Torsten's Quiet Book

 I have another grandson turning 1 in September and that means I need to get going on his quiet book.  I have done one for each Ashton grand and this is the last one.  As much as I love making these, and I do, they are over 100 hours and so, so much creativity.  At any rate, this one has begun and this post will take me all the way to the end.  Here ya go - 

March 4 - It's time to begin.  I'm trimming up batting scraps so the centers for the QB get cut while doing so.

Mairead's Quiet Book

I have a granddaughter turning one at the end of this year.  That means another quiet book to be put together.  For once, I have decided to get a head start on this and make some progress each month.  Will that hold out?  I don't know, but a start is a start.  Here is a little(?) log of how this book came together.  At the end of this post, I will give links to previous books as well.

New Year's Day ---  Yep, January 1st and I've cleaned the solids tub and located fabrics for the page backings AND cut them all.

1/16 -- While cleaning batting stacks and cutting for various projects to be tackled this year -- all the batting for the pages is now ready.  Not too bad for January.

JP's Quiet Book

With a grandson turning one in March, I am trying to get a jump on his quiet book.  I know it seems odd to be working on it already, but I am always in a time crunch at the end and the hope is that if I do this over time, that won't happen.  That IS the hope --- we shall see how it goes.

8/1 - I have selected all the designs I wish to use.  Once again, there are 20 pages and some are just too fun.  I'm already excited.  Mind you, I have simply made a list of what I want to do.  Hahahahaha.

8/4 - Out to the studio for solid broadcloth pieces that will work as page backgrounds.

Ava's Quiet Book

6/7  Miss Ava, my granddaughter, is turning one next month and since I made her sister a quiet book for her first birthday and personalized it so that it was unique and "just hers", I am about to embark on a second adventure.  To see the first one, here's your LINK.  It likely has more construction pictures and info than this one as, well, this is round two.

Apparently you CAN teach an old dog new tricks because I learned a LOT the last time.  I will not start out by doing a couple pages at a time.  Each step will be completed for all pages at the same time.  Now where to start?

Out to the studio I go.  Do I have enough solid fabric stored?  YES!!!  Wohoo -- a little happy dance here.  That's my big step forward for today.  I have a grandson visiting and limited time.

Disappearing Four-Patch Baby Quilt

My friend Roberta has started a new Facebook group and has issued a challenge for everyone to make either a jelly roll or charm pack quilt.  I don't have any jelly rolls sitting around but I do remember receiving a couple of charm packs as gifts at the last retreats.  I pull them out and see if they will even go together at all.

The colors are bright and look like fun -- perhaps this can be done.  Now what to do with them?  I start sorting them into four-patches and am going to try the disappearing four-patch block.

My Quiet Book Adventure

So I have this crazy idea to make a "quiet book" for my granddaughter as a present for her first birthday.  This should be easy and fun right?  I watch a couple of videos and grab ideas from them and then find Pinterest full of more ideas.  Before I know it, I have written down about 25 "idea" pages.  I head out to the studio to see what I have for background fabric and find lots of broadcloth that needs to be used up.  I have some felt, but head to the store to make sure all colors are present and accounted for.  Then I start cutting.  At first it seems pretty easy --- simple shapes and ideas.  The first day goes well and I have this page to show for it.  The butterfly parts are buttoned on and the shapes velcro on to their mates.  The edges are all hand blanket-stitched and only the pieces actually attached to the broadcloth are machine sewn on.  I will keep that pattern throughout the book.

Day two has me working on a "lacing" page.  The hope is that this book will teach skills as well as provide entertainment.  The other half of the page is a lady bug that zips open and has her spots inside.  Pretty simple, yes?

Time Sewing with Cass

Cassie's grandmother is turning 80 and all the grand and great-grandchildren are making a small quilt as a gift for her.  Each one is to do something that "Grandma would like" and since Cass has been out of town working for the past week she is behind the eight ball on getting it done by the deadline.  I pitched in to help and also give myself some fun Momma/Daughter time.

We took over my sewing room and Mister kept us supplied with patterns, food, and drinks while we worked.  He was great at finding patterns online that we could work with easily.  Grandma loves flowers and so we settled on a pansy and a violet.  Once we finished creating the applique flowers and had them ironed in place, it was time to blanket stitch all the way around.

We moved into the office in the house to sit back and do the finish work a little more comfortably while still being able to visit and hear all about her time in Austin during SXSW.  She always has so many funny stories to tell - airports are a gold mine for those.

We think the squares turned out well -- how about you?