Dusty Pink Heart Square Bed Cover Crochet Pattern

This bed cover is made from one sweet square repeated across the whole bed. Each square is a soft dusty pink, worked solid in double crochet, with a deep burgundy heart sewn right in the middle. When the squares are joined, the seams make a quiet grid of pink, and the hearts line up across the bed in neat rows, like a box of valentines spread out on the covers. The warm pink and rich burgundy feel romantic and cozy without being too sweet. It looks lovely and detailed, but there is only one square and one heart 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 the heart. Seven rounds of double crochet build the square, with two double crochet, a chain two and two more double crochet at each corner. The corners leave a fine diagonal line of tiny holes that you can see in the photo. A final round of single crochet gives every square a clean, straight edge, and each square ends on 116 single crochet with four corner spaces.

The heart is made separately in burgundy. It starts in a magic ring with a round of treble and double crochet that forms the two rounded tops and the point. A second round goes all the way around the heart with half double crochet and double crochet, adding plump curves and a neat, sharp point at the bottom. The finished heart is about 3.5 inches across and nicely raised. You sew it to the center of every square with its long tail, so it sits firmly and lies smooth.

The queen size uses 132 squares in a grid of 11 squares across and 12 squares down. Each blocked square is about 8 inches, so the joined center measures about 88 by 96 inches. A border of pink, two burgundy rounds and a pink shell round adds about 1.5 inches on every side, for a finished size of roughly 91 by 99 inches. That covers a queen mattress and drapes well down the sides of the bed.

The squares are joined with a pink slip stitch seam through the back loops of the last round. Because the seam is worked in the same pink as the squares, the bed cover looks almost like one piece of fabric, with just a fine ridge where the squares meet. A thin band of burgundy in the border picks up the color of the hearts, and the pink shells soften the edge with a gentle scallop.

The finished bed cover is warm, soft and full of love. The solid squares feel cozy and substantial, and the raised hearts add a little texture you can feel with your hand. I would call this an intermediate project, mostly because of its size. The stitches are simple enough for a confident beginner, but 132 squares and 132 hearts ask for steady tension and patience over many weeks. If you can make one granny square and you love a romantic color, you can make this whole bed cover one heart at a time.

I love dusty pink. It is soft and warm, a pink with a touch of rose and a little gray, like old roses in a summer garden. It never feels babyish or loud. With burgundy hearts it becomes romantic and grown up, the kind of bed you would find in a cottage bedroom with lace curtains and a little vase of flowers on the nightstand. Every time I walk past the room and see those rows of hearts, it makes me smile.

The hearts are my favorite part. They take only about ten minutes each, so I make them in batches while I watch my evening shows and keep them in a little tin until the squares are ready. There is something so sweet about sewing a heart onto a finished square. It always feels like the moment the square comes alive. My granddaughter likes to help me pin them in place, and she counts every one as it goes on, telling me which heart is the plumpest.

I also love that the squares are quick and simple. One solid square takes me about forty five minutes, so I can finish one complete piece in a single evening. A square and a ball of pink fit in my handbag, and I take them everywhere: to the doctor's office, to church meetings, out on the porch with my coffee. Every finished square goes into a basket by my chair, and watching that basket fill with pink and burgundy hearts is the best motivation I know.

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

• There is only one square and one heart to learn, so your hands soon know them by heart.
• The solid fabric is warm and hides small tension changes.
• The hearts are tiny projects, perfect for using up burgundy leftovers.
• It makes a gift full of love for a wedding, an anniversary or Valentine's Day.

Each of these makes a big project feel calm and doable, even on busy weeks.

A handmade bed cover says something that bought bedding never can. When I gave the first one of these to my sister for her anniversary, she cried and said it was like getting a hundred and thirty two little love notes. That is exactly what it is. Every heart is an evening of thinking about the person it is for. When you make a bed cover like this, you are not just making a blanket, you are wrapping someone in all those hours of care.

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 soft yarn, the rhythm of the hook, the little heart waiting in its tin. 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 heart looks lovely on any soft background. Cream squares with red hearts are classic and cheerful, and light gray with blush hearts feels calm and modern. Pale blue with navy hearts is fresh and gentle, and sage green with deep rose hearts is like a cottage garden. Keep the heart darker than the square so it always stands out clearly.

Make it for a different bed. Every square is about 8 inches, so changing the size is just a matter of changing the grid. Add or remove a column to change the width, and add or remove a row to change the length. Here is a quick guide with the border included:

• Twin: 8 across by 12 down, 96 squares, about 67 by 99 inches
• Full: 10 across by 12 down, 120 squares, about 83 by 99 inches
• Queen: 11 across by 12 down, 132 squares, about 91 by 99 inches
• King: 13 across by 12 down, 156 squares, about 107 by 99 inches

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

Make a sofa throw. A grid of 6 squares across by 8 squares down uses 48 squares and makes a throw of about 51 by 67 inches with the border. It is a lovely size for the back of a couch or the foot of the bed, and it uses just over a third of the yarn of the queen size. It is also a sweet Valentine's Day gift that you can finish in a few weeks. If you love it, just keep going and turn it into a bed cover later.

Make a baby blanket. A grid of 4 squares across by 5 squares down makes a blanket of about 35 by 43 inches. For a baby, sew each heart down very firmly all the way around its edge so there is nothing a little hand can pull. Use a soft, washable baby yarn. Pale pink with rose hearts, white with soft red hearts, or light gray with blush hearts all look sweet in a nursery.

Make matching pillow shams. Six squares joined 3 across by 2 down make a sham front of about 24 by 16 inches, which fits a standard pillow snugly. Use heart squares on the front and plain pink squares on the back so the pillow is comfortable to lean on. Join front and back on three sides with pink single crochet, slip the pillow in, and close the last side. A single heart square also makes a darling little 8 inch accent pillow.

Change the edge. For a simple, tailored look, skip the shells and finish with one more round of burgundy single crochet. For a deeper ruffle, work 7 double crochet in each shell instead of 5 and keep the same spacing. You could also work the shells in burgundy so the edge matches the hearts. Each small change gives the cover a new mood, from neat and modern to soft and romantic.

Use a different yarn weight. In DK yarn with a 4.0 mm hook, each square comes out at about 6.5 inches, so a queen needs a grid of about 14 across by 15 down. In bulky yarn with a 6.5 mm hook, each square grows to about 10 inches, and a queen needs about 9 across by 10 down. Always make and block one square first, measure it, and plan your grid from that. Weigh your first square too, so you can work out your yarn amounts.

Play with the hearts. Put hearts on every other square for a calmer checkerboard and half as many hearts to make. Or make the hearts in a mix of burgundy, rose and soft red and scatter them across the bed for a sweet patchwork look. Each heart uses only about 5 grams of yarn, so they are a happy way to use up leftovers. Keep the squares all the same pink so the bed still looks planned.