Lucas' Quiet Book

The quiet book is done! I started Lukie's quiet book in March and completed it yesterday, my dad's 96th birthday. Our trips to Colorado, Utah, Kentucky, and Tennessee slowed the progress down as did my model horse show, Happy Trails, but I have kept at it and am so pleased with how the book turned out.

Vanessa asked for a music-themed book so the book's cover is a print of a variety of instruments. Because there is so many pages that are 3D, the book is very fat!

 The title page with an Illini-orange ribbon bow to tie.

I used sparkly felt for the background and the snowman, and the snowflakes, "coal," and carrot are buttons.

I liked the background felt with the snowman so much that I decided to experiment by using it on other pages. I loved the effect!

 A little bit of my mom is in the dashed bee-paths. That was her idea years ago.

 A brand new page. I tried to use vinyl for the drum top but could not stitch through it. Hopefully Lukie will not use the drumsticks to whack his siblings in the head.

This was the hardest page to design. I combined several ideas I saw online. Lucas can put the notes on the staff and "write" music or match the colors on the keyboard letters to the staff lines.

My own design and new to this book. The pony is stuffed and can be removed for play. The saddle comes off and on.

 I morphed my counting page into this one, partly because the instruments were so big that I could not get them all on the page and had to be creative.

I think this is my favorite page, and it is a new one for me. I saw the idea online and drew up my own pattern. Of course, it is orange and blue! (With some Boilermaker gold since Curt and Vanessa are Purdue grads.)

 I added some fish behind the tentacles for added interest.

 I still need to find a matchbox car to fit into this garage. And I forgot to add a window!

 A family favorite. Curt asked that I include this page in Lukie's book. The barn appliqué is new and I think adds a lot to the picture. I also used fabric for the leaves of the tree instead of coloring it with green fabric paint or using green felt. I like how it looks.

Another new page and one I love. (Curt, who dislikes spiders intensely, probably will not like it so much.) I saw the idea online and made it my own. It took forever to stitch all those buttons into place!

I will be giving Lucas his book (and the matching pillow made from leftover cover fabric) tomorrow when he comes for Sunday dinner. Can't wait!

Happy Trails Potholders

I found this wonderful Michael Miller vintage fabric at fabric.com and decided to make everyone a potholder as part of the swag bags I was giving each entrant.

 They turned out so well, and everyone loved them!

The two with the red borders were practice ones. I ended up disliking that version so I made borderless versions for all the entrants and kept the red bordered two for my own use.

Non-Holiday Pillowcases

When we were in Santaquin and visiting Jessica, they were still in the throes of unpacking from their move. One of the things I noticed in their basement family room was this:

A big stack of the pillowcases that I had made for Cambria - one for each holiday. It made me really good to see that Jessica and her family enjoyed them. And, if REALLY made me feel good when she asked me to make some "summer fun" ones.

So, Jessica and I picked out some fabric together.

 Mermaids for Cambria to match her bedroom.

and dinosaurs to match Titan's.

 Colorful ice cream cones to reflect that summer fun for Cambria

while Titan got a camping/outdoorsy theme.

Mila's Birthday Pillowcase

Mila's birthday was sneaking up on me since it is so close to Christmas. Fortunately, I had made one ahead of time that was perfect for her.

 I will give it to her on New Year's Eve.

Quiet Book Repair - Julie

Cole texted me last week with the news that Julie had torn one of her quiet book apples, was upset, and afraid that this would be the beginning of a bad Christmas.

Easy fix - I knew that I could whip one up in a half hour.

And I saw no reason to make her wait two weeks for the replacement piece, so I popped it into the mail the next day.

No bad Christmas now, sweet Julie!

Quiet Book Repair - Kyle's Family

I have made eighteen quiet books. EIGHTEEN!! Good thing I like to make them because that's well over 700 hours of sewing. And I still have two to make during 2019 - Lukas' book in March and Kate's in August! Guess what project I am starting after the holidays are over?

I make them as sturdy as possible, but when they are used by little ones there is going to be something that tears or gets lost. Recently I did some repairs for Kyle's family (including his own book!)

 I brought some earrings for the Zeus puppy.

 Made a couple of more monkeys to replace those that had been lost.

 Made a new flower (orange again, of course!)

 Replaced the two missing flowers.

 I forgot to buy a new car for Braden's garage and still need to do that.

Kyle needs a new car for his own quiet book, too!

I am still trying to figure out how to replace the lamb's nose and mouth.

 I made a new yellow flower for the vase.

 And I need to replace one of the eyes on the turtle.

Another from Kyle's own book - I have an orange ring to sew on it.

 As I went through the kids' books, I saw my mother's initials on some of the pages.

She had protested when I asked her to put her initials on any page that she helped me make.

I explained that it would hold great meaning for her grandchildren and great grandchildren to see that she had worked on their books.

 I was right - it makes those books all the more special to us all.

 She even drew some of the pages, like this palm tree.

I used to bring her over to my house, and we would come upstairs and sew all day, chatting, figuring out the best colors for each page, and so on. Many, many happy memories for me.

I still have some things to do for Kyle's family's books, but I will get that done my next visit.

Kathy Nimmer's Tactile Christmas Gift

I made a table runner for my friend, Kathy, for Christmas. Since she is blind, I wanted it to be as tactile as possible. I was so pleased with how it turned out.

I love fabrics designed by Michael Miller and had bought this bird fabric with my mother in mind. Fabric.com had it included in its holiday fabrics, and while unusual, I could see why. It also seemed to me that it could also be a year-round fabric, too.

Pairing it with a mint green polka dot fabric (which could also go year-round), I got busy.

 I was so pleased with the finished sewn piece! But how to make it tactile for Kathy?

At first I explored adding tiny jingle bells placed around the inside border of the two fabrics, but I rejected that idea - since she could not see them, there was a high likelihood that she might inadvertently set something on them causing whatever that was to fall over. Then I had a great idea, remembering my own adage to my students that often "less is more."

I added a nice fluffy tassel to the point at each end of the table runner with a large jingle bell right above it. Perfect! Still tactile but not something she would have to worry about!

Kathy loved the table runner (and the crocheted bell ornament with a fabric flower and jingle bell, also tactile, that I gave her.) She sent me this text later that evening.

When I was little, I did not understand the saying, "It is better to give than to receive." I do now, and it is so very true.