Winnie's Quiet Book

Today's adorable quiet book comes to us from Winnie of the blog Be A Creative Mom. She hand-sewed the entire thing in just about a week, which is seriously impressive! I love the look that hand-sewing gives quiet books, and I especially love the embroidery that Winnie added to the front and back covers.

In addition to the awesome embroidered covers, Winnie's quiet book has a safari animals page (the animals are hanging on buttons, and can be removed and played with), a purse page (with toys to find inside), a shapes page, a numbers page (which flaps that lift up with objects underneath for children to count), a telephone page (with velcro numbers), a bee and flowers string page, a ribbon page, and an octopus page (with beads on his tentacles to count).

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Winnie; I am a mom of 2 living in Singapore.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 

I made this book for my one-year-old daughter.

What's your level of sewing experience? How long did it take you?
I consider myself a intermediate sewer, as I hand sew lots of stuff. My speed is actually decent. The book took me about one week to finish while sewing 2 hours a day. So roughly 14-15 hours.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 

I used some from online. I don't remember all of the resources so just listed what I can find as below. Just want to say thank you to all the fantastic moms who posted their templates.
The purse page is from Apron Girls: Quiet Book.
Ribbon page is from And Next Comes L: Ribbon Pulling Quiet Book Page.

Forgot where the octopus and bee is from... But they are super famous quiet book pages!

How did you bind your quiet book? 

Just by sewing.

What material are the pages made out of? 

Felt.

What other materials did you use? 

Beads, ribbons, yarn, velcro, a key, a card,etc.
 

How much did all the supplies cost you? 

About $15-20.

What's your favorite page? Why?  

I simply love them all... I worked quite a bit to design and find pages suit my 1 yr old girl. My girl loves the octopus beads page the most.

To see Winnie's quiet book on her own blog, click here: Be A Creative Mom - Quiet Book. Winnie, thank you so much for sharing your quiet book!

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

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!

Old Testament Quiet Book - PDF Pattern Set Giveaway!!!

Hi everyone! I am so excited about today's post, because today marks the start of another Quiet Book Blog giveaway!

Today I get to share with you the fabulous Old Testament Bible quiet book created by Kate of the "Candidly Kate" Etsy shop. This book is seriously adorable, and would be so perfect for church. Your kids would be keeping quiet and learning about some bible stories! I seriously I wish I had one for my two little girls to play with. It would just be so perfect!

So, look at all of Kate's fantastic pages below, and then scroll down to enter the giveaway to win the complete PDF pattern set!

First, the cover:

An "I am a child of God" mirror page:

 Noah's ark, with port holes and finger puppets:

Jonah (who's a finger puppet) and the zipper-mouthed whale :

David and Goliath (who has lace-up sandals):

 Daniel in the lions den (the lion's mouth opens and closes!):

 Moses in the basket (whose strips you can weave):

 Moses parting the Red Sea (this one's my favorite!):

 Counting the days in which God made the earth:

Making Joseph's coat of many colors:

 Abraham and Isaac:

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (with a ton of adorable animals):

Joshua and the walls of Jericho that tumble down:

Braiding Sampson's hair:

 And a pocket for all of the extras!:

Interview

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

Kate. I am a blogger, and public health professional work-at-home mom and I love to create. 

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 

I made this quiet book for my little man who is turning two. 

What's your level of sewing experience? 

I have been sewing for many years, but each pattern includes about 25 pages of instructions with lots of pictures so that people with very limited sewing experience can complete the pages. The pages can also be constructed using fusible webbing with minimal sewing. 

How long did it take you?

Each pages takes about 5 hours to complete. 

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 

Pattern and instructions for sale here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/candidlykate 

How did you bind your quiet book? 

I use a unique idea that allows you to keep the pages all together without permanently binding them using overall clips that come from the back page around to the front. That way you can grab only a few pages if you wish OR pass different pages out to different children. 

What material are the pages made out of? 

Felt.

What other materials did you use? 

Snaps, magnets, buttons, mirror, ribbon, and a variety of other materials. 

How much did all the supplies cost you? 

Many of the supplies can be found in your stash but the total cost for all supplies is probably around $40 to make the whole book with no coupons used. 

What's your favorite page? Why? 

Adam and Eve. I think the fox is adorable!

To visit Kate's Etsy shop and see more pictures of each of the pages, click here: Candidly Kate on Etsy.

And now for the giveaway! There are three prizes for Kate's Bible Quiet Book giveway. One reader will win the entire PDF pattern set to "The Complete Old Testament Bible Story Quiet Book." That's sixteen pages of patterns! And two other readers will each win the PDF patterns to their two favorite pages from the set. The giveway will run from this Monday, August 4 to next Monday, August 11. So make sure to enter! You could win one of three awesome prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Remember - if you enter by leaving a comment, make sure to say which is your favorite Bible quiet book page!**