Car Seat Canopy

I didn't start sewing a lot until after our daughter was born.  One thing I would have liked when she was a baby was a car seat canopy.  They are so easy to make, so I decided to make one when baby #2 came along.  I found an awesome tutorial at Make It Do.  It was simple and easy.  I have loved the canopy... especially in this unusually wet spring we are having.

Bye Bye Paci

We had been wanting to get rid of our daughter's pacifier for a few months and finally decided to do it after the new year.  I heard from some friends that cutting the tip a little each day did the trick for their kids so I started there.  I cut it every day or so until it looked like this...

It didn't work!  Emme wouldn't let it go.  I heard of someone taking their child to Build A Bear and putting the pacifier in the bear.  I thought it was a great idea.  That way they would still "have" the pacifier, but they couldn't put it in their mouth.  I didn't want to spend any money, so I took some scrap fabric and made a heart pillow for the pacifier.   

Emme "helped" me stuff it, then I had her help me put the pacifier inside.  She understood it was inside the pillow.

She cried that night when I put her to bed, because she wanted me to take the pacifier out.  She was much better the next night and still sleeps holding the heart every once in a while.

MBASA Quiet Book Swap

I was part of a quiet book swap in the fall with the BYU MBASA (MBA Spouse Association).  My group made a "scripture" quiet book.  We each signed up to make one page.  It think there were 9 people (including me) in my group, so I made 9 of the same page.  When we were all done we swapped our extra 8 pages for the other ones in our group.  It was nice because I could buy my supplies in bulk for the 1 page.  I think they all turned out really cute!

Armor of God

Joseph and the coat of many colors

Liahona (the arrows spin)

Tithing

Noah's Ark

With animal matching card game

Lehi's Dream

Ammon and the Lamanites with removable sheep (my page)

Nephi's drought

I have sewn a few of the pages together, but want to add a couple more.  Emme loves to play with them in church on Sundays!

Poodle Skirt

Our family dressed up 50's style this year.  I picked 50's because I already had a skirt, I didn't have to buy anything for my husband, and a poodle skirt for an 18 month old was be inexpensive.  I didn't have a pattern for the skirt.  I looked at my skirt, decided how long I wanted it, and measured Emme's waist.  My mom sent me the pattern for my poodle skirt from when I was about 7 years old.  I used some of the instructions from that for the waist band.  I also used the pattern for the poodle.  I think the skirt turned out great!  The waist was a little big so I just used a safety pin to make it a little bit smaller.  It took a little while to figure out the pattern, but it was an easy project overall.

Tent

A friend posted this on a google group I read.  She got the idea here.  Emme LOVES hiding under things (especially our kitchen table) so I thought I would make it so she could have a real hiding place.  I used the instructions from the original blog, so I'm not going to write any details.  The only advice I would give is to make the holes for the poles bigger than the instructions.  I sewed a couple then realized the poles wouldn't fit.  It was a pain to undo, especially on such a big project.  I STILL have to drill holes in the poles so I can string then together.  I just haven't gotten around to borrowing a drill yet.  Here are some pictures.

Emme loves it!

Quiet Book

Here it is... the quiet book in all it's glory.  There are 2 post here, so don't miss the second one.  In this post I will tell where I got some of my ideas, how I put it together and how my client (Emme) likes it.  There are also pictures of how it looks put together in the book.  The second post has a breakdown of each page.  Here we go!

I did a lot of searching online for quiet book ideas.  I got the ideas for braiding, the purse, tic tac toe, the shoe and the puzzle at Crafty Chic.  I got the idea and pattern for the barn at Homemade By Jill.  I also got the pattern for the tree there too.  I got the idea for the balloons, tithing and dressing people from this blog.  This site sparked my idea for a seasons page.  How To Make A Quiet Book was great for help on what to do and what to buy.  I got the idea for the button flowers here.  It also sparked an idea for the envelope/ pencil holder on the tithing page, the alphabet page, and the number page.  There are a lot of neat blogs sited on the how to make a quiet book blog that were great for some standard ideas. 

I used muslin for the pages and cut them 10 X 12.  I sewed all the pieces onto the pages, then put iron on interfacing on the back of each page.  I cut the interfacing to be about 3/4 in. smaller on each side than the muslin.  Be sure that you leave enough room around the outside of the muslin page.  Also, don't forget to consider which side the grommets will be on for each page.  I forgot on a couple pages and had to punch holes in a couple pockets.  Luckily it turned out just fine.  I bought grommets from the fabric store... all I needed was a hammer.  They worked great.  

After I ironed on the interfacing I sewed the pages together with right sides facing each other.  I left a large gap on the side where the page would be bound.  I turned them all right side out and ironed them all.  When I ironed the pages I tucked the open ends inside so I could just sew them with the sewing machine instead of by hand.  It worked really well.  I highly recommend doing it that way.  Once they were all ironed I sewed around the boarder of each page to close the open gap and to reinforce the page.  After that I put in the grommets.  I used a pointy manicure scissors to cute the holes for the grommets and it worked really well.  

The cover is just regular cotton fabric I bought from the fabric store.  I also used interfacing on the cover so it would be the same consistency as the pages.  I sewed 6 button holes in the binding of the cover where the rings could slide through.  I had to go to an office store to buy the rings, but they are exactly what I wanted.  I have a couple boy page ideas that I would love to make someday if we ever have a boy, and I can just slide them in with the rings.

I really had a fun time making this book.  It was a lot of hard work, but I am so happy with the way it turned out!  I learned so much.  I learned a lot about sewing with felt.  I also learned a lot about my sewing machine.  I'm glad I was able to make this for Emme and our future children, but I'm also glad that I only have to do this one time!  

Emme LOVES the quiet book.  If she sees the book and it is just out of her reach she will almost throw a fit.  She loves to take off all the snap and velcro pieces.  She also LOVES the finger puppets and the purse (especially the bracelets).  I'm sorry this was so long!  Don't forget to read the next post!!!!!

Quiet Book - Page by Page

Here is a picture of each page of the quiet book with a description if needed.

Page #1: Button Flowers
I finally figured out how to work the button and button hole settings on my sewing machine!

Page #2: Zipper Jacket
This was my first experience with a zipper.  It works, but just don't look too close!

Page #3: Colors (Snap Balloons)
I used embroidery floss to make an outline of each balloon in the matching color.  I used ribbon for the strings.

Page #4: Shapes
I also used embroidery floss here to make an outline of each shape.

Page $5: Piggy Bank/ Tithing
The slot below will also hold a pen/ pencil and a small notebook.  I made 10 coins out of felt to take from the piggy bank and put in the tithing envelope.

Page #6: Purse
I saw this on another blog, but modified it to how I wanted it.  The flap snaps shut.  There are 4 bracelets and a felt lipstick inside.

Page #7: Braiding
This is self explanatory.  There are different colored elastics in the pocket.

Page #8: Seasons Storage
This page has 4 pockets that hold pieces for the 4 different seasons on the next page.

Page #9: Seasons
Spring: Spring Leaves and a Spring Flower (the grass and sun are removable as well)

Summer: Full Summer Leaves and an American Flag

Fall: Fall Leaves and a Pumpkin

Winter: Snow Cloud, Snowman and Snowy Ground

Other weather: Gray Cloud, White Cloud, Rain Cloud

Page #10: Barn
The doors open to show a cow, a pig and a chicken in a little pocket.

The animals are finger puppets.

Page #11: Dressing People
The pocket below holds their clothes (which I still have to make!)

Page #12: Tic Tac Toe
There is an extra velcro strip to hold the pieces below.

Page #13: Shoe Lace

Page #14: Numbers/ Fruit & Vegetables
These pages were a lot of work, but I love how they turned out.
Numbers: 1 Banana, 2 Carrots, 3 Pineapples, 4 Pears, 5 Apples and 6 Strawberries.

Page #15: Numbers/ Fruit & Vegetables
Numbers: 7 Oranges, 8 Potatoes, 9 Peas and 10 Grapes.

Page #16: Alphabet Storage

Page #17: Alphabet
This page has 4 strips of velcro where you can spell words with the letters held in the pocket on the previous page.  (I only made the letters for Emme's name so far, but will make more in the future.)

Page #18: Puzzle Storage Page
This page has 3 pockets which store 3 different felt puzzles.

Page #19: Puzzle Page
This page has a space to assemble the 3 different puzzles.

Salt Lake Temple Puzzle:

Heart Puzzle:

Noah's Ark Puzzle:

Page #20: Clock
The hands on the clock have button holes.  The are held on by the button, which allows them to spin.

There you have it... all 20 pages of my quiet book.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I would also love to see other people's quiet books.  I am still open to new fun ideas.