Not Enough Toys

 More often than not I will round the corner from cleaning the kitchen and find our little Love Bug like this, engulfed in a pile of her toys, with a smile from ear to ear. 

She has to have every toy out of the basket of course and then usuallly starts grunting loudly beacuse she wants me to put them back in so she can do it all over again. 

Other times, when she realizes that I'm busy taking pictures of her cuteness, she simply play with the  basket. 

.... or the spoon from Yogurtland...

 ... or Daddy's old work lanyard. I mean really why do we even buy her toys? She is just as happy with the simplest things, which makes me love her even more.

We sure do love our little girl. She keeps me smiling and I am so grateful she is mine!

Quiet Book Week - Summary

This is it, the finale! It has been a very busy week full of quiet book action. Here is a summary of all of my pages and information regarding my quiet book. Just click on the link to view where I got my patterns and more pictures. I have uploaded all of my own original patterns to my Etsy shop (follow the link below the header.) I would love to see your finished products!! I have also included links to where you can find the patterns that are not my own on each page. I want to give credit where it's due! If you have any other questions please leave a comment or e-mail me at stephanie[dot]lauren[at]live[dot]com (Please include your name and e-mails in any comments that you'd like a response for. I would love to respond back to everyone but have no way of contacting you. THANKS!)

Many of you have asked if I would be able to make a book available for you to purchase. As I am sure you all know these are a labor of love and take countless hours to complete. Being the mother of two under two I simply do not have the time to make them for my customers much to my dismay. I hope that you all understand and as always thank you so much for your interest in my work!

Jonah and the Whale

Noah's Ark

Covenant Rainbow

Moses in the Basket

David and Goliath

Daniel in the Lions Den

Peter Fishing

The Nativity

Lehi's Vision/ Iron Rod/ Tree of Life/ Nephi

Build Nephi's Boat

Alma the Younger

Ammon Defends the Sheep

Future Missionary

I Love to See the Temple

The Armour of God

The Details/ Case

Keeping Organized

That's it! Thanks for checking it out! If you make one I'd love to see what you come up with! Once again thank you!!!

Quiet Book Week - Keeping Organized

 As any quilter, scrapbooker, or crafter would agree organization is key! I used a binder to keep everything together and sorted, however you could use whatever you wanted. I'd like to show you what worked for me.

 In my front cover I kept all of my receipts. I purchased a lot of things I didn't end up using and I wanted to track the cost of the final product. 

 My first page was my original brain storm of pages. I threw them all on paper and picked the ones I wanted.

 From there I made a map that detailed which page went where, what backed onto what and what color ric rac I would use around each edge. I am just one of those people that needs ideas on paper. I mean I'm starting to plan Ethnie's first birthday and I have all sorts of notes written down!

The next page was an 11x11 template so I could see just how big everything was on the page. I drew a dotted line where the finished seam would be.

 Each page had it's own sheet protector. Which held all of the goodies. 

 Inside each page was 1) Color pictures of the page I wanted. 2) The pattern printed out on full sheets of paper. I did this so if ever a friend wanted a copy then it would be no problem to whip it out and photo copy it! 3) The cut out pattern in a zippie bag. Lets be serious, quiet books have A TON of itty bitty pieces. I put them all in a zippie with name of the page written in sharpie.

 Same pattern one is cut one is in full. 

 Once I got to the cutting stage I would use a tiny piece of rolled up tape to keep the paper from sliding all over the place on the felt. There is in fact a right and a wrong side to felt so watch out for that.  Once the piece was cut I left it with the pattern taped to it until I was ready to sew it all together. I knew I wouldn't be able to remember what was what. For the most part I cut out every page and then I sewed them all so I could be at the same step with everyone. I found I got discouraged when I would make a page in it's entirety and then be back to square one for the next page.

 If I saw something I liked about a page I would print it out and make a note of what I liked so I could incorporate several ideas into one page, plus if you have a memory like mine you may look back at the picture and say... "Why do I have this?" Small notes take a lot of the guess work out of things!

 For my original pages I did the same thing as I did for the patterns I printed of line. I drew it up and kept a master and then I made a copy and cut it up.

 I would also diagram out my original pages before I started to cut anything. I learned this the hard way. After throwing away a lot of supplies I decided to make the big decisions on paper first. Paper is cheaper than fabric! :)

 For the wise men and other people I wrote out instructions of how to sew them together. It was tough let me tell you. I was so worked up about them I had dreams. I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel all over again.

 For my fonts this is exactly what I did. I printed them off of the computer, held them up to the window and traced it on with a disappearing marker. A super simple way to get uniform words!

I know I am OCD. I have come to terms with that, so this book may be a little over the top for you. I'm just telling you what worked for me and I hope it might be able to help a few people out! Happy crafting! May the force be with you!!!

Quiet Book Week - Some of the Details/ Case

One of the most frustrating things I found when I was researching other peoples quiet books was that they didn't include a lot of the details just the pages. A quiet book is much more than just simply the pages so here is some information about the structure.

I made each finished page 10x10, which now looking back is too small. I would recommend going 11x11 or even 12x12. While mine works it would have been nice to have a little more room to play with. I felt that some pages (the Nativity & Ammon) were a little scrunched on there. I cut each page at 11x11 and gave myself a 1/2" seam allowance. 

To make my pages stiff I lined each one with extra heavy interfacing.  Just remember to match your bobbin thread to the page on the back!

There are several ways for one to finish the edges. I thought the funnest way would be with Ric Rac. It was quick and simple and I think it looks amazing but I may be a little biased. 

I then edge stitched around each page to keep it nice a crisp.

I wanted to add grommets so I could add or take out pages as I saw fit. I really do not think our child will need to have an 18 page quiet book to play with at church. Some of the pages are a little old for her as well so I wanted to have the option of leaving them at home. This also helps keep the book fun and new by not including the same pages every week.

I made a case for my book as well. I wanted to keep it safe and with all of the detachable parts I didn't want any of the pieces to get lost in transportation. I am thinking about adding a handle but for now, this is good :).

As you can see all of the seams are in cased. This took a little bit of mental labor on Mom Toblers part (thanks Mom!!!). I didn't want any raw edges showing and this way I really think it looks finished. 

I added a zipper to, like I said, keep everything together. After spending countless hours on something like this I may be a little over protective. Really I think this thing belongs behind glass on display. ;) 

I used sports zippers so they could come undone and the book can lay nice and flat on the kids laps. 

My favorite feature... the zipper pocket. Like I said in a few of my page posts, lots of the pieces are hidden in here. They added too much bulk on the page and this extra large pocket is the perfect place to keep everything nice and flat and easily accessible for those tiny hands.

Quiet Book Week - Armour of God

 This is the final page of my book. I really like dressing up this little man. I got the idea and pattern from Laura here.

 This is what he looks like in full uniform.

 On the back I hand stitched which verse each item went to. Eph 6: 14 -17. I did this all free hand which is why it's a bit uneven. 

 I also thought a chest might be a fun idea. I was wrong. Cute yes but it's a little bit difficult to get the pieces in and out. I didn't realize on Laura's page she had a big flap to put hers in. If I was doing it again I'd do that. Thankfully I have a zipper pouch in my case but that's tomorrow's post.

I hope you enjoyed my quiet book. Tomorrow I will post a summary and pictures of my case and some tips on staying organized.