Road Trip! Quiet Book Adventure, page 1

And the adventure begins!  The quiet book I am making for my grandson is on its way! I finished the first page (well, actually it is 2,1/2 pages!) but I am so happy with how this page turned out! I want the pages to not be just educational or learning issues, but also,  I want him to be able to use his imagination and have fun!  What little boy doesn't love little cars!!! I found these mini size hot wheel style cars in a box of toys I have left from when his sister was little. (She just last week turned 17!) She and I used to take all the little cars out on the patio and use sidewalk chalk to make a "city" and roads and run the cars all around!

So... to run cars, a guy needs a road. I also try to put memories or something special in the pages...and also use scraps and things I have in my stash... and...here's what I came up with. Route 66. No, he will probably never know the real Route 66 or what it means etc, (his daddy does so hopefully he will fill in the blanks!) But.. I made a Route 66 quilt for my cousin and had some of the fabric left over, so I cut out the different images and used them on the page. I didn't write a blog about this quilt..but here's a picture of it.. 

So I used pieces and iron on interfacing and made some appliques for the quiet book. I have a you tube video about it at the end here.. and that will tell you a few more ways I included a memory of me for him. I will be moving to another state this year, so unfortunately he and I won't be able to have a personal relationship, but I plan to do things for him thanks to the USPS! But that is another story for another time.  For now...I will give him ways to think of me!

I made a road pattern and cut it out of black cotton and sewed to to one page, then flipped it backwards and cut another one for the next page and made a loop for him to go "both ways"! See the route 66 sign there? And the little brown piece in the middle of the road is a tunnel! The red car is an applique I made from the Route 66 fabric.

The house on this page is from a piece of fabric I bought that... had houses on it! Then another pattern for a loop will be on the next page.

I did a You Tube video about it... easier for you to see how it all works with a video!  If you want to see the video,

"Road Trip Quiet Book Page

 One picture...the last page has a pocket on the bottom of the page to hold the little cars! Then flip this page over, and there is more road!

Hope you enjoyed the Road Trip page and got some ideas for your own. I do plan to add a car wash to the pages. I just keep forgetting to do that, as I got on a roll and have completed 4 sets of pages this past week! Subscribe to my You Tube page when you watch the video and the new pages will be up soon. 

And... join to follow my blog here (upper left sidebar, choose how you want to join!), as I will have them here also. Some pages won't have a video tho...but they all will be here! So, join and follow along and make your own Quiet Book for the child you love!

  Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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Sucess! A Fleece and Flannel Blanket! She loves it!!!

My grand daughter is hard to please in the handmade world. She just turned 17.. .need I say more? But she was at my house last month, saw the fleece/flannel blanket I made for her new baby brother and she loved the soft,soft fleece on the back and the soft flannel on the front and BEGGED me for one for her! I couldn't believe my ears!   She then noticed the tie-dyed flannel I had left over from when I made capes for my 2 other grand daughters  and loved that and begged me to make her a blanket with the fleece and flannel! I had made the blanket with no batting which made it softer and more "blanket" than a heavy, thick, stiff quilt.     And the satin binding just clinched the deal..she loved it too!

So I set out on a mission. She has a queen size bed so it had to be that large and I figured with no batting, it'd be easy enough to get my machine to FMQ the top with a meander stitch.  Went to the store to get more of that tie dye flannel.. and of course, couldn't find it! I sent her pic of other prints but nothing clicked with her. Finally, is literally wandering the store thinking, I came on an isle that had some fabric in it...and low and behold...there was a bolt of this tie dyed flannel print! I grabbed it and let out a holler of happiness and the lady standing there thought I was nuts until I explained, then she congratulated me! But the happiness only lasted a few minutes. There was only 2,1/2 yards on the bolt and it was in 2 pieces! I took it as I thought I might not be able to get a queen size, but I could at least get a twin out of it if I pieced the 2 pieces together properly. 

I had the blanket done in 3 days. and here it is!!

 She is doing her room in black with teal accents ( a true high schooler!). The back is a black fleece. The front.. blues, teals and blacks with a tad of pink accent.  Store bought Satin binding. And a queen size!!! Here's how I did it!

 I took the shortest piece and used that as the center piece. Then cut the longer piece in half and sewed half on each side of the middle section. I was a little leary of making seams in the tie-dye print as I thought it would distort the pattern, but thankfully, "tie-dye" is a motley pattern so it is hardly noticable! Check it out... I can just make out the seam on the left, but have to search for the seam on the right! So I was pleased with that!

 I used black fleece for the back, flannel for the front and no batting inside. I used an adhesive spray and pins and pinned it together, and did the FMQ wide, very wide, meander stitch. Worked out great.

My next troublesome part was sewing the binding to the edge of the blanket. Usually, I do the "roll over" procedure...where you sew the raw edges to the back, then roll the folded edge to the front and sew it down. Well, no roll over option here! Long story short, I placed the raw edges of the blanket inside the binding (2" Wrights) and then since one side is 1/4 inch shorter, that side went on the front and the tad longer was the back. This way as I sew the short side, it will grasp the longer side that I can't see.  I pinned literally exactly at the edge on the front, then turned it over to see where the pins were so that I was sure the edge was captured in the stitch line.

 
               FRONT                                                        BACK

 Next come the corners. I am pretty good at these mitered style corners with cotton, but you cant do them the same way with this satin so.. I  fiddled and got it matching and pinned. I had to make the stitches come to that center point on both sides.

 FRONT       BACK

 I used a large zigzag stitch all around and it took pretty good. I see some areas that could have been better, but.. for the most part.. it turned out pretty good. Taking out the not as good areas, would have made holes in the satin and it wasn't bad enough to do that! I also hand sewed the flaps/overlay portion of the corners from the corner point to the matching point to keep that all intact.

So... it is done. And only a few inches off being true queen size! Here it is on the back, folded up... it looks blue in the picture, but it is actually a beautiful black. The binding, again... matches the blues in the tie-dye perfectly, and is not this shiney! Camera... they certainly have a mind of their own!

 

Mission accomplished!

 My obsession of always doing a little extra... I had  a little bit of the flannel left so I made her a pillow case...the flannel being the base of the case and black for the cuff and a teal for the trim! I forgot to take a picture of it!

 So I rolled the blanket up, put it in a gift bag, and her birthday was Monday.  She was thrilled. She texted me later that night saying.. "IDK if you are up, but this blanket it perfect!!!" Then next day she texted me saying she could hardly get out of bed that morning because it was so warm and cozy!

Now, I want to make myself one! I am going to Joann's to see if that fleece is on sale or use my 50% off coupon and at least get enough to use for the back and later decide on what the front will be! I have a bed spread I am currently creating (in my mind!) but this will be the perfect blanket!!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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Inspiration for Quiet Book page ideas.

I have a few pages done and will post shortly, but I thought I'd share why I am doing this and my ideas, thoughts and places for you to find ideas and help, if needed. I want this quiet book to be unique and fun, educational and fun, enhance the child's motor skills and fun, and well.. I think you get the picture. I want my grand son (Grayson!) to have fun while he is a child. I will give this book to him when he is 2 (he is now 3 weeks old!) I want him to  be a kid as long as possible!

So in looking for inspiration, Pinterest is where I have found so much information. I have been saving pages on my Quiet Book Page Ideas board and saving pattern to cut out on my PC. I have been writing lists of page themes I want to use and notation if I have a pattern somewhere.

However, in looking and surfing... I find... boy howdy, some ladies have the most amazing talent for this tiny work! I am blown away by some of them. I said I was going to make mine with no glue...but I have already used glue.. I just can't sew a perfect circle or make such perfect sewing lines...as this lady can.. like this lady has done!   Her blog is in a foreign language, but a picture paints a thousand words so...her work is absolutely amazing. I could look at it for hours. Such detailed stitches and sewing.  But what really hit me was... POCKETS and TUCK SPOTS!  How fun are those and here...3 pages into mine, I have not made one single pocket! I LOVE pockets! Most things I make have a pocket of some kind.. I can't believe I forgot them! But now.. thanks to this lady, I will have them on the pages. Lift the leaf to find the bird, pull something out of a pocket.. hiding places. so to speak. Let Grayson look and find and have fun!

I also want my book to be unique and all the things mentioned above. But I see so many pages...well the most posted ones are washing and drying socks! The kid is 2. NO 2 year old needs to be taught how to do laundry and who the heck even hangs clothes on a clothes line to dry anyway!?!??! (do kids even know what a clothes line is?!!?) And a lace page.. if I see one more shoe with laces, I'll scream! He will learn to tie his shoes when they are on his feet.. and probably 1-2 years on down the road from 2 anyway!  If I put a lace activity in this book, it will be lace a foot ball or lace a door closed or something that when he achieves the lacing.. he gets a surprise! But honestly, I dont' think I will put a lacing page at all. A zipper...again, zip open the mouth of an animal ...so common. I am thinking of zip open a tent on a camping theme page. Or zip open a tool box with some tools inside.

So I have been saving my favorite ideas and themes on my Pinterest board.... Quiet Book Page Ideas for inspiration ideas and themes.After every page I finish, I will surf through and get inspiration for my next page theme.

So, now... back to my sewing room to start page 4. Actually I started it last night. It is  a beach theme with some sand castles and little beach animals. Next I want to do a farm... so many kids don't even what a farm is, let alone get to see one.  I want Grayson to know such things - at least have some idea of it! He will be able to plant foods, move a tractor, learn the names of foods, and things like that. Hum.. how about a road side food stand! He can pick the foods, and then sell them!

If you have been following my Quiet Book Adventure... how have you been doing? I'd love to see your pages.

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE