June 24, 2015

Lily's Quiet Book ~ Woodland Friends Pages

June 24, 2015/ Lindsay

These pages are my FAVORITES!!!!

It is a little forest camping scene. OK, there is only one tree. It is a clearing. Use your imagination.

Let's have a look at the details. Shall we?

I did a mini version of my button flowers pages (see HERE and HERE).

Reversible, of course. I also used vintage ric rac and buttons.

Next we have a bush with tiny button berries and felt leaves. The bush actually creates two pockets for hiding.

The tree trunk has a hole for another hiding place. I embroidered a heart with an arrow and Lily's parents' initials, but the top of the tree shifted as I was sewing and cut off the tip of the arrow. :(

The top of the tree has some velcro pieces and a nest made from this beautiful vintage lace. That might be my favorite part of the whole book.

By now you are probably catching on that there might be some animals involved. Um, of course the title of this post gave that away, too. Well, let's just peek inside this tent with the recycled, vintage military zipper.

The inside of the tent has contrasting lining. It also stores all of my scrappy forest friends.

I really love the flying squirrel!

Now, you can see why these pages are my favorites! There are so many fun little details and some vintage accents, too. I know my girls would love to play with these pages!

June 22, 2015

Lily's Quiet Book ~ Camera and Sewing Machine Pages

June 22, 2015/ Lindsay

Like I said before, I kinda' stalked my cousin on facebook to figure out what they would like. That sounds creepy. Let's call it creatively brainstorming ideas. I knew Lily's mom is talented at photography and sewing, so I incorporated that into the book.

The background for the camera page is yellow with tiny butterflies. I sewed some vintage trims on the top and bottom just because it needed something.

The applique on the camera came out really sharp! I added some buttons for the buttons and a little heart applique just for cuteness.

It is sewn down like a little flap and underneath I took the packaging from a curtain to make a clear pocket. I thought this would be nice to add a picture of her grandparents, who asked me to make the book.

The sewing machine is made much like Grace's (see HERE) except I skipped the velcro bobbin. I also appliqued the needle differently and added some thread embroidery like a trail of thread leaving the needle. Oh, and the sewing machine is blue, obviously.

The background fabric is one of my favorites! It really has a vintage vibe and the colors matched really well. A vintage button was added for a pretend knob. The pink fabric is actually folded in half to make a storage pocket. I used pinking shears to cut fabric squares again, but I paired them up.

I made sure they were all the same size so that they can be arranged like a quilt.

I also made a little memory game with this adorable farm fat quarter that I got at Joann's. I fused it to some purple fabric and fussy cut the squares to make pairs. The only thing that I don't like is that you can see through the purple if you look closely enough. I am hoping a 2yo won't notice. Maybe it will give her parents an edge. I know I could use one when playing Memory with the kids!

These pages were actually pretty simple to make. The more complicated ones are yet to come. (And they are super cute, too!)

June 19, 2015

Lily's Quiet Book ~ Cover Pages

June 19, 2015/ Lindsay

So, I guess I might be back to blogging a little bit. I mean, don't expect anything consistent from me. Quiet moments like I am having right now are far and few between. Yeah, I could be folding laundry, but I just don't feel like it. It has been a long week.

Since I have been away for so long, I have a lot of crafty projects that I have done in the meantime. I snapped a few pictures of them, so I will go ahead and schedule some blog posts while I have some time that I am claiming for myself right now.

First up is a quiet book that I made for my cousin's daughter,Lily. I put a lot of thought and effort into this one. Her parents are missionaries in Mexico and this was their first Christmas there. I kinda' stalked their facebook page a little bit to get ideas of what Lily might like. Her hot air balloon first birthday party was the inspiration for the cover page.

I used a sky blue fabric for the background and added clouds and a sun with embroidered faces. The sun has yellow ric rac around the edges (and a tiny mistake that drives me crazy). On the lower cloud I embroidered her name.

The hot air balloon includes this fun vintage trim that I got at a thrift store.

I used gray polka dot fabric for the binding. It was left over from a tie that I made for my son to match his sisters' Easter dresses a few years ago. (He said it was "girly" and wouldn't wear it anyway.) I also stitched around the edges of all of the pages and it really makes them more crisp.

In hindsight, I wish I had made everything larger. The empty space bothers me. It was still a fun concept.

I can't really show you the front without showing the back... they sorta' go together.

I found this fun blue fabric that matches the front, except it has tiny white stars all over it. I embroidered a little face on the moon and I think it is adorable!

Since this one was going so far away I added a label with my initials and the year embroidered onto it. Also, if you look close you can see my stitches for the binding- I do it just like quilt binding and fold the ends over and tuck them in at the top and bottom.

I am getting a few more posts ready to go for next week or so, so keep checking back if you want to see the rest!

August 20, 2014

Rapunzel and Button Flowers Quiet Book Pages

August 20, 2014/ Lindsay

Something old. Something new.

Rapunzel and Button Flowers Quiet Book Page

I did a button flower page on Grace's book HERE, but the Rapunzel page is new. Naomi really likes princesses, but ironically hates having her own hair brushed. I just thought of that now. Um. Oh well.

I saw the tower Rapunzel page idea on Pinterest- several different versions I mushed together so no specific link. I used cotton yarn to make the hair and stitched it onto the background (a scrap of darker brown fused onto the blue backing.) Then, I fused the tower and the roof onto the page and used a zig zag stitch all the way around- especially the window.

I sewed a strip of green to the bottom to make some grass and add some dimension.

The tree makes a nice little storage pocket. I fused and zig zagged the trunk onto the edge, then made a treetop pocket to hold all of the little hair clips and some more ribbons.

The button flower page is just about the same as the last one, but I got lazy and skipped the leaves and only made three flowers.

They are still reversible.

So that wraps things up! I plan on making another quiet book very soon and I have some cute ideas for that one. Thanks for reading along and if you want to see the rest of the pages in the series you can click HERE.

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

August 18, 2014

Mermaid Friends Quiet Book Page

August 18, 2014/ Lindsay

This is the page where I got a little carried away.

Naomi really likes her fish tank (she calls plecostomus "grumpy fish") and when I came across this old, blue, swirly fabric I immediately though "ocean."

Of course, the tea-dyed muslin (a little off color in these pics) made great sand at the bottom. It also doubles as a little pocket.

There is where I got a little carried away. I got out the felt and started creating little ocean creatures and had way too much fun with it.

On the left side I made seaweed inspired by THIS tutorial (which is actually for forest animals in grass, but it works here, too.) The little sea animals can play in the seaweed made of bits of ribbon, ric rac, and dyed lace. That keeps in line with the theme of the rest of the book even if the bright sea creatures are way off. They are fun. I don't care.

I hand embroidered the faces on the jellyfish and starfish. Then, I machine stitched another layer on the back (with ric rac between them for the jellyfish.) The dolphin and purple sparkly fish were done by hand. The sequins were from some trim, but I ended up hand stitching most of them on anyway since it wanted to come apart.

On the right side we have a sunken ship with a little port hole for playing peek-a-boo and some more seaweed-ish stuff (ric rac and gathered satin ribbon) I added just cause it needed something.

The mermaids were just so cute that I ended up making three of them. They are completely hand stitched. I had some time to wait around on my husband in the car and added lots of details.

Just two more pages/one post to go!

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Off the Hook Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

August 13, 2014

Paper Dolls Quiet Book Page

August 13, 2014/ Lindsay

The paper doll page was also in Grace's quiet book. I love this paper doll fabric and it is my older girls' favorite page. I actually made these pages first and when I went to assemble the book I realized that some of the clothing was missing. They just would not leave it alone!

You can read more about how I made this page HERE.

It is inspired by THIS tutorial, but I find it easier to make a dresser pocket instead of an armoire. The girls had fun picking out these cute vintage buttons from the bag of vintage sewing goodies our friend Eddie gave me a few years ago. I have awesome friends.

OK, so maybe I like dressing up these dolls, too. Nerd alert!

Yes, this quiet book page has been done before, but it doesn't get old for me. I promise the next one is totally original and I think it is gonna' knock your socks off! Stay tuned...

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

August 11, 2014

Pie and Ice Cream Quiet Book Pages

August 11, 2014/ Lindsay

Let's start things off with a little bit of a food theme here, shall we? Yummm...

I made a pie page like this for Grace's quiet book and the "pie filling" is actually leftover fabric from an apron that I made for Naomi a few years ago. So, I had to make another one. It is super easy.

I thought the pink gingham was a little bit "tableclothy."

Whoops! I sewed the page on upside down. Oh well, it will still work just fine.

The ice cream page was actually the very last page I made for the book and was very last minute. Shocking, I know. I could NOT figure out what to make. My sister, Loni, talked me out of doing something with organic molecule building (my other sister and I are both chem majors.) Eventually I decided on ice cream, which is also appropriate since both of my sisters were Dairy Princesses and Naomi's parents have a dairy farm.

Plus, we love ice cream!

The ice cream carton is just a pocket that is stitched onto the background. Then, I made a white rectangle and stitched the top edge above the pocket to create a lid.

I made an ice cream cone out of a tea-dyed muslin scrap and stitched diagonal, crossing lines on it. There is a layer of tan felt behind there for some added thickness. I stitched a strip of white velcro- the fuzzy side to the background fabric and stitched the cone below that, just overlapping the bottom edge of the velcro a little.

For the ice cream scoops, I stitched some velcro squares to white felt, then used heat'n'bond to fuse scraps onto the other side of the felt. I stitched around the edge of the ice cream scoop template I drew and then trimmed 1/8" away from the edge the whole way around.