The Moon Family: Quilts for My Twins

Last fall I took Peyton and Maryam to the fabric store to choose material to make them twin size quilts. At that time they were still sleeping in cribs, and my goal was to get them big kid beds for their birthday. I wanted to have their quilts ready to go on those beds in March, when they turned 3. Well, we looked and debated over beds. Tobin didn't really see the need to remove them from the cribs quite yet, but I was ready for them to move on. And I was hoping we would get pregnant last fall and need the cribs for new baby/ies. After much searching and debating, we decided it was most economical (frugal) to use beds that already belong to us, though one of them was in Utah at my parents' house.

We didn't make it in time for their 3rd bithday, but the kids didn't seem to mind. In June we took apart the cribs and stored them in the garage. We brought Tobin's super single water bed frame up from the garage and put it together for Peyton's bed. We soon found that there are not many companies who make water bed mattress inserts, so the mattress had to be ordered off the internet. No cheapy mattresses to be found; we had to get a more expensive one. But I have rationalized this by telling myself and my husband that our son is going to sleep on this mattress forever! Ironically, this mattress was ordered from Denver Mattress Company. We used to live just down the street from one of their stores. If only we had known back then, we could have saved the cost of shipping now . . . .

In June we also took a trip to visit our families in Idaho and Utah. Tobin flew home after two weeks, and the kids and I stayed in Utah for two more weeks. At the end of that time, my dad drove back to California with us to help us tow a U-Haul trailer with my bed and dresser in it. What a great dad! By the end of one long, exhausting day we had driven from West Jordan, UT, to Pittsburg, CA, unloaded my old bed and dresser, and returned the trailer before closing time at the U-Haul store in Pittsburg.

Since early August, the kids have been sleeping on their big kid beds with just sheets and crib size blankets. (It took a long time for Peyton's mattress to get here!) All this time, I have been working bit by bit on their long awaited quilts. Last night I finally finished them. I think I had put off binding them because I wasn't quite sure how to make it turn out the way I wanted and because I was afraid the quilts were not going to look very good. Peyton's quilt was first to be bound. Once it was finished, I laid it out on the floor to look at it and realized it looked much better than I expected . . . almost professional looking. Of course, there are mistakes in both quilts. Don't look too closely. But I'm really pleased that they turned out so nicely! This is a true testament to my mother who taught me everything I know about sewing and quilting. What a wonderful teacher and mentor she is! I still hope I can grow up to be like her some day.