You can do this with a single query. You only need to style the post container divs with 49% width and add a float to the left.
Code
<div class="featured-loop clear">
<?php $recent = new WP_Query("cat=1&showposts=2"); while($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post();?>
<div class="feat-post clear">
<div class="feat-thumb"><?php if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) the_post_thumbnail(); else { ?><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/default-thumbs/thumb.jpg" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" /></a> <?php } ?></div>
<div class="feat-post-content">
<h2 class="feat-post-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<span class="feat-post-meta">
<span class="meta-date"><?php the_time('d, M'); ?>.</span>
<span class="meta-comments"><?php comments_number('', '1', '%'); ?></span>
</span>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<div class="read-more"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/read-more.gif" alt="read-more" border="0" /></a></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</div>
CSS:
/* === FEAT CATEGORY BOX === */
.featured-loop { width:100%; }
.feat-post { padding:10px; width:49%; float:left; }
.feat-thumb img { margin:0 8px -1px 0; display:block; float:left; }
.feat-post-title a { color:#000; display:block; font-size:1.3em; text-decoration:none; }
.feat-post-meta { color:#777; font-size:0.9em; }
.read-more { float:right; margin-top:4px; }
.read-more img { margin:0!important; padding:0!important; border:0!important; }
/* === CLEAR === */
.clear:after { visibility: hidden; display:block; font-size:0; content:" "; clear:both; height:0; }
* html .clear { zoom: 1; } /* IE6 */
*:first-child+html .clear { zoom: 1; } /* IE7 */
This is a slightly modified version of the code given in this article.
I takes advantage of the new in WP 2.9 Thumbnail system as well as there is added a default thumbnail feature in cases where you don’t add one.(You’ll have to make sure whether your theme supports thumbnails feature, and if not, add it.)
