I had so much fun making this quiet book for Jon's first birthday. Everything was really easy... it just took a long time to do it! But I think taking time for the details was worth it. I love how it turned out. However, now that I've done it, I can think of lots of things I could have done better!
THE COVER
I wanted the book to always be Jon's book, so I did simple embroidery on the inside cover to mark his territory.
PAGE 1
You can tell that page one was a design by Brooklin... not as creative as my stolen patterns. But there HAD to be a page with sports in a Healy book!
The letters of his name can be buttoned off and on; the balls each come off and on with Velcro
PAGE TWO
The tree was the most time consuming, but I love how it turned out. There are five birds singing good morning that he can take on and off... so far we still have all five tiny birds!!
PAGE THREE
The flower garden turned out pretty girly-- sorry Jon! But he really likes grabbing the buds and twisting them around the buttons.
PAGE FOUR
I love how the spaceship page turned out! Obviously I stole this pattern...
PAGE FIVE
What would a quiet book be without a page all about colors and shapes? Each shape comes off via Velcro and the shape is embroidered on the page in the matching color. Someday he'll be able to match them back up!
PAGE SIX
Fun at the farm..
The barn doors open and three finger puppets are inside, ready to play!
PAGE SEVEN
The mailbox was fun-- inside is a letter from Mom and Dad. Again... the flowers are so girly, but the buttons add texture to the page that Jon enjoys. And the flag for the mailbox can be buttoned off and on or twisted up or down. The grass is sewn to the page at the base, but then is free to be man-handled.
PAGE EIGHT
The last page was a little way of saying good-night. The stars in the night sky are just 'Xs' embroidered with silver thread. The window flaps lift up to show to friendly bears on their camp out.
Unzipping the tent only reveals the 'good night' wish. I wanted to add a fire like the example I had, but my page was too small and Brian disagreed that I could put the fire inside the tent.... so no fire for these bears!
The inside of the back cover is done with simple embroidery, wishing Jon a happy first birthday from Mom and Dad. But let's face it... did Dad pour any sweat and tears into this book? ;)
MY BASICS
*My finished book measures 8x8 inches. When I cut all my pages I used a 9x9 pattern on folded muslin... laid flat it was 9x18 inches. Mentally 'cutting' it in half, I made two pages on the piece... make sense? Just make sure you allow for your seams on the outer sides. After my canvases were ready, I sewed two large pieces together (right sides together, then turned right side out). I wound up with two sheets with four front to back pages that I sewed to the 'binding' of my cover. If those instructions are confusing... check out Modest Maven's site- her instructions are better than mine!
*My pages are made from white muslin-- I used interfacing to keep them sturdy.
*The cover is lined with interfacing on the inside and batting on the outside-- I added ribbons to tie the book closed.
*All my book pieces were made from felt.
*Any pieces that come off are double-felt- two pieces stitched together so they are sturdy
*I used only buttons or Velcro to attach pieces. If I had more time to learn to attach snaps I would have loved to have some of those!
*I used the blanket stitch on almost every edge of felt-- very easy and cute
*I used very simple embroidery to 'write' on the pages
RESOURCES
Of course I didn't come up with all of this myself!
The bulk of my inspiration came from Homemade by Jill. Her ideas are awesome! She provides a few page patterns at her blog. They are for a 12x12 book. I had to scale the patterns down accordingly.
Other sources of inspiration:
Quiet Book Blog
Modest Maven
Naptime Journal
Crafty Chic
