Addie's Birthday Pillowcase

Addie asked that her birthday pillowcase be made out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.

If you look closely, you can see the caterpillar nibbling a cupcake or two!

American Girl Doll Dresses for Addie

Addie's sixth birthday is coming up and she will be spending it with us. Since we gave her an American Girl Doll last Christmas, I decided to sew some clothes for the doll as my gift to her.

She loves Disney princesses, so I got a pattern that Ashley recommended.

It was NOT an easy pattern to make, and I did not like how some parts were constructed. (There are several ways to put in a sleeve, for example, and depending on the pattern you might be told to do it one way when you prefer another.)

Kyle said that Addie's favorite princess is Cinderella, but there was no Cinderella pattern. She also like purple, so I made a princess dress out of purple satin with sparkly underskirt.

I also bought a Simplicity 18" doll pattern - its directions were MUCH easier!

Just because it was simpler did not mean I did a shoddy job on it - I even matched the plaid at the seams!

Corinne's Birthday Pillowcase

I forgot to take a picture of Corinne's birthday pillowcase! Luckily, I still have another yard of the fabric.

Corinne's birthday pillowcase, April, 2015.

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!

Patriotic Pillowcases

This round of pillowcases covers Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Labor Day.

 JC has been drawing army guys and military machines since he was tiny, so I got him US Army fabric. And Trinity gets the chevron patriotic print.

For Kyle's kids, Braden gets the Air Force fabric (since Grandpa Weaver is a pilot and they all love planes) and the girls can pick and choose among the rest.

Kyle's Quiet Book - 1982

While visiting Kyle over spring break (having delivered Cambria's and Whitney's quiet books) Kyle pulled out the one I made him in July, 1982 for his first birthday. Talk about a trip down memory lane!!

The cover fabric was from my Grandma Martin. She worked in the fabric department of a store in Terre Haute and used to buy remnants. She gave me many of those years ago (I used some of it to make my maternity clothes for Sarah's pregnancy.)

 My writing is so much better (although many of the letters are traced.)

 Like the one in Cambria's book, one eye peeps out.

 The collar and coat are just colored, not fabric and fur.

 I hardly ever do this one - usually it's Katy Caterpillar instead.

 Now I use fabric, felt, and googly eyes when I make this page.

Vanessa wants this one for Ian's book. Kyle told me to put white stripes on each end for a more realistic football.

Another page I rarely use. Maybe again? The felt house tore, but I think I can reinforce it well enough next time to prevent that from happening.

 No orange felt - this was before Kyle became an Illini fan!

 I like the job I did on the zipper. Will see if I can install the next zipper like that.

The flowers are only single layers of felt - no reinforcing fabric behind or double layer of felt. I am surprised at how well they have held up.

 I think this is the only time I have made this page.

 Aunt Leslie had made a beaded ring for this page but it came off.

 Another page I have rarely used. And I use velcro now, not snaps.

Fabric that I loved but could not afford when Sarah was a baby. Finally it went on sale, and I bought enough to make her overalls.

The back cover.

I offered to fix a few things in this book, but Kyle liked the way they were and the memories they held. I was glad to see how much meaning the quiet book still holds for Kyle.