The Quiet Book - The Barn Page

I have the barn page completed! I really like how it came out! I did have a few hiccups*** along the way but I worked them out. :) Here's the finished page:

Barn doors closed

Barn doors open and the piggy is loose!

So the piggy, cow (who does resemble a dog more so than a  cow ) and the chick are all finger puppets! and the 'gate' area behind the barn doors is a pocket for the puppets. 

I am unsure what I will have on the facing page, as this is the only page I have done that does not have a matching facing page. Maybe i'll put a pond with fish and ducks? Or maybe some hay and a horse?!**

Hmmmm we will have to see what develops.....

*** HICCUPS: Yes, I mentioned the hiccups above... ok, so see the red SILK that adorns the pretty barn doors? The fabric came from the $1.99 scrap bag I got from Lorraine's Fabrics and did you all know
 - you should NOT steam iron silk?!  

Now, I must add here that I only just recently bought an iron. I did not own an iron nor do I use my current iron for anything besides projects. Wrinkly clothes? Into the dryer for 10 minutes. Still wrinkled? Don't wear 'em!

I know, I know... soooo very lazy. BUT i'm not lugging out an ironing board, heating up the iron, worrying about burning myself (which I have done twice already, once pretty bad) or the kids or the pets, ironing the wrinkly item, then cooling off the iron and packing it all back up and putting it away. I just don't see the enjoyment in that! :)

Anywho, back to the hiccup - so, the last setting I used on my non-clothing iron is the steam one to attach Pellon or interfacing to the dress-up page so the little people aren't all naked. I used that to iron the Barn page and part of the silk turned a deep dark red! 

Yes, your right... it burned. lol

So I thought, well I can take it all apart and start over OR I can burn it all! <insert evil laugh here> so it is now all burnt but I do love the way it came out. So it's not the bright red barn I imagined but a kind of a burnt sienna one! hahahaha.....

Then I had the issue of how to attach the doors, as they are on the thick side, and how to assemble the pocket, but I worked all that out without too much trouble. :)


This adorable template for the barn and finger puppets came from homemade by jill who has an amazing array of tutorials! Her projects are perfect! and beautiful! Check them out here! Thank Jill!!!




 **Hey LIZ!  I know you can draw horses... wanna make a felt horse?!**

The Quiet Book - The Dress Up Page, TAKE TWO

So I have decided to start over with the dress up page. I wanted the ability to dress up a boy or a girl and I tried to make hair for both but the hair is so little and thin that it will defiantly fall apart quickly with the pull of the Velcro and I would be remaking it over and over again.

So I have decided to make this page TWO pages that will face each other in the finished (cough, cough!) book. Looking something, sorta, like this:

Can you see the problems?

The poor girl has no neck at all and seems to have her head permanently kinked to one side and the boy has the same tilt to his head so they must be related, right? *sigh* 

And... the clothes, while cutsie, are thin and will have the same issue I was worried about with the hair on the original page. *sigh*

Hmmmm... to start over or not to start over... THAT is the question.....

Not to mention HOW to get the Velcro to not only stay on but if I use sew on Velcro, HOW do I hide the stitching??!! 

Ummm.. help? Someone? Anyone? 
How is this done??!!! 

I see another few hours trolling blogs and you tube tutorials in my immediate future... good by nap-time! 

The Quiet Book - The Dress Up Page

I spent almost ALL DAY yesterday trying and trying and trying to sew the cover for my quiet book. I thought that would be a great first place to start, right?
WRONG!
I ended up with TWO covers I can't use and not enough of my cover fabric leftover to make a third attempt! This was sad and frustrating. I had a lot of trouble with the bias tape (ha! that's a sewing term I just learned!)
I think the tape I picked was a bit too thin, and I kept missing the other side no matter how carefully I pressed and pinned it. *sigh*
I did find two interesting videos on You Tube on how to sew it and how the HECK to get the corners right although I don't think I can do both the techniques at the same time so I am still stuck on the tame and am unsure of how to get the edges right without buying double the fabric and sewing them like a pillowcase.
*double sigh*

BUT THEN..... I decided to try my VeRy FiRsT PaGe!!!
and LOOK:

A few little snags, but not too shabby!!!

Clothes to go into the 'bureau' 

I am unsure how to cut out the hair - i'd like to make it so the figure can either be a girl or a boy depending on hair and clothes. Any suggestions or patterns?

I am THRILLED that the page was so much easier to work on than the cover!!!
Maybe i'll just leave the cover until last! :)

The template for the person and the clothes came from here:
Serving Pink Lemonade 
Thanks Jeanine and Amy!!!

The template was modified from Stephanie's Treasure Chest at
Imagine Our Life
Thanks Stephanie!!!

The Quiet Book - Prep

In preparation for my upcoming massive project, I've decided to be as organized as possible for it!  

So... I have gone from this:

Messy, knotted and time consuming mess!




To THIS:

Yeaaaaa me!





****************************************************************************

The other day, I took a trip to my neighborhood fabric store (haha - it's only a 40 minute drive!) and discovered SCRAP BAGS!!!!! They offer these big bags of scraps for $1.99 for the whole bag!!! The bag was about the size of my toddler! 

Insert name of blog here and remember that I don't have scraps of anything left over from other projects because until recently, I didn't DO projects. So needless to say, I was quite thrilled and my little one and I had a ball going through all the scraps in our bag! 

He was waddling around the house with his arms out humming like this - very cute!
hmmm... does he look a little like Snow White here? Aren't those her colors?!

He kept trying to get the piece of pink silk to stay on his head - haha!

So I now have a great little pile of scrap materials for my quiet book project! AND I finally went through the bottom of my Mom's sewing basket - OH MY GOODNESS! There was sooo much STUFF in there!!! haha! I guess I should have done that BEFORE I went tot the fabric store and bought new needles! Oh well, I've an excuse to go back now!  hehe!

The Quiet Book - The first purchase!

Today, I bought the unbleached muslin!

I can't believe i'm really going to attempt this massive endeavor! :)

I also found these cute little buttons that i'm going to incorporate somehow. 
They remind me of The Providence Children's Museum's kitchen area, or at least the way it was when the museum was in Pawtucket and I was really little. 

Too cute!

I checked out Walmart and Michael's today for buttons, beads, snaps and the like but didn't quite find what I was looking for so i'm going to spend my youngest's nap time looking online, wish me luck! :)

The Quiet Book - So far, Just an Idea.

Ok, here it is! The reason I started this blog!
This is going to be a HUGE MASSIVE project for me!
I can't even believe i'm attempting it!
I get that wiggly feeling every time I even look at ideas for pages!!!

*Deep Breath*

HERE is the pin that introduced me to this concept of a Quiet Book, which I had never heard of before.
It originates from Tidbits !
Cami - I can't think you enough! your book is great!!!! I hope mine comes out one quarter as amazing as yours did!!!

Ok people, go look at the pin!

Right now!

I'll wait......

Dee de dummm... de dahhh da da... Lah dee doo da dooo da deee........

Amazing, huh?!?!?!

Here are some of the pages I hope to make and where the ideas came from:

Farmer's Market Page from: Imagine Our Life 
Stephanie - Your talent is amazing!!!!

Seasons Page from: Dabbler Has A Baby
Great work Drew!!!!!

Family Page from: Dabbler Has A Baby

Mailbox Page from: Imagine Our Life   

Sock Matching Page from: Imagine Our Life   

Teeth Brushing Page from: Imagine Our Life   

Astronaut Page from: Imagine Our Life

Time & Shape page from Tiffany's Book

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me! I think I will get the materials for the cover and then attempt one page at a time. slowly.

Any suggestions? I could use all the advise possible!