Dinosaurs! Roar! Here’s the next page in Jax’s quiet book. His book is seriously going to be 10″ thick… And there are more pages I want to add. I still haven’t decided how I’m going to do the cover/case.

This is a fairly simple page. It has ribbons for texture and a peekaboo flap with a baby dinosaur inside an egg. Here’s what I used: sky blue background felt, olive green ground felt, lots of ribbon scraps, felt (in 3 shades of green, brown, natural (the egg), camel (inside the egg and some spots) and pink (spots on egg)), batting/stuffing, pinking shears and embroidery floss to match.

Start with your sky blue background piece. Cut a piece of felt for the ground. I used olive green and cut a slight hill into the top. Pin the tree trunk in place and sew the ground down. Cut some leafy fern shapes out of green felt with pinking shears. I made 4. Sew them in a fan shape at the top of the tree. I sewed up the middle about 3/4 of the length. Sew the tree trunk down.

Dinosaurs: To make the faces, I made a stitch for an eyelash then a French knot eye. I stitched the smile in stem stitch. Stitch loops of ribbon along the spine – shorter at the tail and neck. Stitch long, thin “spikes” to the end of the tail. I used all kinds of ribbons and rickrack from my stash (many were scrapbooking ribbons) but you could use all one color.

Egg: Start out by sewing the grassy nest down where you want the egg to be. I cut 2 pieces for my egg out of a natural colored felt and one out of a camel color for the inside of the egg. Sew the inner egg to the grass and sew the dinosaur baby onto it. I took scraps of pink and camel to make splotches to sew onto one piece of the egg shell. Be creative and decorate your dinosaur egg however you’d like! Layer a loop of ribbon between the two outer egg pieces as a handle, then sew them together. Sew an inch long section of the outer egg down to make the flap.

To finish up, I sewed the big dinosaur down, then embroidered freehand “Stomp!! Roar…” into the lower left corner. You could do the same, or have a big “D” for dinosaur.

If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. I really would love to see your version! I think I’m in love with the little baby dino.

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Another page done for the quiet book! Phones and clocks are classic pages that are almost always included, but I just wasn’t feeling the rotary phone and boring clock.

When I started brainstorming how to update them, I knew I wanted to do my white iPhone. Jax has a play phone app and loves to hold it up to his ear and say “Yeah-Oh?” (hello). I wanted to combine the clock with the phone since both deal with numbers and using household gadgets. My first idea was to have a slap bracelet covered in felt with a felt clock face to make a wristwatch, but I thought the scale wouldn’t work. Since phones go in pockets, I settled on a pocket watch and a big jean pocket to put them in!

My materials were: a 9″ blue felt square (you could use denim or even cut up jeans, but both items might not fit in the pocket), felt (in white, red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, white, dark gray and light gray), clear vinyl, batting/stuffing, thin white ribbon, 7/8″ – 1″ wide ribbon 1 inch longer than your page width, a paper fastener and floss/thread to match. Everything was hand-sewn except the vinyl, but you could use the machine for parts.

Sewing the iPhone: I appliqued the symbols to each button and outlined them in white stitching. I hand-stitched the phone numbers to the dark gray screen in stem stitch and the “HELLO!” to the aqua header in running stitch. I sewed the buttons, header and light gray top bar to the screen then sewed that to the phone front. I sewed the home button to the front as well, then did some embroidery and a French knot to make the speaker and front camera. On the sewing machine, I sewed clear vinyl over the phone screen. On the back of the phone, I sewed the camera circle and Apple logo. Layering batting and the end of a white ribbon, I sewed front and back together.

Sewing the pocket watch: I hand-stitched the clock numbers to the face with stem stitch. I made the clock hands by sewing two layers of felt together for each, then pushed a paper fastener through the ends of both. I pushed the fastener through the clock face and bent the backs so that there was plenty of height for the hands to turn around. I sewed the face to the front of the clock. I sewed the end of a white ribbon between the two pieces of clock dial, then layered that and some batting between the two clock sides and sewed them together. I actually added a small rattler to my clock. I got a stained baby toy for 50 cents at the thrift store and cut it open. I don’t need my quiet book to be silent.

I decorated my pocket with two rows of stitching along the top and used my paper pattern to do two rows for the decorative arch. I sewed the other ends of the two ribbons down under where the pocket would go, then sewed three sides down with double rows of stitching. I sewed the three belt loops on and ran a ribbon through it, tacking it down on each side on the back.

What do you think? For more free quiet book patterns, go here! If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. I really would love to see your version!

New to Imagine Our Life? there are more quiet book patterns here!

Lot’s of quiet books feature train pages. And there are also a lot that have a barn with finger puppets. Jax has started to point out all the “choo choos” he sees, so I knew I needed a train. And, I loved the idea of finger puppets, but wanted to do something original. So I ended up with a circus train!

I didn’t want the animals in cages. These guys are liberated animals who run their own circus! So Mr Lion is driving, Miss Elephant is in the middle car and Monkey is riding in the caboose. All the animals come out of their train cars, and the wheels spin around.

My materials were: two 9″ sky blue felt squares, felt (in hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, purple and black), alphabet ribbon for the “track”, 2 types of star ribbon for trim, embroidery floss for the hair (and all the stitching) batting scrap as the “Steam” and assorted colors of buttons.

Each of the finger puppets were decorated before I sewed the fronts and backs together. For the lion’s mane, I went in a circle making loops of embroidery floss then securing each with a stitch at their base. I did one row that was a mix of an orange color and a dark gold, then a second layer that was bright gold. His face covered the stitches so just the loops showed. For both the lion and the elephant, I made little bunches of floss and tied them at one end, then hid the tie between the two layers of tail. For the elephant I used a textured felt that is supposed to look like gray stone. I liked how it looked wrinkly.

The train cars are all sewn on with open tops so the animals can go for a ride. I cut out a random steam shape out of batting and sewed it to the background behind the smoke stack. The ribbons were sewn on before I attached the cars. Everything was hand sewn, but you could use a machine.

I cut tiny holes int he centers of the wheels then attached the buttons through the holes. This allows the wheels to spin but not come off and get lost. You could do button holes if you want yours removable. I’d use two layers of felt for that, though.

For more free quiet book patterns, go here! If you use this pattern, please add a comment or link to me. If you have any questions about how anything was done on this page, just let me know!