We’ve been practicing drinking from open-top cups in the bathtub where he can spill all he wants. But, silly baby decided it’s easier to drink straight from the tap!
Jax currently uses straw sippy cups. He’s still fond of dumping liquids at the first chance he gets. How did you transition your toddler to regular cups?
It’s only Tuesday?? Well, at least Monday is over! I have another quiet book page cut out, but I still need to sew it tonight. Hopefully I can have it ready to post tomorrow.
Here are some links I’ve come across recently:
Happy Tuesday!
Welcome to Antarctica! This is the next quiet book page for Jax’s book! As you can see, I’ve finally started sewing some actual book pages. It is a bit labor-intensive, so I only have 2 double-sided pages done so far. I decided to be thrifty and use plain white fleece with some batting inside and 2 grommets per page. I’d considered using themed fabrics that matched each page, but the cost would be too high.
The page features a stuffed penguin who comes out of his igloo attached to a ribbon. You can pull the ribbon to make him go back into his igloo. A furry baby seal is smiling by a frozen pool. You can see two constellations in the sky (Not accurately placed, I know. But, penguins don’t live in igloos either!)
My materials were: a 9″ white felt square (if your pages are a different size, adjust the white hill and purple sky pieces to match your page width), purple felt for the sky, felt (in white, sky blue, black and yellow), clear vinyl, white fur (I used this), batting/stuffing, white ribbon, star sequins and floss/thread to match.
I started with my white square and used the water shape to cut a hole for the pool. then I layered some clear vinyl over light blue felt and put those behind the opening (I made my light blue cover the page from the hills down so it made the white ground slightly blue.) Using a machine, I stitched all the way around the pool.
The only other thing I did on the machine (beside sew the actual book page) is stitch white-on-white guides for all the lines on the igloo. That made it easier for me to hand-embroider straight lines to show the ice blocks. I used all 6 strands of light blue embroidery floss (I usually use 2 strands for everything.) When all the igloo embroidery was done, I sewed the felt backing piece on to hide the back of the stitching. I then sewed a rectangle of purple to the top of the page to create a night sky, then layered the white, snowy hills on top.
To make Mr Penguin, I made a French knot in brown on each of the white pieces for his eyes. I then sewed the two pieces together with some batting and his feet to make a little naked penguin. I made sure one end of a white ribbon was coming out of his back. I folded the beak over his nose and sewed that on. I layered the two halves of his black “suit” over his back and stitched them on. The last step was sewing the tops of his flippers onto each side. To make a little pull tab for his ribbon, I sandwiched the other end of it between two felt circles and decorated it with star sequins. You could just embroider a star or snowflake.
I cut the baby seal out of white fur then shook off any loose hairs. I gave him a little haircut to help show of his shape and shorten his face fur. His face has a satin stitch nose, straight stitch smile and eyes made from one straight stitch in the outer corner and a French knot. To make whiskers, I knotted a few strands of thread behind his cheeks then again in the front, then cut it to size. I stitched baby seal directly to the pool.
To make the slider ribbon, I took a long piece of scrap felt and cut it to the width of my igloo. (The picture shows my igloo before I sewed the backing piece on. I ended up moving my strip to the halfway point of the igloo, so it ended up a little shorter than shown.) Pin your ribbon to the page (no pins where the felt tube will be!) then sew the strip of felt like a tube over top of it. Remove the pins then sew your igloo in place. I sewed from the top of the door to where the ribbon comes out of the back, then sewed from below that ribobon opening to halfway across the bottom. This left a flap of igloo that can lift up to let Mr Penguin in and out easier.
I decorated my night sky with star sequins, some of which I sewing into southern hemisphere constellations. You can copy the placement of mine from my photos, or even design your own (your baby’s name, perhaps?) If you aren’t comfortable using sequins, you could use felt or just embroider stars.
What do you think of it?
For more free quiet book patterns, go here! If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. I really would love to see your version!
When I visited my dad’s house over the summer, I grabbed some of my childhood books from the basement. One of my favorites as a child was Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever!
After opening it again so many years later, I found it hilarious that it wasn’t really my book: I’d crossed out my brother’s name and written my own in crayon! Hah!
Many of the stories and scenes I remembered, but others I didn’t. A notable one I don’t recall shocked me a bit. It was about a bear who was good at hunting and because of that earned himself a happy family. I couldn’t figure out any other morals to that story. It ends with them wearing coats they made out of a seal he killed. Yikes!
I loved any scene that showed the inside of a house/building/nest. I also liked the pages that would label all kinds of foods, clothes, or toys.
Do you have any books from your childhood? Are you sharing them with your children?
Leave a comment if write a Sunday Souvenir and you’d like your link to be added!
Check out Ronalyn’s post at The Adventures of Esa and Zed
Here’s the next quiet book page for Jax’s book! I knew I wanted to do a tree and owl page, but it wasn’t going to be the next one I made. When Amazon happened to suggest this Skip Hop Treetop Friends Soft Activity Book
The page features a stuffed owl who lives in the tree trunk pocket. He is attached by ribbon so he doesn’t get lost. In the tree under a flap, lives a little bluebird in a nest.
This page was 100% hand-sewn. You could use a sewing machine. It is easier for me to hand-sew while watching and playing with Jax. I also didn’t want to buy spools of thread in all those colors. I already had matching embroidery floss. Here is my material list: a 9″ square of light blue felt, felt in lime green, green, light brown, dark brown, orange, red, yellow,aqua, purple and white, batting/stuffing and green ribbon. (The owl was done in felt: olive, natural, purple and aqua. His feathers are light aqua ric-rac. I used googly eyes instead of felt for the eyes.)
I started with a light blue 9″ square. If your page is a different size, you’ll need to adjust the lime treetop and the green grass – both go to the edges of the page. I stitched down the grass and the treetop first. Then I layered the tree trunk over the dark brown (stitching the other end of the owl’s ribbon down) and stitched all around the whole trunk. For the hole, I only stitched down the upper 1/3.
I sewed down the toadstool stems next. The polka dots were stitched onto the caps, then the caps sewn down with some batting for dimension. The little bird’s wing was only sewn on where it attaches to his body. His eye is a French knot and his beak was satin stitched. I sewed down the nest with helter skelter straight stitches then sewed the bird into his new home.
The leaves were all attached by doing a running stitch down the center for about 1/3 – 1/2 of the length so they stick off the page a bit. On the tree flap, I sewed the two leaves to the front piece, then sewed front to back with a loop of ribbon. The final step was to sew the flap on. I didn’t sew around the edges of the page because it will be machine-sewn to the fabric book page eventually.
For more free quiet book patterns, go here! If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. I really would love to see your version!
Today is the first day that feels cool and crisp like fall here. Children are back in school and I’ve been inspired by a recent trend in nursery decor with a vintage/retro schoolhouse feel.
Wooden School Bus
This afternoon I’ll be posting my next quiet book page and pattern – a sweet forest scene! Happy Friday!
We were delayed in doing Jax’s monthly painting. First there was a hurricane which soaked the ground, then flooding in the area from heavy rains. We had a tiny window of one afternoon where the ground was finally dry (my knees actually still got wet!) before more storms rolled through.
Jax seemed to understand that we were going to paint when I told him he was going to “dip dip and paint!” When I handed him the paintbrush he dunked it in the paint right away and started putting it on the canvas. I let him choose the paint bottles, but I vetoed the burnt umber. I have to keep the colors similar because he blobs them on so thick and smears it around. Brown would just turn it all into a big mess.
When he was all done, he accidentally stuck his hand in a paint plate and laughed. I showed him he could finger paint, so he added a bit more color that way. Once I paint the edges, we’ll add it to his gallery. I need to create a second section and fill all the frames with some of the pictures he’s been coloring lately.
I know we are going to cherish all these canvas paintings as he grows up. Do you have any childhood artwork you cherish?
How is your week going? It feels like it should be later in the week than Wednesday by now! Besides work and toddler-wrangling, I am starting another quiet book page.
Here are some links that caught my eye…
You may have seen the Summer Fun Lists that have been around for a while. But, I’m way more into autumn! When September rolls around, I start to get excited about all the fun fall activities we can do. It’s going to be extra fun now that Jax is getting old enough to participate too!
So, Jax and I created our first Autumn Fun List! Hopefully we’ll make it through everything on our list (and more!) before winter arrives. I borrowed Jax’s chalkboard to write up the list, but I know it won’t last up there. I took pictures so we can check things off in Photoshop, heh.
What are you excited about this autumn? We may add some more ideas to our list…
Jax now has a reading corner in his playroom! My husband hung the two Ikea picture rails we recently bought. There is plenty of room to add a couple more above for even more storage later on. Jax can either have his P’Kolino Little Reader Chair
I really love how the books look forward-facing on the wall! He loves to pick out his favorites and bring them to us to read. He says “Buh! Ree!” *signing please* Awww!
What’s a quiet book? It’s a (generally handmade) fabric book full of learning activities. It’s meant to be played with in situations that require children to be still and quiet, like plane rides, church, waiting rooms, etc… They take a lot of time, love and effort to make, but the end result is a cherished family heirloom!
Page 5 in Jax’s quiet book is in honor of our love for Starbucks. Being a work-from-home mom, I only talk to my coworkers by phone and IM. If I have no errands to run, I can go days without seeing an adult besides my husband. So our local Starbucks became a place to take a break and interact with others. It became a beloved routine for baby and I, and he loves all of his “girlfriend” baristas and sharing (or not sharing!) pumpkin bread with me.
This page has features the numbers 1 – 3, as Jax has started counting along with me. Three is his favorite number to say. It also practices manual dexterity. For number 1, you can pull the one tea bag out of the cup and unsnap it from the page. For number 2, you can lift the cup sleeve to find the two coffee beans. For number 3, you can pull down the whipped cream to find 3 strawberries and pull them off the velcro.
My materials were: a brown felt square background, felt (white, green, pink, light brown, brown, cream and red), matching embroidery floss (plus mustard yellow for strawberry seeds), white machine thread, clear vinyl, white double ruffle ribbon, green satin ribbon, batting, a snap and red velcro.
To make the strawberries, I stitched tiny yellow seeds on each piece. I took 4″ of green ribbon and folded it into 4 loops. I made a stitch at the bottom then fanned it out. That got layered with batting into the two sides of each strawberry (one side with velcro) that I stitched together with a blanket stitch.
I stitched the stars on to the green circles, then stitched circle 1 on to the first cup, circle two onto a sleeve piece and circle three onto the pink frapaccino piece. To finish cup 1, I stitched the lid on then machine-sewed three sides down onto the background, leaving the top open to make a pocket. For cup 2, I blanket stitched the two sides of the sleeve together with a little loop of green ribbon to help Jax spot the flap. I stitched the two coffee beans down onto the cup. I machine-sewed the lid on then the cup down onto the background and the top of the sleeve flap in place. For cup 3, I machine sewed the pink cup and clear vinyl down onto the background. I folded the double ruffle ribbon lengthwise as I hand stitched it in swirls to one of the whipped cream felt pieces. When that was done, I stitched the backing on and added a ribbon loop straw. I sewed the bottom of the whipped cream on to the cup with the machine.
The tea bag was hand-stitched with a slightly smaller piece of batting and a piece of white satin cord layered in. On the other end of the cord I sewed the two halves of the tag, one side with a snap. The other part of the snap went on the page above the first cup. I finished up by putting red velcro down under the whipped cream to hold the strawberries. I’ll be adding some brown string to the strawberries so they don’t get lost on the plane.
I’m pretty much in love with this page, and Jax is too. He adores the tiny strawberries and wants to clutch them in his little hands. he lifts the flaps and says “boo!” I think he’ll enjoy playing with it when the book it all sewn together.
For more free quiet book patterns, go here! If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. I really would love to see your version!
Amazon has some free kids MP3s
