Another 70 Hours Factor

From cutting tools to fabrics to thread and bobbins to interfacing and seam binding... it takes lots of things to make a quiet book.

For example, when I made this dinosaur.

Six cutting tools are pictured and were used for it, but actually at least one more, a seam ripper, is missing.

It's no wonder that a quiet book can take over 70 hours to make!

Another "70 hours factor," a different one from cutting tools and the variety of cuts made per piece,  occurred yesterday.

I was working on the tactile fish. (Brush the scales and it turns silver. Trust me, it's very relaxing! LOL)

The fish was completed and appliquéd to the quiet book page.  The seabed was also appliquéd down. All that was left was to add the final touches to finish the page.

And just like that, decisions about design placement halted my progress.

I had an assortment of patches that I really liked

but I just wasn't happy with any of the placements - they just didn't look right.

I began sending pictures of possibilities to Gimmie (Sarah, Elsie Mae's grandmama and my daughter) asking for her thoughts.

Photo after photo was texted to her, neither of us happy with any of them. 

Finally Sarah FaceTimed me and we spoke at length as I moved the pieces around with both of us sharing our opinions on each arrangement.

Thirty-six pictures later (yep, you read that right) we found something we both liked. 

I got the iron heated, and began applying the appliqués by pressing them to the page. After that, I stitched around their perimeters. Those teeny tiny sand worms took three different colors of thread and bobbins! (Another 70 hours factor!)

I still want to draw some bubbles on the page - a scary part of the process because if I make an error, it's permanent. If that were the case, could I scrap the page and begin again? 

I could, but that would require not just redoing the tactile fish page,

I'd need to redo the Wiggles guitar page, too. It's completed and stitched into the book, too. 

So... taking a deep breath and with just a few bubbles to draw for completion, I will be practicing on a scrap of fabric before I take a last deep breath and draw them on the actual page.

Wish me luck.  (And stay 'tooned.)

 

More Quiet Book Progress & the May Give Away

Second Post of the Day

It's Spring and my clematis is so beautiful this year, I had to take a photo and share it with you.

I planted it shortly after we moved into our home in 2006. My father loved them and was the gardener in our family, so we always had one or two (with wooden trellises that he'd made himself) when I was growing up. As an adult, I have continued the tradition of growing a clematis in my yard. Not only are they beautiful, but they make me think of my dad.

Progress on the quiet book is going well. Three pages are completed and three almost so - just a few finishing details left.

The absolute hardest part is writing the text onto the pages. I freehand it and you cannot erase or change a letter once it's written. One error, and you have ruined the page. 

And so I practice, and practice, and practice. I try different fabric pens and different sized points on those pens. Different ways to write the text and to arrange it on the page. Get a feel for the fabric I will be writing on.

Writing on the cotton pages themselves is easier than the felt appliquéd pages. Felt has surface fibers that grab the fabric pen and tends to fuzz the written letters, too. But I think a felt background can make a page look even better.

In that case, I am writing the text onto cotton backed with interfacing and will then appliqué it to the felt. This is a mock-up of the Fruit Salad page (another nod to The Wiggles as well as to Eric Carle's wonderful book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.) I have some more fruit appliqués to finish prepping before I stitch it all down.

I have finished another Wiggles page. They are from Australia, so here is a kangaroo who plays her guitar with Murray! That's a cotton text piece appliquéd onto the felt. (I could not believe it when I found the exact matching color of cotton in my fabric stash!)

I wasn't sure I liked the cowboy hat so I asked Gimmie (Sarah, Elsie Mae's grandmother.)

I sent her these two pictures, but then took another of what the kangaroo would look like if I did add it.

Personally, I didn't like the square of velcro that would show when the hat was off. 

Sarah answered so quickly, I hadn't even set my phone down. "No hat."

Alrighty then! No hat it is. And I am glad I asked for her input. 

My mother helped me make quiet books for my grands which were her own great grands, and I know how much that meant, to her, to me, and to the grands and great grands. (She knitted the snowman's scarf for this page.) So, I am including Gimmie in as many things as possible. 

I will get back to the sewing table tomorrow, so stay 'tooned!

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The Give Away ending date has been extended to Tuesday, May 19 at 11:59 PM Eastern. Because of Pepper's sudden illness derailing my writing time, I did not get double posts written as planned. They would have given you more opportunities to enter. This way, you will.

Inspired by Cambria and Titan's cute Highland Cow keychains last September, I'm making a few Highland Cow blackened beeswax ornaments to give away. I won't be pouring until June or so, but I think they will be worth the wait. 

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