Christmas Aprons!

Using a pattern, fabric, thread, and bias tape that I already had on hand, yesterday I whipped up Christmas aprons for Ian, Mila, and Lukas.

 This fabric looks black in the photo, but it's really dark brown. Lukie got this one.

 Mila wanted this one when she learned that it had sparkles (glitter) on it.

 Ian really wanted the penguins.

 I think they turned out very well.

 Purple frosting on a horse cookie. (She asked me to make horses when I asked what shape to use.)

 Ian wanted gingerbread men cookies, so I made five of those for him.

 Oh, dear! It looks like Lukie's nose is running but that's really frosting on his face.

Ian's Birthday Pillowcase

Bright yellow for Ian!

It is hard to find birthday fabric that isn't girly-girl. I think he'll like this.

Ian Opens His Quiet Book

This is the "big moment" for me - the time when a child or grandchild opens their quiet book and sees the pages for the very first time. So much time, effort, thought, and love go into the book, and I hopehopehope my gift is liked...

Last Sunday Ian opened his with help from his mom and dad.

What is this? He reaches into the bag...

...and pulls out the pillow that is made from leftover cover fabric. (I always make a pillow.)

Awwww! It's so soft!

Then Ian grabs the book and draws it out of the bag.

Curt pulls his son onto his lap and they begin to look at each page.

At this point I am holding my breath, hoping the family will like my gift.

Ian absolutely LOVED the stoplight.

He figured out right away how to pull off the lights. Mom and Dad show him how to reattach them. (Velcro makes it easy for little fingers.)

Ian also liked the turtle and pulled its head waaaaay out. It's attached with elastic and quite stretchy.

Curt exclaimed over the Caps for Sale page, just as I'd hoped he would.

Opening the tipi by using the zipper.

Looking at the five monsters on the counting page. (I thought they were pretty cute, but I had a hard time finding five different ones!)

The look on Curt's face makes all that time and work worthwhile.

Pulling the jack o' lantern's other face pieces out of the pumpkin.

The shoelaces for the football's lacing arrived the day after Ian opened his book.

I love this dinosaur page. Since I designed it myself, I was pretty anxious to see if Ian and crew liked it.

They did! And they opened his mouth immediately to discover what the dino had been nibbling.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stickers!! Curt loves the Ninja Turtles, and I thought the stickers would be something quiet that Ian could play with in church.

Success!! They like it!

Ian's Quiet Book

Poor Ian! The last born of the quads, and the only one who lives locally, ended up having to wait two months after his first birthday to get his quiet book! I just couldn't get it done, what with the end of school and all.

But it's done now!  Curt and Vanessa requested dinosaurs in the book - a challenge since I had no patterns for pages with those at all.

 But, the cover fabric could have dinos! It is a soft flannel - orange, of course.

The first page is modified from one I usually do as the last page.

 And it reflects Ian's parents' Illinois and Purdue heritages. (I got the appliqués from Amazon.)

Curt had this stop light in his quiet book.

 He asked that I include it in his son's.

The turtle, too, although I changed it up by moving the hole in the shell up higher so the turtle's neck (which is on elastic) would fit more easily.

 I also drew the cattails in the back and added a frog on a lily pad for interest.

The book Caps for Sale is a family favorite, and I found this flannel board tree and man with caps online on a teachers' supply site.

 I didn't like the monkeys it came with, so I used others I got at the fabric store. Curt was very excited when he saw this page.

Another tradition is the "Where did the Indian hide?" page.

Mine is a little more politically correct (Where did the little boy hide?") and was made from Illini-orange fabric. My mother drew the native figures and I copied them onto the tipi.

This page takes FOREVER to do, but it is fast becoming one of my favorites.

 And, I was able to get a dinosaur on it, too!

Another favorite from Curt's own quiet book.

The addition of the two little chicks improves this page - maybe I'll draw some sand or grass under them next time I make it.

Since Ian LOVES my Wiggles Guitar, and The Wiggles are from Australia, it was only fitting that this page, with a kangaroo from Australia, be included.

 I wish I had included a reference to The Wiggles, but I had added the text before I had the idea.

Here's a perennial favorite - the flowers in a vase.

 I think this page is in every quiet book I have ever made! It was my mother's idea to have the dashes denoting the flight path of the bees. Love that touch.

I have only done the football/lacing page once, maybe twice. Kyle advised me to make it LOOK like a football (the one in his book is just plain brown and doesn't look much like a football aside from the shape.)

 I'm pleased with how this turned out, and I bought some long shoelaces for the lacing.

Finally, what just may be my favorite page of all! Modified from the whale with the zipper for a mouth, I drew a dinosaur instead of a whale.

I'm not an artist, but I am very pleased with how it turned out. And I love the "teeth" effect that the pinking shears gave the T-rex's mouth!