but for a baby, sew them down very firmly around the center and at every petal tip so there is nothing a little hand can pull. Use a soft, washable baby yarn. Pale aqua and white or soft lemon and white look sweet in a nursery.

Make matching pillow shams. A grid of 4 squares across by 3 squares down makes a sham front of about 28 by 21 inches, which fits a standard pillow. Keep the same checkerboard on the front, and use plain squares without flowers on the back so the pillow is comfortable to lean on. Join front and back on three sides with cream single crochet, slip the pillow in, and close the last side. Matching shams make the whole bed look planned and finished.

Change the edge. For a crisp, tailored look, skip the cream shells and finish with one more round of teal single crochet. For a deeper scallop, work 7 double crochet in each shell instead of 5 and keep the same spacing. You could also add short cream tassels at the two lower corners of the bed. Each small change gives the cover a new mood, from simple and modern to soft and old-fashioned.

Use a different yarn weight. In DK yarn with a 4.0 mm hook, each square comes out at about 5.75 inches, so a queen needs a grid of about 16 across by 18 down. In bulky yarn with a 6.5 mm hook, each square grows to about 8.5 inches, and a queen needs about 11 across by 13 down. Always make and block one square first, measure it, and work out your grid from that. Weigh your first square too, so you can plan your yarn amounts.

Play with the flowers. Put flowers only on the teal squares for a bolder look, or make the flowers on the cream squares in teal so the colors swap. You could also make a few flowers in a third color, like coral or soft yellow, and scatter them across the bed. Each flower uses only about 5 grams of yarn, so they are a happy way to use up small leftovers. Keep the squares the same so the checkerboard still looks calm.