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!

Katie's Quiet Book

Happy Friday everyone! I have a completely adorable and extremely well-made quiet book to show you today! Made by Katie for her son, this book is so cute I don't know what to do with myself. Her pages are just to die for - look at that cute purple bird on its nest! And the fishing page! And the butterfly that comes out of the cocoon! Her shapes & color matching page is really clever - one of the best ways I've seen of doing it. And I love the details she added - the wrap around cover with a buckle is so smart and looks so good, and each page have a border looks awesome.

Take your time looking at all her pages, and enjoy!

Lift the Velcro flap to find a mirror

The clouds are pockets that hold little sky pieces for page 3

Open the curtains and find Velcro sky pieces (sun, clouds, rain, snow)

Three little eggs can be taken out of the nest

Weave the pie crust

"Catch" the football and practice tying the laces

Colorful "worms" are ribbon pulls, and three finger puppets (dog, cat, and bunny) can be taken out of the bushes

Match by color and shape, snap into place

Button the flowers

Fish can be moved up and down

Latch the dog collar and leash

Open the mailbox to find mail; move the flag up and down

Unzip the cocoon to find a butterfly

Tuck the kiddo into bed (magnets hold the blanket down)

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Katie and I am a working mom in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made this book for my son, who just turned two.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
Beginner.

How long did it take you? 
I worked on this very slowly over the course of ten months.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I did not use any templates, but I based many pages off of ideas that I found online.

How did you bind your quiet book? 
Large eyelets and binder rings.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Various fasteners and other pieces (ribbon, fabric, beads).

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
I didn’t keep track, but I had to buy everything new, including the eyelet kit.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
My personal favorite is the fishing page, but I also like how the bird page turned out.

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome book with us, Katie! What a treasure for your son!

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

Amy's Quiet Book

The quiet book I get to share with you today is one of the classics, one of the ones that started it all. Amy of the popular blog Serving Pink Lemonade made and posted her awesome quiet book almost three years ago, in January 2011. Very soon after she posted her templates and helpful instructions. And just a few months ago, she published her very own book on how to make a quiet book! Her book, Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children, is available on Amazon.com and looks awesome.

When I was making my own quiet book back in 2011, Amy's was one of the first ones I found. The quality of it inspired me, and I loved her different activities. I based my barn on her lovely, clean-cut one. And my favorite page in her book is the seasons tree - I definitely want to make one in one of my future quiet books.

So enjoy Amy's awesome quiet book, and definitely take a look at her Quiet Book Pattern book on Amazon!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Amy.  I am a mother to three cute kiddos and a recent first time author of "Quiet Book Patterns: 25 easy-to-make activities for your children"--which are completely different ideas than what I'm sharing with you today.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made my quiet books for my oldest two children when they were only two and four years old.

What's your level of sewing experience?  
I started sewing as a young girl.  I remember sewing simple straight lines to help my mom make cloth diapers for my younger siblings.  I made my first dress when I was ten years old and made skirts, handbags, and even my prom dress in high school.  I perfected my sewing skills in college by taking a few clothing constructions and pattern making classes.

How long did it take you? 
I worked on my quiet books for over the period of two to three months, a little here and a little there.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I used some of the quiet books my mom had made when I was a little girl for inspiration but I drew up each template from scratch for my own quiet book.  You can find the templates on my website: Serving Pink Lemonade: Quiet Book.

How did you bind your quiet book?
To bind my quiet books I punched holes through the Pellon Peltex pages with a single paper hole punch.  Peltex is strong and won't fray or tear so you don't have to worry about reinforcing the holes.  Initially I strung ribbon through the holes to bind the pages and then later replaced the ribbon with 1" binder rings.

What material are the pages made out of?
The pages of my books are made of Pellon Peltex (a thick non-fusible interfacing).  I love it because it doesn't "pill" like felt and it is sturdy and the edges will not fray.

What other materials did you use?
I used a lot of still felt on my pages and ironed most of the pieces on using Pellon Wonder Under so I didn't have to do very much sewing.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I didn't keep track of the cost since I bought the supplies a little at a time.  A lot the the supplies I already had on hand too.  Making a quiet book is a great way to use up small scraps!

What's your favorite page? Why? 
My favorite page by far is the car mat page.  I love how it turned out and my kids love playing with it.  I think the road signs add a professional touch.


To view Amy's quiet book on her blog, with helpful instructions, templates, and supply lists, click here: Serving Pink Lemonade: Quiet Book. To see Amy's Quiet Book Pattern Book, click here: Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children.

Thank you so much for sharing your book, your templates, and your instructions with us Amy!

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

Moira's Number Quiet Book

Hi everyone! Sorry the last month was so slow on the blog; I'm getting ready to have our second baby and have been trying to get everything in order before she gets here!

The quiet book I have to show you today is made by Moira, the same skilled retired textiles teacher that made this Colors Quiet Book. Her new quiet book has a different theme: counting! Each page has a prominent number, a matching number of objects (embroidery or buttons), the number written out in English and French, and that same number of ribbon tabs on the side of the page. It's awesome! I think a book like this would be perfect for my almost-two-year-old; she loves practicing counting, and a book like this would help a lot. Take a look at Moira's awesome counting quiet book!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Moira Elliott. I am a recently retired Textiles Teacher in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I have made this quiet book for my Grandson Daniel who is 15 months and lives in Quebec, Canada. He loves my first quiet book which was about colours and so this book is about the numbers one to ten.

What's your level of sewing experience?
Having been a textiles teacher for many years I am fairly skilled in all aspects of creative textiles work.

How long did it take you?
The numbers book took several days to make including the CADCAM embroidery of each number in both English and French.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I did not use any templates.

How did you bind your quiet book?
The book is stitched together down the central pages.

What material are the pages made out of?
The fabrics are mostly cotton, the embroidery threads used are viscose. The ribbons are mostly synthetic.

What other materials did you use? How much did all the supplies cost you?
The main cost was for the buttons and the ribbons. These totaled around £15.00. The fabrics used were taken from my large stock!

What's your favorite page? Why?
I do not have a favourite page but may do so after spending thus coming Christmas in Quebec and being able to see Daniel playing with the book.

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome, second quiet book with us Moira!

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