Thursday, April 30, 2015

Paula's Quiet Book

Today's quiet book is so cute and it looks so fun to play with. Made by Paula for her two children, this book has lots of great activities for children to play with. Even the cover has an activity - a mailbox with a flag that goes up and down, and that opens to show letters inside that can be taken out. The cover also has a buckle to keep the pages shut, which is a smart way to keep everything together.

Paula says that her favorite page is her fridge and place setting, and I have to say, I love that page too. Her refrigerator design is so clever, cute, and easy. The food (sandwich materials) that go inside are adorable, and make me want to put together a felt sandwich right now. It looks so fun! I also like her barn and farm page, and like how she combined the apple tree and farm pages from the original template. I think it's a definite improvement, and looks really cute. Her cute music pages finish off the book, both of which are unique and fun!



Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Paula and I am a full time working mother of 2 children.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made the quite book for my almost 5-year-old son and almost 2-year-old daughter. I wasn’t sure if I could commit to making two books so I had to try to make it appropriate for both of my children.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
Beginner / Intermediate. I have always been into crafts but only really been interested in sewing for the past 6 months.

How long did it take you?
3 weeks. 2 to 4 hours a day on most days.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I used mostly templates and inspiration from this blog (The Quiet Book Blog) and Pinterest.
Mailbox on the cover: Template - Imagine Our Life: Mailbox & Letters Quiet Book Page.
Refrigerator and Place Setting: Inspiration from: Sabrina’s Quite Book
Mr. Potato Head, Farm, Tree, and Lady Bug: Templates from Jocelyn's Quiet Book
Shapes and Music Pages: Inspiration from Pinterest but my own templates.

How did you bind your quiet book? 
Sewed it on the sewing machine.

What material are the pages made out of? 
The book was made from cotton and batting on each page. For most pages there is a full sheet of felt sewed to the cotton and batting backing.

What other materials did you use? 
A buckle to close the book, snaps, and velcro.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
About $40 to $50 but I have a lot of supplies left over.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I like the refrigerator and place setting with sandwich. I think that is one of the pages that I can add to as I think of different things.

Paula, thank you so much for sharing your awesome quiet book 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!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Clara's Quiet Book

Today's post is special because we've never had a quiet book presented like this before. Clara from the blog Claras Nahkiste, instead of taking pictures of her quiet book, has made this video where she walks through the book and shows all of the interactive things that it does.

Clara's quiet book is huge and awesome. She has so many pages, and all of them look so fun to play with. Her video shows a clever cover and binding rings, a dress up page full of little clothes, a name page with moveable letters, a laundry page with socks that can go in a washing machine, an "I Spy" page with a removable bag full of things to find, a fruit-picking tree page (with multiple kinds of fruits and baskets, a weather and flower page,  a farm page (with adorable finger puppets - sooo cute), an igloo page with ice building blocks and snow characters, a car page with a big map of the town, an elephant with a tail you can braid, a camping page with a zipper tent, a clock page with moveable hands, and a mailbox with letters inside. Each page has more detail than I've summed up here, that's shown in the video. 

This book would be such a treasure to have as a child!



Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Clara, I'm 23 and I'm a crazy, sewing, Berlin teacher-to-be.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
 I made this book for my niece and godchild Sophie for her third birthday.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
I sew for more than three years now and I think I'm advanced.

How long did it take you?
I sew it over three weeks, in my semester break, all in all it took 66 hours.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I used some templates from this blog and many inspirations from Pinterest.

What material are the pages made out of? 
They all are made of cotton fabric in different colors, many details are made out of felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Felt, as mentioned and something that's called Vliesofix in Germany. It's used to make appliqués.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
Because I bought nearly no fabric, the costs were small. I think about 30€.
  
What's your favorite page? Why?
My favourite page is definitely the car-page. I love, that the lights of the car can flash and that my niece can visit her grandmothers or grandfathers house. It's also the page, she likes most :)

To see Clara's quiet book on her own blog with some pictures and explanation of the book, click here: Claras Nahkiste: Quietbook Zum 3. Geburtstag.

Clara, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful quiet book 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!

Friday, April 3, 2015

Džiuginta's "Treasure Island" Quiet Book

I am so excited about the incredibly cute "Treasure Island" quiet book that I get to share with you today. Made by Džiuginta of the blog Domus Feltinis, this detailed book includes a pirate ship cover (complete with light-up lighthouse), a pirate finger puppet, a treasure chest with a lock and filled with treasure, a parrot, a crab, a Jolly Roger pirate flag, seashells on the beach, a treasure map, a letter in a bottle, and a rings and crosses tic-tac-toe. It's incredible. Each page has so much to do and so much to play with.

I love the decorative details on each page, too - especially the rick rack waves and the little seashells sewn to the page. (LOVE the seashells.) I also thought Džiuginta's way of lighting up the lighthouse was very clever - she put a tiny push flashlight (the kind that go on key rings) inside.

Please, enjoy Džiuginta's quiet book and also the rest of the cute crafts on her blog!


Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Džiuginta. I am a big dreamer from Lithuania, obsessed with felt crafts!

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made this quiet book for my 3-year-old son.

What's your level of sewing experience? 
I'd say intermediate but I only hand-sew.

How long did it take you?
I am not sure how many hours it took but I worked on it for about a month - one full weekend and whenever I had a couple of hours to spare.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I used Treasure and Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe templates from the Imagine Our Life blog and some coloring pages as an inspiration for the lighthouse and the ship. The Pirate finger puppet was inspired by a Pirate zombie from the Zombie Felties book. I added some details like the removable crab and parrot for which I made templates myself according to some pictures found on the Internet.

Imagine Our Life: Treasure Quiet Book Page
Imagine Our Life: Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

How did you bind your quiet book? 
The pages are stitched together by hand.

What material are the pages made out of? 
The pages are made out of synthetic felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Miniature sea shells, buttons, sequins, ribbons, a zipper, a miniature pocket torch, snaps, a lock, various beads and embellishments...

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
I have no idea, maybe around $20...

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I love the whole book but the front page must be my favorite as I created it from scratch.

To view Džiuginta's treasure quiet book on her own blog with more explanations of each page, click here: Domus Feltinis: Treasure Island Quiet Book. Džiuginta, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful quiet book 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!