I often make a baby quilt for expectant parents, but four!? I couldn't shake the notion that I needed to make these babies quilts though. One night, I had an "Aha!" moment: the babies will be in NICU for awhile after they're born, so they'll need little tiny quilts, not great big ones!
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I looked through my fabric stash to see what boyish prints I had, and took out my collection of I Spy squares. They are leftover from when I made Jeremiah's I Spy quilt. I had cut out extra squares and strips in different sizes from the fabrics and saved them.
I looked online for sizes of quilts good for use in baby incubators (or isolettes) and even called the NICU that the quads will be staying at. I decided that about 18" square would be a great size. I also learned that quilting stitches and even regular quilting cotton fabric can be scratchy on their delicate skin, so flannel or minky on the back is preferred.
I sorted my I Spy squares to make sure no two squares were identical, then sorted those into four piles. I was able to come up with 36 squares for each of the four quilts. I decided a simple patchwork would be best, with a solid color for the border on each one.
I used brown dot minky on the back and straight-line quilted each one. The texture of the minky allows for the quilting stitches to "sink in" and can not be felt.
And because I like to keep it real, sometimes things don't go as planned. One of the quilts got a giant pucker on the back in the minky during quilting. Oh well. Proof it's handmade.
Once finished, I photographed several of the blocks from each quilt, ordered prints, and put them into a photo album. This made a cute I Spy game for the family's oldest child (who is three). I thought it might be something fun for him to do when visiting the NICU to see his brothers in what can be an intimidating and scary place for a kid.
I also made a few sets of flannel hearts that the mom and dad can wear against their skin then place in the incubators with the babies so they can get used to their parents' scent.
Hopefully these gifts will be a blessing to this family as they begin their journey as a family of seven!
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