Crafting for Twin Babies

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The son and daughter-in-law of my dearest friend, Cory, were expecting twins, a boy and a girl. So naturally I had to prepare along with everybody else!

While I was still in San Diego, my daughter created a couple of baby bouquets to use as display items for the big Craft Festival. I suggested making one pink and one blue, so I’d have something unique to bring along for the twins on my upcoming trip to Cocoa Beach.

I purchased three onesies, four pairs of socks, and a bunch of baby washcloths for each twin.  We found a couple of adorable baskets at the dollar store, into which we stuffed a square of floral foam.  Krista’s friend, Jen, and I worked as a team, rolling each item (socks rolled individually) around the top of a sturdy floral wire.  We discovered that if the top of the wire was hooked (closed), using needle-nosed pliers, the item didn’t get snagged and was held firmly in place.

Then Krista took each baby item “flower” and inserted it into the floral foam in a balanced form.  After all the baby items were placed, she stuffed any remaining spaces with dollar store flowers and leaves.

Even the nurses at the hospital were oohing and ahhing over these adorable bouquets!

Ok, I can’t really take credit for the bouquets – those are my daughter’s specialty.  She’s had countless orders from her coworkers when a baby shower approaches!  The quilts are more in my domain.

I decided to go a little funky this time – the parents are a fun-loving, energetic pair and the typical baby pink and blue traditional quilt was simply not appropriate. I came across this McCall’s pattern #6341 which seemed to fit the bill.  The pieces are all different sizes and slightly off-center, and I cut down the number of squares to make more of a mat.  I chose shades of royal and hot pink for the pieces.

I’d never used a pattern for a quilt before and thought it just might work.  Maybe others like this method, but I’ll never use a paper pattern again for a quilt – I MUCH prefer measuring the pieces!  I liked it better after I did the actual quilting – using circles and diamonds seemed to offset the angular pieces.

Still, they turned out ok; the Mom said she liked that they were a perfect size for tummy-time!

 

And, in case you were wondering, the babies arrived a little early, but that just meant I could visit them in person when I went own to visit!!!

Comments? Questions?