Hannah's Baby Quiet Book

Today's adorable felt baby book comes to us from Hannah of Sunburnt Strawberry. It's kind of a "safari" themed book - each page has a different wild animal to look at and to play with. I love the cover - the really cute lion with all the fun ribbons is just so happy and welcoming. I also really like how the antelope is attached to the page with elastic, so that he can leap across the grasslands. Anyway, each of the pages is so cute and I'm sure you'll enjoy them all!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Hannah, I'm a science teacher in my first full year and I find crafty stuff that keeps my hands busy is a great way to de-stress.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made this quiet book for my godmother's third baby. He is nearly 3 months old. It's something a bit personal for a new baby that she won't have from the first two, and all new babies deserve things made with love.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I would say fairly low. I do a lot of reading pretty thing blogs and wishing I could make the amazing things they do! I tend to make it up as I go along though and all the sewing in this is REALLY simple, just blanket stitch and whip stitch which is about my limit!

How long did it take you?
Errm... Probably about 5 weeks but I only worked on it when I had a bit of free time, maybe 12 hours? But that's just a guess, it mostly occurred while watching TV with a glass of wine!

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
No, I google image searched each animal's name and "clip art" art picked something cute with out twiddly awkward bits. I got inspiration from lots of places including One Lovely Life's felt baby book which gave me the croc, lion and monkey ideas.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I back stitched through all the layers of felt and then trimmed the excess. I used two small pieces of scrap to cover the top and bottom of the spine and wrapped the back cover over the spine so everything was nice and smooth and sewed in down at the front. That sounds confusing but hopefully the pictures help!

What material are the pages made out of?
All the pages are made out of half a sheet of craft felt. The slightly smaller coloured squares had the animals attached and then they were sewn to the black felt so that it formed a border. I made sure I didn't use the same coloured square twice.

What other materials did you use?
Everything is felt because it's so easy to work with. I also used a white zip I already had for the crocodiles teeth, brown wool for the zebras mane and tail, all sorts of scraps of ribbon from my stash for the lion, thread and embroidery floss. There is a tiny smudge of black fabric paint on the end of the banana.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
£2.00 for the 4 sheets of black felt and 75p for the zebra felt, everything else I already had. If I had bought the other supplies I reckon it would have come to under £10.

What's your favorite page? Why?
I love them all! I love the little green fish inside the crocs mouth and the colourful pop of the yellow elephant page next to the blue zebra page.

To see more pictures and learn more details of Hannah's baby book, visit the page on her blog here: Sunburnt Strawberry: Felt Baby Book. She also has a church quiet book with a post about its construction, so check that out too!

Thank you so much for sharing your adorable quiet book with us, Hannah!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

Kersten's Dinosaur Quiet Book

I'm going to share a secret with you: when it comes to kid stuff, I looove dinosaurs. My husband has to stop me buying all the "boy" clothes covered in dinosaurs when we go shopping for our daughter. (She does have some dinosaur pajamas. Can't stop me all the time.) When I did my own quiet book, my dinosaur page was my favorite. Dinosaurs are just awesome! Which is why I'm so excited to share today's quiet book with you, which is totally, 100% dinosaur-themed.  It was made by Kersten of Little Miss Stitcher, and it is so cute! I love all the different pages and all the little dinosaurs to play with. And did you see the dinosaurs in the eggs? Awesome! So enjoy. :)

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
Kersten. I am a stay at home wife and mommy who loves to craft and create!

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made it for my son, who is almost a year old. He hasn't played with it yet, but when he's a bit bigger I hope he loves it!

What's your level of sewing experience?
Um...I'm not an expert but I've had a pretty good amount of experience. I really enjoy sewing :)

How long did it take you?
HOURS AND HOURS! If it wasn't so fun it would have been ridiculous. I'm not sure how long exactly it took, but anywhere from 4-7 hours per page.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
All links to patterns/templates/sources of inspiration can be found on my blog :)

How did you bind your quiet book?
I have not yet bound it, but there's this great tutorial over at Imagine Our Life that I plan on using. http://www.imagineourlife.com/2011/11/01/how-to-sew-quiet-book-pages/

What material are the pages made out of?
I used felt.

What other materials did you use?
Buttons, ribbon, ric rac, beads...pretty much anything that called to me :)

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I'd rather not figure that out :) That knowledge may ruin the joy quiet booking has brought me!

What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page is the first one. The one that you can take the dinosaur's head on and off!

To see Kersten's dinosaur quiet book pages on her own blog, Little Miss Stitcher, (where she shares more detail about each page and links to the templates she used), click on these links:

• Dinosaur quiet book: Page 1
• Dinosaur quiet book: Pages 2 & 3
• Dinosaur quiet book: Page 4
• Dinosaur quiet book: Page 5
• Dinosaur quiet book: Page 6
• Dinosaur quiet book: Summary & Tips

She has another adorable quiet book she just finished, a "Little Sister Quiet Book," that you should definitely check out too! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome quiet book with us, Kersten!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

Kaitlyn's Name Quiet Books

I love quiet books that spell out a child's name on the pages. They're such a cool keepsake - fun to look at and play with when the child is little, and a tender reminder of someone's love for them when they're older. Today's post features two name books made by Kaitlyn of Creatv.ly - and they are stunning. The detail that she put into each page is really just beautiful, and I find myself wishing that I had such talent. : ) I think my very favorite page from these books is the hummingbird one - I just love the bird and the flower! But it's hard to pick a favorite when there are so many awesome pages here. Enjoy!

Mason's Name Book:

Charlie's Name Book:

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Kaitlyn. I'm a wife, a mom of two young boys, a photographer, a crafter, a minimalist, and a CrossFit-er.

Who did you make these quiet books for? How old are they?
I made both felt books during my pregnancies for my two boys. Mason was born July 2008 and Charlie was born September 2010. They still like to look at the books at ages 4-1/2 and 2-1/2.

What's your level of sewing experience?
My mom started teaching me how to sew when I was about 8 years old. I sewed costumes, dresses and doll cloths throughout my adolescence. In my late teens I learned how to sew quilt tops. I often use patterns, but I have also been known to make my own patterns as well. I learned how to embroider when I was about 12, but didn't really get into it until later in my teens when I made my first crazy quilt. The fancy embroidery was my favorite part and reminded me of my great-grandmother.

How long did it take you?
The first quiet book I made took several months to complete. Mostly because I had to take a lot of breaks. I used fabric glue to tack all the felt pieces down before I started embroidering, and later learned that fabric glue plus several layers of felt is almost impossible to hand-stitch through. I ended up using a pair of pliers to push and pull the needle through the felt, and bent several needles in the process. It was so difficult to finish, I swore I would never make another one.

When I found out I was pregnant with my second son, I decided to make another quiet book. By then I had learned about fusible webbing (aka Wonder-Under), and I was able to work much faster. I completed the whole thing in about two weeks, working on it a few hours each day (mostly during nap time).

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I made my own templates for both books. I drew my designs out on printer paper, and then cut them up into pattern pieces. I never had any intention of turning them into actual patterns, but after I finished the second book, I started getting inquiries about my patterns, and eventually I was persuaded to complete the alphabet and turn all my hand drawings into digital patterns. My patterns can now be purchased on my website at http://creatv.ly/shop/.

How did you bind your quiet book?
First,  I blanket-stitched around the edges of my pages. Each page is made up of two single felt sheets placed wrong sides together. Once all the pages were stitched, then I sewed through the blanket stitching of all the pages on one side to turn it into a book. It's kind of hard to explain in words, so a few years ago I made a video tutorial. It can be found at http://creatv.ly/felt-book-binding-tutorial/.

What material are the pages made out of?
I LOVE felt, and used it for all the pages!

What other materials did you use?
As I mentioned earlier, I started using Wonder-Under to fuse the felt pieces together. I also used cotton embroidery floss for all my stitching; and buttons, beads, yarn, sequins, and ribbon as embellishments.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I don't remember the exact cost, but we were poor college students at the time, and I tried really hard not to spend a lot of money on it all. I used the cheap Eco felt you can find in precut sheets at the craft store for 25 cents per page. I also had a lot of stuff on hand, but I did have to buy some of the embellishments and embroidery thread.

What's your favorite page?
In Mason's book, my favorite page is probably the giraffe. I have a thing for buttons, so it was fun to get to use so many on one page. In Charlie's book, my favorite page is definitely the crab. The bubbles and beading on the sand are just so eye catching.

To see more details of Kaitlyn's quiet books or to find the patterns in her shop, check out these links on her blog:

• Mason's Felt Name Book
• Charlie's Felt Name Book
• Felt Alphabet Patterns, Animals (Basic)
• Felt Alphabet Patterns, Animals (Expanded)
• Felt Alphabet Patterns, Objects
• Felt Alphabet Patterns, Combination Pack

Kaitlyn, thank you so much for sharing your quiet books, templates, and tutorials with us!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

Rachel's Doll Quiet Book

Hi everyone! Today's quiet book is so cute and looks so darn fun that I can't wait to show it to you. It was made by stay-at-home mom Rachel for her two girls, and it's a dress-up doll book! The outside has two handles to carry it with and looks like a little house (complete with door, windows, and adorable little flower beds), and the inside opens up to a dresser full of clothes and two little dolls to dress. Take a look!

In the dresser they have four stick-on dresses.

In the dresser each doll has a little makeup kit with a blush brush and lipstick.

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
I'm Rachel, a pregnant stay at home mom to two daughters; Mercy, 3 and Cozette, 18 months. 

What's your level of sewing experience?
I have virtually no sewing experience, my dad gave me a machine two years ago and I have haphazardly sewn simple curtains, an apron and a doll for my daughter with no real instruction.

How long did it take you?
I would say this quiet book took me about 10-12 hours over a week and a half. I mostly just worked on it when the girls were sleeping.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I didn't use templates, I drew out some patterns and referenced a picture I found on pinterest (which can be found here), but it was just one photo with no instructions.

How did you bind your quiet book?
Since it's only two pages, I put felt sheets under some flannel fabric and sewed it into one smooth book.

What material are the pages made out of? What other materials did you use?
The materials are almost all felt with a cotton blanket and flannel cover, like I said.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I probably spent $15-20 on materials of which I had PLENTY leftover for the next quiet book I'm making.

What's your favorite page? Why?  
I don't have a favorite page since it's only two pages, but my girls love putting on the dresses and especially the "make up". :-)


Thank you Rachel for sharing your awesome doll quiet book with us!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!