A Quiet Book for a Noisy Child

Since the beginning of time I have run all my errands and made all my appointments with my 4 pinks and a blue. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration. It hasn't been since the beginning of time but it feels like I've been doing it that long sometimes. :)

People often ask how in the world I can do all those things with all these kids in tow, but those of us with big families know that it's not much different than doing things with 2 or 3 kids. You get use to what you have to handle and you find ways to make things a little easier in the process.

Take today's post for instance. Our church is beginning a Ladies Prayer Meeting on Thursdays that I really want to be a part of. It will be no problem for the 18 month old because, Lord willing, she will be taking a nap at that time. :) But the 4 year old will be a participant of the meeting...and we all know 4 year olds don't we? They cannot be trusted to be quiet for long periods of time. At least mine can't. But I love her!!!!

I had pinned some Quiet Book ideas to one of my Pinterest boards a while back and quickly thought of them when I found out about the meetings. I made it my goal this week to get a couple pages done so that the 4 year old will have something to "quietly" occupy herself while we pray.

My favorite idea is the Potato Head quiet pages. Isn't she adorable? Jocelyn of Sunshine, Lollypops and Rainbows was amazingly kind enough to offer the pattern for free!!! Go there to get it!!

Today I will share with you how I made these for our littlest Pinks.

1. Print off pattern here.

2. Decide which colors of felt you will need to buy. (I would suggest that you even write on the pattern pieces which colors of felt you want for what so you don't forget anything.

3. Decide which color/colors you want to use for the actual pages. I used a whole sheet of felt from Wally World for each page.

4. Decide how you are going to bind your pages. I simply hole punched mine since I know that the kids will be sharing the book and I think it defeats the purpose of a Quiet Book if the children are fighting over it. :) (I wasn't up to making two books either.) I placed mine in a binder for now. SEE NOTE TOWARDS END OF POST.

5. Buy your felt and also TWO erasable markers. You will want one to be white so that it will show up on the darker colors of felt.

6. Gather your other basic sewing supplies: thread, scissors, seam ripper and any little

embellishments if you would like; rick-rac, buttons, lace...you get the point.

7. Start. It took me between 3 and 4 hours to complete this project. I didn't do it in one sitting though I did start and finish the same day. Yes, I was up late...my excuse for the terrible lighting in the pictures you are about to see.

 I cut out all the patterns and then traced them onto the felt with a water soluble marker. I then cut each shape, except for the body, earrings, eye centers, flower center and the bucket "envelope" out in a double layer so that the pieces would be sturdier.

 I decided to machine sew mine but you could hand sew it as well. As a tip, if you want to embellish any of the pieces, like the lips, you have two options: 

• You can sew both layers together and embellish through both which will result in the stitches being seen on both sides.
• Or you can embellish the top layer first and then sew the top layer to the bottom layer giving you a nice clean looking back side. This is more time consuming but the perfectionists out there may be more satisfied with this option.

I simply sewed mine through both layers cause I didn't think about it before I started. Not sure I'd have opted for option two anyway though. Tells a lot about me huh?! :)

 I also opted to sew with my twin needle. Not any scientific reason why, just wanted too. Well, it was already in my machine from a previous project and I was too lazy to change it. I like how it all turned out though. Follow your machine's instructions for sewing with a twin needle.

 How that hat looks after sewing, love that contrasting cream thread!

 Carefully cut out your pieces being careful to leave enough felt on the outer edges of the stitches. And DON'T cut through your stitches!! That would just be sad.

 Repeat for each piece adding as many or as few details as you would like. Love how it's coming together!!!

Ugh, sorry about the shadow! It was late remember. This is the bucket envelope. To make sure it was laying straight I used a ruler to measure 1.5 inches from the bottom of my poorly cut felt page. :/ Pin and sew in place. 

Do the same for the bodies but make sure you leave enough room for the hat and shoes! I also only sewed the arms down under the body. They hang free so that the girls can slip things on and off of them. They do hang off the page a bit but it's not an issue for me since the book isn't bound. 

NOTE: If you were going to sew your pages together however you may want to purchase some yards of felt off the bolt so that your pages are big enough.

Give them to your little one and let them have fun!! I do have to say the the bigger 3 had lots of fun with these spuds before leaving for school this morning! Who said they were just for the younger kids huh?

Sigh. I just love when a project turns out!! I want to cut out more pieces but this is what is ready for tomorrow's meeting. Pray that it works and she plays quietly cause right now she is playing with it...and singing...loudly. Oh boy.

Linkin' it up:

Pillowcase Dress

In need of something.

So last year while huge and very pregnant with my 5th baby I found a gorgeous pillowcase while browsing through a local thrift shop. That beauty came home with me destined to become a pillowcase dress for my 3 year old.

Well as my life goes that creamy thing hung in our storage room for days, then weeks, then months. But finally I had the time and desire to give that baby the proper attention it needed.

I am so satisfied with the results. Yes, it's still just a pillowcase dress and I kinda love but don't love those things however they are a busy mom's dream project because they take like 30 minutes or so - depending on how many distractions you have around that is.

So without further delay I give you this easy but delicately beautiful pillowcase dress.

Step 1: Locate pillowcase with lace at the bottom. (You can always just find a plain pillowcase and add your own lace but that would add time and expense.) You will also need matching thread, sewing machine, bias tape (optional, you can make your own) and ribbon, I used lace cause that's all I had).

Step 2: Measure your child from the shoulder to desired length. and add an inch for casing and scant seam allowance.
My daughter is a very tiny almost four year old. To get the mid-calf length she measured at 23 inches. Starting from the bottom lacey portion of your pillowcase measure up 23 inches (or your own measurements) and mark with chalk or a water soluble pen. Fold your pillowcase in half length-wise.

Step 3: Now we will cut out the armhole section. For my daughter I drew a line that curved out toward the edges of the fabric (NOT the folded edge) that was 6.5 inches long. It curved out about 1 inch from the edges of the fabric. Does that confuse you too? Here's a picture. (Please excuse my yellow scribble...it's suppose to be an arrow!)

You can add (larger sizes) or subtract (for smaller sizes) about .5 of an inch from my 6.5 inch measurement but you will want to make sure that your curve ends up about 1 inch from the edges. Now you will cut out on the lines you just created. You will NOT CUT the folded edges (the left side of this picture.)

Step 4: Bias tape. My strips were (suppose to be) 13 inches long and 1 inch wide. I got that because my armhole length on one side was 6.5 inches so each arm would have a hole of 13 inches long. I messed up so my strips weren't long enough but what I had still worked. So whatever measurement you used for your armhole double that and cut two strips that length by 1 inch wide.
Pin strips to armhole edges right sides together. Sew the strips to the armholes on one side.. (Sorry, didn't take a picture.) Iron bias tape so they will lay flat and clip the curves being careful not to clip into the stitching. On the unsewn side of the bias tape fold over 1/4 inch and iron in place. Fold tape to inside of dress and sew in place.

I found this tutorial  from Make It Modern that may help you.

Step 5: Casing. Almost done folks!!! You will make just a regular old casing here. Fold 1/4 inch from the top (neck edge) of the front and back dress pieces. Iron and fold down the width of whatever your ribbon width is. I folded .5 inch (I think) but will go back and add another stitch to my casing cause my lace was too thin for that wide of a casing. Sew casing close to bottom edge.

Step 6: Cut ribbons to desired length. I didn't measure mine, just kind of eyeballed it. It's better to cut more than you think you'll need if you can spare the extra. Attach a safety pin to one end of the ribbon and thread through casing opening. Do this on both sides. Tie strap together and you are done!!!!

Now wasn't that easy?!

Well, put that thing on your cutie and take some pictures.

 Don't you just love bare feet and lace?! So timeless.

Sorry, forgot to turn this! Just tilt your head. You'll get it.! :)

 Beautiful! What a great pillowcase embellishment! I think next time I come across another like this I'm gonna make it into a little pillowcase top. Now I'm off to think of an equally gorgeous hair embellishment.

But one more time...

Ever make a pillowcase dress? I'd love to take a looksey!!

Linking up:

A sweet gift for a sweet chef.

We recently found a wooden kitchen for our preschooler that we are going to sand down and paint. To go with that gift I have made this little chef's set. I found it here. It is quite easy to sew and turned out very cute! The tutorial is easy to follow so if you're so inclined try it out for yourself!

Can't wait for her to see them!! I'll post a picture of her in these after Christmas some time.

So, what's on your last minute gift giving list?

Update!

So she opened the gifts and LOVED them!! Check her out!!

So yes, they were bigger than I thought they would be. I knew they'd be big but I wanted the big girls to be able to use them too. I need to add some velcro to the back of the chef's hat so that I can adjust the size (I was waiting until she opened it to do that so I could add in a sufficient amount. The apron is just plain big but I have enough fabric to make another...I should have guessed that one cause she is so tiny for her age!

Also you can see from the pictures that we haven't found the time to sand and paint the kitchen set. Did I ever mention that life is busy with 5 kids, homeschooling, ministry and running (sort of  :/) a home? We'll get to it. Littlest actually wants blue. I'm thinking of something very soft but that's a project for another time...soon hopefully!

Anyway, these turned out so adorable!! Check out the tutorial!!

Lovin' Learnin'