Kate and Mila's Easter Pillowcases

Easter comes just two weeks after St. Patrick's Day and sort of snuck up on me. Today I quickly stitched up Mila and Kate's Easter pillowcases.

The yellow one with chicks is for Mila and the purple with bunnies is for Kate. The blue one is for Anna, my student teacher's daughter.

Mila and Kate's St. Patrick's Day Pillowcases

It's still February, but the St. Patrick's Day pillowcases are done!

The top one is for Kate, the middle one for Mila, and then the bottom is for Anna, my student teacher's daughter.

Mila and Kate's Valentine Pillowcases.

We had a surprise snow day Tuesday, although it was really for ice, not snow. No local or regional forecasts predicted the sleet and freezing rain that we received, and so none of the roads had any applications of beet juice, sand, or salt in preparation. The roads quickly became very, very slick, and so almost all area schools canceled classes for the day.

Including mine. And let's be honest - what teacher doesn't love a snow day? An unexpected opportunity to sleep in a bit, read a good book, catch up on a few chores? I'll take it, and today I chose to make my snow day a "sew day."

I sewed Valentine pillowcases for Mila and Kate, both of whom turn two this year and so will be getting their holiday pillowcase sets. (I also worked ahead and made Mila's St. Patrick's Day one, too.)

Each pillowcase takes about twenty minutes to make.

And I tag them with orange postits so I know which one goes to who (I don't want to use the same fabric that I used for one of their siblings.)

The Valentine ones are done and just one more St. Patrick's Day to make for Kate. I am also beginning her quiet book, so stay tuned!

Titan's Birthday Pillowcase

Jessica selected this fabric for Titan's birthday pillowcase.

She said she wanted it because it was colorful. I think he will like it!

Mila's Quiet Book

Mila's quiet book is done! I am very pleased with how it turned out.

 I got some new yellow terry cloth for the lamb.

I had the cutest ghost appliqué for this, but I dropped it and lost it. I looked for twenty minutes and could not find it. Craig came in and looked - no luck. I am a bit disappointed in how plain the page looks now.

 No, "Step" is not misspelled. Lisa called me after I sent her this photo thinking it had been, but it is a hump in the fabric that hides the "t".

 An old favorite. Makes me think of my dad.

 I may spiff up the background the next time I do this page.

But I LOVE the giraffe I found in the dollhouse section of Hobby Lobby. I need to go back and get some more!

 I can now squeeze five dresses onto this page, haha!

 The Purdue and Illinois appliqués reflect Curt and Vanessa's college preferences.

The fluffy fur on Millie is to die for!! And the clip on earrings are stinkin' cute. I love how this page turned out. (My mother drew the dog a few years ago.)

I was excited to find the hotdog and the popcorn appliqués for this page and have ordered some more for future quiet books.

 I am trying to think of a way to make the crown removable so it can be played with but just haven't figured it out yet.

 My mom drew the palm tree for this one a while ago.

Inside is a tiny purse that's on a hook and can be clipped to things. Inside the purse is an orange M&M.

First time page! I saw a pattern book on Etsy that had a counting rainbow in it and just adapted it for my own use. I am pleased with how it turned out.

 Vanessa chose the fabric for the cover. It has pink unicorns on it and is beautiful.

Per usual, I made a matching pillow for Mila out of the leftover cover fabric.

(What an odd coincidence. I finished Titan's book on the anniversary of Craig's mom's passing, and Mila's on the anniversary of my dad's death.)

Titan's Quiet Book

I make each grandchild a quiet book for their first birthday. Due to last summer's upheaval (our moms died and I had a spinal fusion) I made little progress on Titan's and thus missed his first birthday in August. I began sewing in earnest in January after the holidays were over, and finally finished it today!

Since Titan's middle name is Rex, it seemed appropriate that there be T-Rexes and other dinosaurs on the cover fabric!

 A tying activity is on the cover page.

 An old favorite that has appeared in just about every quiet book I've made is Katy Caterpillar.

I redesigned this page by making the garage much, much larger than the one in the pattern book. Inside are two Matchbox cars for Titan to play with.

Another family favorite. My mother had the idea to add the bees and the dotted lines indicating their flight patterns. She helped me make a few of these books, and so when I added those dotted lines, I felt very close to her. Nice to know a piece of her is still in her great grandchildren's books.

I'm not much of an artist, but I can look at pictures and then try free handing some cattails and rushes!

This is a brand new page that I designed for Titan.  I couldn't figure out a feasible way for the caterpillar to chew holes in the food as he does in the book, so I made it a page where he chose the foods he wanted to eat and put them in the basket.

Another redesign page is this football. It is supposed to be sewn down onto the page, but that makes it very hard to lace. So, I made a loose football that attaches to the page with velcro. And, I drew the crowd/grandstand. Jessica and Andrew are Seattle Seahawks fans.

Another oldie but goodie. I embellished the bucket with Titan's initial and added a circus tent appliqué to the background for interest.

 I designed this page for Braden and Kyle. My kids loved the story, Caps for Sale, so the monkeys originally were being scolded as they are in that book. I changed it for this so it goes along with the jingle, Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed! I hid a monkey under the bed - I hope Titan likes that!

 A BYU patch reflects where both Jessica and Andrew went to school.

I created this page originally for Whitney. The cow has a real bell attached to it, and you jump it over the moon. I had planned to add a wordstrip saying, "Jump the cow over the moon" on the blue felt, but there just wasn't enough room.

Lastly, I drew this dino for Ian's quiet book. It's a bit large and needs to be resized, but it's still fun. I use pinking shears to open the zipper, and that gives the effect of teeth.

Now that Titan's is done, I am going to begin working on Mila's. I have her book all planned out so I'll be able to jump right in tomorrow morning.

Titan's Patriotic Pillowcase

Jessica chose this fabric for Titan's Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day pillowcase.

It has small stars and will be a nice match to Cambria's which has large stars which are also in red, white, and blue.