Megan's Quiet Book

Good morning everyone! I hope your holiday season is going well for you so far; Christmas is in full swing over here at our house, and the new favorite activity of my two little daughters is rearranging all the ornaments on our tree, haha. :) After this post I'll be taking a break until the new year. If you send emails to the blog account in the next couple weeks, I might be able to respond, but it's more likely you'll get a response in January. With that said, let's move onto today's fantastic quiet book!

Today's quiet book was made by Megan, as a Christmas gift for her friend's three little girls. She plans to add more pages in the future for their birthdays and future holidays, which is such a cool idea! The pages she started off with are great. She has a rice bag "I Spy" page, a colorful zipper page, a ballet shoe lace-up page, a Rapunzel tower page where you can braid Rapunzel's hair, and an adorable dress up page where you can dress up a doll in different princess dresses. The dresses are so cute - she has Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Ah! Adorable! So, please enjoy Megan's quiet book.

Here's the dress up doll:

And her dresser full of clothes:

And all of her princess outfits!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 

Megan. I am a Kindergarten teacher turned stay at home mom of an almost 1 year old, who wishes there were more hours in the day for my sewing projects!

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
My best friend has 3 daughters, ages 4.5 years, 2.5 years, and 4 months. This book is their Christmas gift, and I plan to add a page as each child's birthday and Christmas gift for the next several years.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
Intermediate

How long did it take you? 
I worked on it for an hour or 2 a night after bedtime. I was finished in 3 weeks, but didn't work on it every night. My best guess is 10-15 hours.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I used LOTS of ideas I found on pinterest!!!
I-Spy page: Inspiration from Sweet Juicy April: Baby Quiet Books
Zipper page: I planned to do this Metcalf Crew: Quiet Book, but decided to place the zippers at haphazard angles instead
Rapunzel page: Inspiration from PA County Crafts: Rapunzel and Button Flowers Quiet Book Pages
Ballet Slipper page: Serving Pink Lemonade: Quiet Book
Dresser page: Modeled after this dresser Love Charla Anne: Made With Love
Doll page: Cheryl Style: DIY Felt Dress Up Dolls
Dresses: I made up the patterns, but got some ideas from What is Bridget Reading?: Flannel Friday - Fairy Tale Princesses

How did you bind your quiet book? 
Each page has 3 button holes, The pages are contained in a 3 ring binder, so that pages can be added later on or taken out and passed out to each child.

What material are the pages made out of?
9x12 felt sheets.

What other materials did you use? 
Vinyl, un-cooked orzo noodles, buttons, beads, jewels, ribbon, zippers, yarn, hair clips.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
I spent $25, but have lots of leftovers now. If you already had a variety of colors of felt it wouldn't be nearly as much.

What's your favorite page? Why?
I loved how the princess dress up page turned out! I am sure the girls will fight over that one!

Megan, thank you so much for sharing your adorable 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!

100th Post - and Stitch People Giveaway!

Hi everyone! I have something exciting to tell you - this is the 100th post on the Quiet Book Blog! Thank you to everyone who has shared their quiet book on the blog over the last couple of years; everyone's awesome books have made a truly wonderful collection of ideas and inspiration.

Today, for the 100th post, I wanted to share with you Stitch People.  Once upon a time, my friend Lizzy started this amazing company where she creates custom cross-stitch family portraits.

Each family portrait is completely customized to your family. Here are some of the portraits she's done:

She also does wedding portraits and pet portraits. Something else she offers on her website (and this is what I think you guys will especially like, since you're crafty) is a Do-It-Yourself Stitch People Book.

The description on her website for the DIY Stitch People Book is this:

"Do - It - Yourself Stitch People Book: Instructions & Patterns for Designing and Stitching Your Very Own Stitch People Portrait.

Order the Stitch People DIY "bible" filled with over 500,000 cross-stitch pattern combinations! Includes designs and patterns for hairstyles, clothing, and dogs and cats of many breeds, as well as color suggestions, illustrations and examples to help make your cross-stitch family portrait look just right!

The physical book is 8.5"W x 11"H, and spiral bound for easy use. The E-Book and physical book are identical."

This book is awesome. Just check out a couple of the pages inside that help you stitch your own family portrait:

To see or order the DIY Stitch People Book on the Stitch People website, click here:  Do-It-Yourself Stitch People Book: Instructions & Patterns for Designing and Stitching Your Very Own Stitch People Portrait.

Now, I wanted to tell you about Stitch People this week because they're having a holiday giveaway! You could win a cross stitch starter kit and the DIY Stitch People Book. Here's what you have to do:

Stitch People Holiday Giveaway
Free Cross Stitch Starter Kit & DIY Stitch People Book

1. Sign Up for the Stitch People Email Newsletter at StitchPeople.com
2. Like Stitch People on Facebook! Facebook.com/StitchPeople
3. Follow Stitch People on Instagram (@StitchPeople)

You can also share the giveaway on Facebook or Instagram for more entries - the more times you share, the more entries you'll get!  The giveaway ends Sunday, December 8th at 11:59pm MST, and the winner will be announced Monday, December 9th.

To just go browse over on the Stitch People website, check out these pages:
Custom Cross-Stitch Portraits
Custom Family Portrait Patterns
Do-It-Yourself Stitch People Book

 I hope you're all having a great week, and I hope you enjoy checking out Stitch People!

Ruthie's Quiet Books

Today I get to share with you two quiet books made by Ruth of the blog Simply Ruthie for her friends' twin toddlers. These quiet books are twins themselves - similar at first glance, but each is unique. Each cover has the name of the twin whose book it is; once you open it up, you find tic tac toe pages (one with clouds and suns, one with flowers and butterflies), fruit trees (one with apples, one with oranges), barns (each full of finger puppets), shape matching and bead counting, ladybug clocks, and "under the sea" pages. The back covers have pockets for little dolls.

I like so much about these quiet books, starting with the fact that they mirror each other, but each has its own unique details. I think my favorite page is the orange tree page - it's such a fun twist on the traditional apple tree page and I like how bright the oranges are. I also really like the blue and white background on that page that makes it look like there's a sky. Each of the pages in these books looks so fun to play with, and I am sure that the twins are going to enjoy them a lot.

Thank you so much for sharing your cute quiet books with us, Ruthie!

 

To see the books on Ruthie's own blog with more pictures and explanation, click here: Simply Ruthie: Quiet Books for Toddlers.

 

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

Melissa's Quiet Book

Today's quiet book is absolutely adorable. It was made by Melissa of the blog I have found the paradox, and it is seriously just so cute. Hand sewn and made of felt, this book spells out the name of Melissa's daughter, with each letter getting its own page and activity. There's an "A is for Apple" page with an apple that opens to show you its seeds, a "G is for Garden" page with vegetables to pick and flowers to water, an "N is for Nest" page with a blue bird and nest, a "E is for Elephant" page with a cute grey elephant, and a "S is for Sheep" page with button flowers and peekaboo bushes hiding adorable little sheep.

I love the details she added on each page - the layered flowers on the cover, the little bee in the garden and the detailed petals on the flowers, the texture on the branches of the nest, the knotted sheep's wool. I also love how bright and cheerful this book is, and the colors that Melissa chose to have on each page. It's very fun and visually interesting. Anyway, I'll stop rambling so that you can enjoy Melissa's book!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
Melissa. I am a crafty, coffee drinking, Catholic wife and mommy to two scamps.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
My daughter Agnes. She is ten months now, but since this is a Christmas gift she will be 1 when I give it to her.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
I am definitely a beginner. I only sew for crafty projects like this one, and learned from tutorials online.

How long did it take you? 
About 3 weeks, on and off from start to finish. I would say I averaged about an hour a day, most days of the week.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
No, but many of the concepts were inspired by other people's books, and this blog!

How did you bind your quiet book? 
The pages are sewn together with a blanket stitch and I stitched a felt binding around all of the pages once they were done.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Embroidery thread, buttons, and yarn.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
About $10. A lot of it was scraps and things I already had.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
Probably the page with the sheep. It is one of the only ones I came up with on my own, and it was the most time consuming, since the sheep are covered in french knots. I love how they feel, and I was really happy with the way that paged turned out as a whole.

To see Melissa's quiet book on her own blog (with more description), click here: I have found the paradox: Agnes's Quiet Book. Melissa, thank you so much for sharing your adorable 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!

Dolores's Quiet Book

Today's quiet book was shared with me in unique circumstances. I was contacted by Gerd from South Africa, who had found this quiet book in a charity shop.The last page in the book lists the contact information of a woman named Dolores, who made the book. Gerd was able to get in contact with her family, and found out that Dolores passed away in January of this year, at the age of 95.

According to Dolores's obituary, she "...was born April 22, 1918 in Shelby, Ohio, the daughter of the late Joseph and Gertrude (Tome) Heiland. As a homemaker, Dolores was an excellent baker and cook. Known as the “cake lady,” she baked and decorated thousands of cakes for graduations, birthdays and many other occasions for many area families. She also loved doing crafts and needlepoints and cherished time with her children and grandchildren."

Thank you to all the women who share their love and brighten the lives of their families by sharing their talents with them. I hope you enjoy Dolores's quiet book. :)

"What time is it?"

"Make my face" and "Ring the bell"

"I can count numbers up to ten"

"Shape my nose" and "Lace the shoe"

"Button my shirt" and "Find the rabbit"

"Open the barn door" and "Hide the acorns"

"Match the colors" and "Peel the banana"

"Braid my hair" and "What's inside?"

"Snap me on my shapes" and "Overhaul the tractor"

"Tie my bow" and "Surprise!"