Friday, September 13, 2013

Kristy's Four Quiet Books

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the month-long break on the blog and my slow responses to your emails. I kind of unintentionally took August off as a mental/"end of summer" break. I don't have many excuses other than being pregnant and watching my toddler, and I know you're all that busy too! But I'm back now, and have a whole bunch of really delightful quiet books lined up to share with you. :)

Today's quiet books were made by Kristy, a mother who made not one, but four quiet books! She made two for her friends' daughters, and two for her son. The first two below are the ones she made for the girls, and the second two are the books she made for her son.

I love so many of the ideas that Kristy used - I definitely want to make a weather page in a future quiet book, and her tree with the peekaboo pockets is just adorable! I know my daughter would really enjoy her safari page.  And her "Ring Quiet Book" (the fourth one) is totally unique; I think it would be really cool to make a book like that in the future. All of these books look super fun and entertaining. Check them out!

First quiet book:



Second quiet book:



Liam's quiet book:



"Ring" quiet book:


Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Kristy.  I am a wife, a mother to a wonderfully happy son, and I teach psychology at The Ohio State University when I’m not with my family.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made two of the quiet books for my son Liam - the “Liam book” (of course!) and the small ring book.  He is almost one now, but he was only a few months old when I first started on it.  I made some of the pages with his current age in mind (for instance, the lion page and button page) and I made other pages more advanced for him to use later.  The other two books I made for my friends’ daughters.  One little girl is 18 months and the other is 2.5 years old.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I would say it’s moderate.  I have a sewing machine and can use the basic settings, but I wouldn’t say I know any advanced techniques. Having said that, I have been sewing for quite awhile and have made several quilts as well.

How long did it take you?
This is hard to determine now because I have made several and everything has blended together in my mind!  I was able to complete one of the simpler books in only a few evenings because the shapes were easy to cut and I sewed everything quickly on the sewing machine.  However, some of the pages (like the safari animal page and the gnome tree page) took multiple days because there were many pieces and everything is hand sewed.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
There were a few pages that I replicated from onelovelylife.com and imagineourlife.com.  I designed some of the other pages from scratch and others I designed by combining ideas that I saw on pinterest.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I put grommets into two of the books.  For the ring book, I sewed ribbons into each circle.  For the first book, I just punched holes in each felt page and bound it with yarn.

What material are the pages made out of?
The pages are made of felt with a sheet of pellum stiffening fabric in each.

What other materials did you use?
I used felt, ribbon, yarn, elastic, buttons, beads, and some drapery fringe leftovers.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I bought a packet of felt for approximately $25 and then multiple yards of pellum.  Other than that, the price was very reasonable.  The ribbon, buttons, and beads only cost a few dollars each and the fringe for the lion was cheap because it was in the clearance section at Joann Fabrics.

What's your favorite page? Why?
Wow, this is such a hard question to answer!  Maybe I’ll answer for each book.  For the first one, I’d say the flower-picking page because I know the little girl really enjoyed playing with the flowers.  For the second one, it’s a tie between the ice cream page (because I liked putting the ice cream cones together) and the horse braiding page because I like how the horse turned out.  For Liam’s book, my favorite page is definitely the gnome tree page.  I created that because I wanted a happy page that included lots of cute objects Liam could pull on and play with.  I also loved the idea of gnomes living in trees when I was a little girl so it reminds me of my childhood.  (However, his favorite page is the button page without a doubt!  He loves pulling on the buttons.)  Finally, I like all the pages on the ring book, but the dog is cute because you can wag his tail.


Thank you so much, Kristy, for sharing all of your awesome quiet books 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!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Ashley's Quiet Book

Hola! I hope all of your weeks have been going fabulously. I have a great new quiet book to show you today, made by stay-at-home-mom Ashley. It's really cute and has some awesome learning pages - I really like the shapes/color page (I love the matching buttons!) and the counting cupcakes page. I also like the buckle that she put on the cover - such a smart way to make sure everything stays intact! So, enjoy!


Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
Ashley - I am a stay-at-home mom to two awesome kids and a happy wife to my husband of almost five years!

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made the quiet book for my kids, Lola (3 years) and Otto (18mos.). It is geared for Lola, but designed for both once my youngest is ready.

What's your level of sewing experience?
Beginner.

How long did it take you?
It took about a month and a half. I worked many nights each week, for several hours each night. I did everything by hand, so it was slow going ;-)

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
No templates, just ideas of others' books I'd seen on the site.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I used a large piece of fleece for the cover of the book. I sewed a small piece of the fleece down the center and put 3 rings to create a binder-type function. My husband added grommets to each page to reinforce the holes.

What material are the pages made out of?
The cover and each of the pages are made from fleece. Each page is decorated with colored felt, ribbons, and buttons.

What other materials did you use?
Heat-n-bond (had less than a yard on hand) and Pellon wonder-under under each piece of felt, cereal boxes and one piece of heavy cardboard for in between the pages, a zipper, a buckle, old baby clothes for the snaps page and overalls.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I tried to use what I had on hand for each page, so my costs were minimal. I think I spent about $20, with the bulk of it being on the Pellon.

What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page is the car/ map page. I love all the details of the places to visit (which are our favorite places too): Coffee shop, church, library, target, park.

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


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

Monday, July 29, 2013

The Quiet Book Pattern Directory

Hi everyone! So, instead of a regular post featuring a quiet book today, I wanted to introduce you to a new page on the blog: the Quiet Book Pattern Directory. It's a page with a list of websites where you can find templates for full quiet books, and also places where you can find templates for individual quiet book pages.


This page will continue to grow as I find more quiet book templates to share. If you know of any that I've missed, feel free to comment and I'll add the template to the list!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Nicole's Quiet Book

Hi everyone! Today's beautiful quiet book comes to us from Nicole of The Malmberg Family. I honestly think this is one of the prettiest quiet books I've seen; the fabric choices for the cover and the page backgrounds are really just lovely and give the book such a nice feel. It really is just so well done and well put together! It also looks very fun and I'm sure that any child that plays with this book will enjoy it. Take a look!


Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Nicole and I live on Vancouver Island in Canada. I love the outdoors and being a Mom. We're not afraid to play and get messy. My motto is "you're washable!" :)

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
My daughter Cali who is two-years-old.

What's your level of sewing experience?
Beginner. If even that. My sewing skills are very mediocre.

How long did it take you?
Started in November 2012, but just kind of did little bits here and there. I really focused and got it finished this past month. It probably took me somewhere around 35+ hours. Finished May 2013.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I did use a template for the butterfly/leaf pages and the caterpillar page. I found the template here: Free Butterfly Book Template. The others I just found on Pinterest and created my own templates.

How did you bind your quiet book?
I left 2" room at the left side of each page and made 3 button holes. Then I put ribbon through them and a little panel on the cover and tied them together. you can see the tying done on the last page.

What material are the pages made out of?
Page itself is cotton fabric with some kind of iron on board insert. The pictures are all wool felt.

What other materials did you use?
Zipper, Velcro, snaps, ribbon, lock & key, beads, buttons, plastic clip and acrylic paint.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
TOO MUCH! Since I'm new to sewing I didn't have any previous supplies on hand. I spent close to $100 easily. I did borrow color thread from friend. My biggest mistake is buying too much. I have enough supplies left over to make another book and maybe even two! And I ordered wool felt off of Etsy. That was pretty pricey. But I live in a small town and our Walmart felt selection was pitiful.

What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page is the Tent Page because it was my very first Zipper and I was so nervous to do it. Also, the little diva girl inside the tent is my daughter Cali. :) Also the book cover because my daughter picked out the butterfly fabric which turned out to be so cute.

To see Nicole's quiet book on her blog, click here: Cali's Quiet Book. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful quiet book with us, Nicole!

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