Courtney's Quiet Book

A few weeks ago I came across the quiet book of Courtney from Adventures of a Stay at Home Mom, and I loved it! All of her pages are so cute and well made (I know I've said it before, but I love handstitching), and she has some really great ideas and pages I haven't seen before.

Some of the pages are new ones of her own design, and some of the pages are from patterns from Imagine Our Life that Courtney's put her own details on. For example, the train page from Imagine Our Life is usually only two pages, but she made it four pages long and then bound the pages cleverly so it could all fold out into one really long train. She also added a bottle of Tide to the laundry machine page, which is such a great idea. One of the pages of Courtney's own design that I absolutely adore is her weaving picnic basket page - it is so cute! I can't get over it.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling so you can look at her pictures. Enjoy!

Dinosaur page (pattern here):

Kitty tie-the-ribbon page:

Owl page (pattern here):

Igloo page (pattern here):

Train page and finger puppets (pattern here):

Here's how Courtney bound the train pages - with a clever "hinge" in each page:

Pocket for the finger puppets:

I Spy page:

Sock matching page:

Shiny fish and fish peekaboo pages:

Ants in the Picnic Basket Weaving page:

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Courtney. I am a stay-at-home mom and I love making things for my daughter.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made this book for my 2 year old daughter but I started making it when she was about 16 months old.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
I have to admit, my sewing experience isn't very high. I decide I want to do something and I do it. It may take me longer than other people but I try to do my best and learn as I go. I am a bit of a perfectionist and I'm slow.

How long did it take you? 
As a guesstimate I would say each page took anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. However, I choose to hand sew almost everything even when you have an option to use a machine. I really don't know how long it has taken me to make my whole book. A long time! :)

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
For the picnic page, fish pages, and kitty page, I designed them myself but haven't really made full patterns for them. The rest I got from imagineourlife.com. She has tons of great patterns!

How did you bind your quiet book? 
I used imagineourlife's patterns for the basic page and cover patterns which use 2 grommets in each page and then you can use giant rings to attach the pages in the book. I have had a difficult time finding large enough rings so I have just temporarily tied mine together with ribbons or bungee thread. Whatever works :)

What material are the pages made out of? What other materials did you use? 
The main material I use is felt and thread,(some people use embroidery floss but I just use normal sewing thread folded over once or twice to make it thicker). In some pages you can use ribbons and colorful fabrics and really whatever you want to add to it. One of the funnest parts about making the quiet book pages is making it your own. The cover is made with flannel or really whatever fabric you would like. You can use a clip or a giant button to close the book.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
Supplies are generally very cheap. That's one of the best things about felt crafts. I get my felt at Hobby Lobby for $0.25 each and thread is a couple dollars per spool. The cover and binding will cost a little more but part of that depends on what fabric or method of binding you choose.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
My favorite page is probably the circus train. I extended the pattern to make is a much longer train and used the basic animal finger puppet patterns to design some more animals of my own. I added my own background, switched up the colors, and changed a few other minor things. I made my train four pages long! In order to get it to fit in the book I made it so that each side folds in. It's pretty fun to open it up and have a giant train! :) I also made an envelope pocket on the back side of one of the train pages to keep the animals stored in. The best thing about making a quiet book is seeing kids get excited to play with it. Just a few minutes ago my little girl was playing with hers. I love being able to make things for her!

To see Courtney's quiet book pages on her own blog (with more pictures and explanations), check out these posts: Quiet Books, Matching Socks, My Fishy Page, Picnic Basket Quiet Book Page. She also makes cute crochet flower headbands for babies and women. To check out her Etsy shop, click here: Cabin Fever.


Thank you so much for sharing all of your adorable pages with us, Courtney!


Also, everyone, don't forget to enter into this week's Bible Quiet Book Template giveaway! Click here to go to the post where you can enter, or click on the picture below!

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

Tiffany's Animal Quiet Book

Good morning! The quiet book I get to share with you today is so cool. Made by mom Tiffany for her son, each page features a different animal. These pages are all really original and cute; I haven't seen any like them before. And they're so detailed and well made! They would be so fun to look at and touch with a little one - I know both my baby and toddler would love this book. They're all awesome, but if I had to pick one, I'd say my favorite page is the tiger. He's just so cute!

Enjoy!

 Interview

What's your name? Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
My name is Tiffany; I made this quiet book for my 1 year old son.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I don't have a lot of machine sewing experience. I've just played around until I like the results. I do a lot of hand sewing.  

How long did it take you?
The book took approximately 3 months/90 hours from start to finish only working on it an hour or so a day.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I looked on Google images for pictures of different animals and then free hand sketched the animal. After free handing the animal picture I sketched out backgrounds.

How did you bind your quiet book? 
For binding the book, I machine sewed the pages onto a strip of fabric and then sewed it to the cover.

What material are the pages made out of? 
The pages are made from felt and embroidery thread.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
The supplies cost approximately $10.

What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page is probably the horse. I made a mistake with his eyes but managed to make it look like it was done on purpose by adding a bumblebee.


Tiffany, 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!

Emma's Quiet Books

Today we have two quiet books that come to us from Emma of Southern Belle Sewing. Emma is actually just in her teens, and she made these for two of her younger siblings! There are so many things that I like about these quiet books - I like the name and felt clasp on the cover of James's book, I love the puzzle pieces for the puzzle page (especially that owl and mouse! wow!), and the rocket page, and the mechanic page...basically all of it.

James's quiet book:

Faith's quiet book:

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
Emma. I love to sew for my family of twelve and I'm learning to knit.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
My 3 year old brother and my 2 year old sister for Christmas.

What's your level of sewing experience?
My family says I'm great. They don't always see the annoying little things that I do.

How long did it take you?
Less than a month for Faith's. James's I did most of and then put it off for a while to work on other presents. His took the longest because it is completely handsewn.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I made my own.

How did you bind your quiet book?
Ties for James's and a lot of work and frustration for Faith's including a broken needle.

What material are the pages made out of?
James's is completely felt and Faith's is mostly cotton from my huge fabric stash

What other materials did you use?
Snaps, buttons, Velcro, beads, shells, lace, ribbon, heat'n' bond, you name it, I probably used it.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
Next to nothing. Most of the things were on hand. Faith's was completely on hand and James's I had to buy the felt for, but was on sale so I got it for $10 and still had enough for another present with lots left over.

What's your favorite page? Why?
That's a hard question. For James's it would probably be the jungle page. I love the puzzles, on one side is a parrot and if you flip them over, it's an owl puzzle. For Faith's, it would be the dress up and cat page. That's her favorite too. She once took one of the dresses and put it up to herself and said "It fits!"

If you'd like to see Emma's quiet books on her own blog check out this post: James Quiet Book and this one: Faith's Quiet Book. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome quiet books with us, Emma!

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