Quiet Book: Page 1

Although I am going through the book page by page, that is not actually how I completed it. At first I had a ziploc bag for each page where I kept paper templates, felt cut-outs and any notions that corresponded with the page. However, when putting the book together, because I only had two bobbins, I sewed things on a colour at a time. I went through and carefully looked at which colours would have to come before or after different colours, and I managed to only have to do one colour at more than one time. If I'd had more bobbins I probably would have done it a page at a time, but who knows.

The first page of my quiet book contained shapes. I chose nine different shapes, and made them each a different colour. 

Each shape has a removable piece, and a corresponding shape on the page. They snap on and off of the page. The idea of the page is for children to correctly match the removable shape with the shape on the bag, and all practice their dexterity and hand-eye coordination with the snaps. My father said that I shouldn't have made them all different colours, because then the child can rely on the colour rather than the shape, but I wanted it to look fun too.

How I made the page:


I cut out three copies of each shape from the felt, and two copies of each shape from some interfacing. I used regular interfacing, but I wish I had used iron on stuff-I think it would have been better and easier. I layered one of the felt shapes with one of the interfacing shapes, and sewed on the snap using corresponding embroidery floss. 

After that was complete, I took the shape with the part of the snap that stuck up and zig-zagged it on to the page. Then I sandwiched the other shape with the snap attached and the third and unused shape, and straight stitched them together, about 1/8th of an inch in around the outside of the shape. Here is where I had issues with the interfacing sticking out.

Christmas Presents: Part 3

A long time ago I posted this picture as a preview of my latest project. Now I can finally share the project with you. I took this pile of felt, a bunch of pellon, and a whole lot of extra doo-dads(buttons, velcro, ribbons, zipper, beads, etc.) and made a quiet book. For those of you that don't know, a quiet book is a plush book that includes a number of activities for children to do. They are especially great for church. I decided to make a quiet book because of this post that shows a Star Wars, and a Star Trek quiet book. I didn't want to do something quiet as nerdy, or as elaborate, so I began my search. I spent hours searching the web to see other people's quiet books. One of my favourite places to go for inspiration was Homemade by Jill. I started compiling a list of pages I liked/wanted to include in my book. I mostly based my decisions on my memories (I had a quiet book growing up and seeing certain pages triggered fond memories for me). Over the next little while I am going to post each of the pages, and describe the process I went through to make them. For now here is a picture of the book, and the cutie pie who received it.

Christmas Presents: Part 2

I previously posted here about a pair of pyjamas that my friend Becky made. She actually went to the fabric store to get fabric for a table cloth she wanted to try, but didn't find what she wanted. Her inspiration for making pyjamas was the fact that I was there getting fabric for a pair of pyjama pants I was going to make for my husband. He had previously been in the fabric store with me to pick fabric for christmas project #1. While there I realized I had never made anything for him. That's what inspired this project. I was also inspired by his excitement over the most ridiculous fabrics (including his desire to have red vinyl fabric). I used two different fabrics, and made the front of one pant leg and the back of the other pant leg the same. The two fabrics I chose were:

We used a free pattern from Simplicity. It can be found here. Let me tell you there is a reason that it is free. There are things that you are told to do at the beginning that never get referenced again. There were also a number of things that the pattern said that experienced quilters that were helping me told me to ignore. The first thing is the printing of the pattern. It gave instructions that I basically had to do the opposite of. The pattern calls for elastic and a drawstring. I don't know that both are necessary. I did both, and I also made the drawstring just as the pattern called for. That was a mistake! I gave myself blisters turning that thing right side in. Next time, if I use a drawstring, I will definitely be purchasing it somewhere else. If you don't use a drawstring then you won't need the button holes. I was told that 5/8" seam allowance wasn't necessary. I also didn't press my seams open, because I had them finished on the serger. I didn't baste the seam allowances, or leave an opening for the elastic the way they said (I just left a gap when I stitched down the waistline). I'm sure there are more things that I changed too, but I can't remember them anymore. Use at your own risk.

See how excited he was?

I pinned the elastic in, and didn't hem them when I gave them to him, because I wanted to make sure they fit him right. Those things I finished up at Gramma's house. When we got there, I got them out to show her my handiwork and she said "Oh, those are awful!". It's always nice to get encouraging words from your grandmother. Below, they are all finished.

Because Gramma's house is such a great place to get work done, my mom took her cathedral window wall hanging to work on. She managed to get it finished while she was up there, but since then she has decided to put another border around the outside. Here's what it looked like while it was still in the works.

 And of course, gramma always has at least two projects on the go. This is a quilt she is making for my cousin. There is log cabin all around, and the world in the middle. The world is made from postage stamp method, with lots of tiny, tiny squares.

Wow, this post took me a long time. Hopefully it will get me back into the swing of things.