It's Finished!

The quiet book is finished! Completed one day before family arrived. I started it April 21 and put the last stitch in on July 1. Hours and hours and hours of work. But so worth it.

Not only do the horses on the cover represent me, but Mama Jayci wants to own a farm for veterans and others who are working through PTSD and other things so it's very much a nod to her.

The quiet book is a surprise for the JCs^2, but I couldn't wait to show it to family members who had helped or been following its progress. 

The video was made one handed while I talked and turned pages, so it's not the best, but you will be able to see what the pages look like and some explanation of them, too.

And, here are the individual pages in the order that they are in the quiet book.

The title page with a furry pup (that looks like a cat) that is wearing a bow to untie and tie.

Counting beads strung on ribbons. A Wiggles page despite the wrong-colored octopus. (It should be purple.)

There are visual attractions underneath the tentacles.  

And the waves were traced from a printing block I'd carved for an Art class in grad school years ago. I've kept that block in my desk all all these years!

Another Wiggles page with Captain Feathersword and Jeff.

The feather is intended for hat making and has been sanitized.

The Wiggles meet one of Great Grammy's favorites - the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I had this fabric left from another project - it is very tactile and can change to silver as you brush your hands along it. There is no specific theme to the page, but I sure enjoy doing the color change so I think the great grands will, too.

Jayci and Aunt Trinity loved the Barbie fairy tale videos as kids. This represents The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The hair can be styled. (I may shorten those braids before I give the book to the family later today so they don't hang past the bottom of the page.)

Another Wiggles nod - an Australian 'roo with a guitar in her pouch!

A generational family favorite from childhoods (mine, my kids, Gimme's kids), Gimme requested that I add this page as she knew how much the book had meant to JC as a little boy. 

(Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. Don't miss it!)

It took me four hours to sew all those buttons onto this page!

A personal favorite of mine that I created. The ears are floppy and the mouth opens.

Dental Hygienist Great Aunt Jessica provided the snacks and the toothbrush, with the candy cane included as a tweak for Abby.

 I LOVE THE FORELOCK SO MUCH! Aunt Lisa found the perfect yarn.

This page has been in nearly every quiet book, if not all of them. My mom updated in 2016 it by drawing the buzzy bee tracks so her touch is on this book, too. ::sniff::

Quiet book #22 ends with a last nod to the Wiggles.  

Dorothy the gentle, rose-eating dinosaur

who has a mini stuffed bunny and a Grammy-made stuffed Dala horse in her mouth to play with.

The finished book - several inches thick due to all the 3D aspects of the interior pages.

So much work, but so worth it, too. I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they open it.

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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