Repurposing your baby's old bumper pad

I had so much fun decorating my baby girl's room. I already had one boy, and let's face it, girl's bedrooms are much more interesting to design. Although a boy's room does bring it's own creative challenges, there's nothing like decorating with PINK. I figured it would be the only time in my life that I would get to decorate with pink. I can't blame my husband, if I were a dude, I don't think I would want to be surrounded by pink either. I've been on a quest for a masculine look that includes pink, but have yet to find it. But that's another post.

I fell in love with the John Robshaw baby bedding, and couldn't resist. And I have to say 4 year's later, I still LOVE it. And that's a good thing, because it was a splurge to say the least. I find it funny that people put so much time into decorating the bedding for a crib. The bumper pad in particular. I think the doctors say to remove the bumper pad as soon as your baby can rollover. So your babe gets only a precious few months with that adorable bumper pad. I loved the flower pattern on my John Robshaw bumper pad, and spent many hours staring at it trying to figure out how to reuse it. 

Leave it to my resourceful mom to figure it out. If there's one thing I've learned from my mom-- it's where there's a will, there's a way. So, I told my mom I wanted to make pillows out of the bumper pad. I thought she'd just cut it up, and make 2 fronts and do the back in a coordinating fabric. But my mom being the genius seamstress she is, took it apart, split it in 2 and opened it up, which doubled the surface area of fabric we had to use. She even kept the ties and use them like buttons as a closure for the back. It looks so cute that it could be used as the front. I have no idea how she managed to match up the pattern, but she did. It helps that the fabric is quilted, it helps to disguise the seams. I'm so glad that we'll get to use this bedding for a while longer. Right now the crib is converted to the toddler size, so the standard size pillows are a bit big on there, but they are great for lounging on the floor, and will be perfect when the bed is converted to the full size (assuming it fits in her tiny room!). Next up is repurposing the crib size bed skirt- not sure what that will become. Maybe more pillows? Or a quilt?

Thank you Granny Franny for your beautiful resourceful sewing!