Neli's Quiet Book

Today's book comes to us from Bulgaria, made by mother Neli for her daughter. It is an adorable book and I hope it can inspire you!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Neli and I am from Bulgaria.  

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made the book for my daughter's second birthday. Her name is Maria so we call her Mimi :)  

What's your level of sewing experience?
I don't have any sewing experience.
 
How long did it take you? 
It took me about 6 weeks, 2-3 hours a day.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I didn't use any templates. I looked on Pinterest and YouTube for inspiration and after that I drew it by myself.

What material are the pages made out of?
The book is made by felt.
 
What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page are the front and the back cover because they are all my idea.

Neli, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful 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!

Mandrina's Quiet Book

Today's adorable quiet book comes to us from Mandrina, a Canadian living in England. She made this book for her daughter, a toddler, and it is awesome. It is absolutely jam-packed full of fun activities.

She starts out with a Matryoshka doll page (Russian stacking dolls). They're something that I've never seen in a quiet book before and it is a really cute way to teach kids about big, bigger, and biggest. Mandrina then has a flower page and a forest page (with little animals hidden that can play peekaboo).

 Next there's a really cute counting page spread with leaves on one side covered in certain numbers of bugs. The leaves velcro off to show the number written underneath, and then the child can put the leaves in a vinyl jar on the opposite page. It's followed by another number page where you can lift the flap with a number on it to count the number of buttons beneath, and then an awesome page with two people one it, where you can flip the tops and bottoms to create new combinations of people. (It's really cool, and hard to explain. You'll just have to look for yourself.)

 

Next Mandrina has two space pages: one of the solar system with all the planets, and one with an astronaut, rocket, and alien. She made her daughter the astronaut. :) These pages are followed by a build-a-robot spread, and two snow pages where you can decorate a snowman. 

Following the snowman there's a laundry page, complete with washing machine and socks that you can match up on the page. The clothing theme continues into the next spread, which is a girl's bedroom with a wardrobe full of clothes. On the opposite page there's a doll that you can dress up with all the clothes from the wardrobe.

The next pages take us outside to a farm, where a barn is filled with adorable finger puppets (and I love the fabric used for the background!) and a tractor goes up the hill where you can pick carrots and radishes.

We then go underwater to one of the cleverest shape pages I've ever seen. All of the ocean animals are particular shapes, so you can practice with your toddler by asking them where the triangle-shaped fish is, the rectangle fish, and so on. The next page is an alphabet page with the ABCs sewed on to the page and also stored in little pockets, followed by a quilt page, and then the cover, which is made of cute fabric and has handles for easy carrying.

 

Interview

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

My name is Mandrina and I'm a mom. If my former self were to meet me now she would probably lol.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made this book for my daughter who's 20 months old.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I've been sewing off and on (mostly off) since I was a kid. Becoming a mom has re sparked my interest in sewing and I've becoming a bit of a Pinterest junky. I still feel like a beginner. My work isn't perfect but I'm happy with the finished project.

How long did it take you?
I worked on it over three weeks for a few hours a day while my daughter was napping. I've fallen behind on a lot of other things.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I spent hours on Pinterest looking for inspiration for the pages and used templates from imagineourlife.com for the solar system, astronaut, socks and robot pages. Her designs are adorable and she has a great Montessori inspired blog. On the snowman page, I directly copied the skiing snowman from betzwhite.com.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I bound it with 3.5" rings pulled through button holes on each page and made a canvas cover with handles.

What material are the pages made out of?
I've been collecting loads of different fabric remnants, fat quarters and scraps. I used felt and various cotton bits.

What other materials did you use?
I used sequins, buttons, snaps, velcro, beads, clear vinyl sheets and ribbon as well.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I think it all probably cost about £40 once I finished.

What's your favorite page? Why?
My favourite page is the forest page with my daughter's hand as the tree branches and the hiding animals because it's one that I designed on my own. I think it's also the one that took the least amount of time to put together.

Mandrina, thank you so much for sharing your fantastic 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!

Amanda's Quiet Book

Hi everyone, happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. The quiet book I get to share with you today comes all the way from São Paulo, Brazil. Made by Amanda for her friend's son, this book is seriously awesome and just bursting with fun activities.

Amanda's has so many fun pages. It starts right off with an interactive cover, where the child's name is spelled out in letters that can velcro on and off of the page, and be stored in a pocket on the front. After the cover is unclasped and opened, you see a clown holding several colorful balloons. These can are also attached with velcro, and they can be switched around to the different color strings, or stored in the clown's sleeve. Opposite the clown is Mike Wazowski from Pixar's "Monster's Inc." Mike's mouth can be unzipped to reveal shapes that match the shapes on his page.

The next page has a car scene, with roads to drive on, a traffic light whose lights can be changed, and lots of different vehicles including a fire truck, ambulance, and cement mixing truck. The next page has a train with many different colored cars, each with a number to help practice counting.

The next page spread is an outer space scene, with a rocket, astronaut, comets, planets, aliens, and spaceships.When you turn the page again, you find a boy at a table. His mouth can be unzipped and you can pull a lot of different kinds of food out (a carrot, egg, watermelon, cookie chicken, etc.) that can be put on the plate in front of him and then "eaten." Next is a dog with a collar to buckle, a bone, and a dog house.

After the dog, the next page spread is a forest scene with all sorts of animals to play with and fun things to do. There's finger puppets of a rabbit, bear, squirrel, hedgehog, garden gnome, and fox, plus trees, a sun and raincloud that can move, a rainbow, a mushroom house, and more. I think this is my favorite page!

Next come an apple trees that also has a bee you can string through loops to get back to his beehive, and a frog that catches flies with his tongue. Then there's a sports page with a soccer ball to weave and a shoe to lace up, and finally, there's a dress up page with a little boy and a wardrobe full of clothes for him to wear.

Watch for yourself to see all the cool pages!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
Hello! My name is Amanda, from São Paulo, Brazil. I love to work with my hands; I'm a dentist and a seamstress aspirant.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
My friend asked me to make this quiet book for his son, Bernardo, who is 2 years old.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
I'm a beginner. I learn something every day!!

How long did it take you?
I did this book on my vacation. I spent 15 days about 8 hours per day.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
The templates were designed by me and my husband, Samuel (he is art director and he helped me a lot!), always inspired by many google images.

How did you bind your quiet book? 
The pages are sewn to each other by a piece of fabric on sewing machine.

What material are the pages made out of? 
The cover was made in fabric and the inside pages of felt. For the "stuffing," acrylic blanket.

What other materials did you use? 
I also used thread, ribbon, rings, buttons, velcro, pearls and zipper.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
I probably spent about R$ 150 (US$ 50).

What's your favorite page? Why? 
My favorite page is the Enchanted Forest and its finger puppets.

Amanda, your book is amazing. Thank you for sharing it 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!

Agata's Fox Quiet Book

I am so incredibly impressed by the quiet book I get to share with you today. Made by Agata of the blog Agatownik, this book features a little fox who lives in the forest with his friends. As Agata explains, "This is not a typical quiet book. This is a big book where lives a little fox. When designing the book I focused on this to be a fun creative child and his friendship with a fox. The book is to stimulate a child's imagination. Fox has his friends in the forest, which he visits every day. He also has a room has a comfortable bed, a mirror, and clothes."

I love all of the fabrics Agata used and all of the detail she put into every page. This truly is a beautiful book and would be an absolute treasure to the child it's given to.

Agata created her book for the competition "A Child Friendly Toy," organized by the Museum of Toys and Play in Kielce, Poland (the largest and oldest toy museum in Poland). Her book's name for that contest was "Vulpecula and Friends" and it won third place in the eighth annual competition. Congratulations, Agata!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
I'm Agata; I am a mother, wife, and I love crafts.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
The book was designed for the contest "A Child Friendly Toy," organized by the Museum of Toys and Play in Kielce, Poland.

What's your level of sewing experience?
My adventure with sewing takes about two years.

How long did it take you?
Work on the book took almost a month. This is the period from design, through the selection of fabrics, with the same concept implementation. Of course it was not continuous work. Only done in my spare time.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
The book is made according to an original design I made.

How did you bind your quiet book?
The book is quite large, all pages are permanently stitched together.

What material are the pages made out of?
The book is made of different materials. Cotton, felt, fleece, corduroy. It is a mix of fabrics, which usually I use.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I have no idea how much it could cost.

What's your favorite page?
The most I like fox room is very cozy and has a well more balanced colors.

To see more pictures of Agata's amazing book, check out the post on her own blog: Agatownik: "Vulpecula and Friends."

Agata, thank you so much for sharing your absolutely beautiful 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!

Sabrina's Quiet Book

I am constantly amazed at all the talent that the readers of this blog have. I receive submission after submission that just leave me floored. Sabrina's quiet book is no exception - from the fantastic embroidery, to the awesome cover, to each and every one of the creative, cute, and fun pages.

Some of my favorite pages from Sabrina's quiet book include her solar system page (wow! So cute and cool and the detail on her planets is incredible!), her farm page (the ears of corn are awesome), her refrigerator page (looooove all the food), and her forest page (again - the detail is just incredible). It would be hard to not be inspired by this book. So please, enjoy!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Sabrina and I am a stay at home mama from Germany.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made it for my wonderful daughter Christina. She is almost 2 years old and already loves her book.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I think I am advanced.

How long did it take you?
I don't know... Maybe 2-4 hours per page. I do all embroidery files by my own which has taken the most time to complete.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
Most ideas I found on this blog. I made my own embroidery and cutting files. I am not very good in handstiching. So I decided my machines can do the work :). Here are two other pages I found my inspiration from - Solar system: Imagine Our Life: Solar System Quiet Book Page; Forest page: Meli Melo: Wild Animal Habitat.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I used grommets and binder rings.

What material are the pages made out of?
I don't know the English word. In German it's called embroidery felt. It is for embroidery applications and it is washable and stable.

What other materials did you use?
Cotton and fleece for applications. Ribbons, buttons, KamSnaps, and felt.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I think the materials which I used have a value of more than 60€. About $80.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
Ooooh! This is hard to say! But my top 3 pages are - solar system - farm page - forest page.

Thank you so much for sharing your book with us, Sabrina. It's fantastic!

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