a book for my baby...

I was blown away by this blog post from SouleMama back in May.  She and her kids made this fabric book for their youngest daughter's first birthday.  What an awesome idea.  What a perfect gift for a child who lives in a house full of kids and toys already.  What an incredible amount of work and there is no way I could do that.

Well?

I kept coming back and reading that blog post and looking at the photos over the next few weeks.  I even commented to my sister-in-law A "if I start now, do you think I could get this done by November 2?"  I eventually convinced myself that I could and I did made a book very similar for H for his first birthday.

Now A, once I showed her pictures of the finished product, said I was a super momma.  I happen to completely disagree with her.  I am just a stubborn momma.  My heart loved the idea, and my head said I was nuts to think I could do that with a house full of littles.  I maybe should have listened to my head, but I was just plain crabby that the sensible thing to do was not do it.  So my heart is happy that it is finished.  And I enjoyed doing it (even if I did have to fight for time to complete it).

Ten things I learned while making this book for H:
1.  Layout takes an incredible amount of time and is extra important with a book to make sure you have the order right.
2.  Take the time to think the whole project through and see if there were any ways to complete it easier without compromising the quality.  (I made big rectangles of the same fabric on both sides for pages which allowed me to use the same color thread for a longer time and that saved a lot of extra hullabaloo, and the only place I have two of the same pattern together is the very middle page.  If that makes any sense.)
3.  It is totally worth it to get higher quality materials.  (The fabric I got from our local quilt store rather than the big-box and it was oh so soft and adorable and wonderful to work with.  The photo fabric I used was awesome, and I also splurged for good batting which helped tremendously when putting it together.)  Ultimately it will save you time and frustration to get the good stuff.
4.  Think twice sew once, or spend a lot of quality time with your seam ripper.
5.  Seam rippers are amazing inventions.
6.  My kids are talented and love their brother and went beyond my expectations with what they came up with for their pages in H's book
7.  A bottom freezer makes an excellent table for cutting and planning.  (Sewing in the basement wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.)
8.  Always listen to my mother-in-law's sewing suggestions when she gives them...she is usually right.  =)
9.  If you think you have a dull needle, change it.  It will save you a lot of grrrrrrring at your sewing machine culminating in a completely bent needle because it was too dull.
10.  Completing this project over a months' worth of naps worked, but was hard (just when I would get in the groove of something H would wake up and I would have to stop).

It sapped about all the creative crafty out of me, but it was totally worth it. 

cutting all the pieces out :: layout!! :: beginning to sew the photos to the fabric

pinning the pages with the batting  ::  G - "look momma!  this little girl is helping her mom like I am helping you!"  ::  W putting the pins back in the pin cushion for me.  This is a job that I distinctly remember doing for my mom when I was little.  Although W did not put all the pins in by color like I used to do, he did match up my thread and bobbins

G helped turn a couple pages after they were sewn  ::  top stitching  ::  hand sewing the pages all together

H really likes it.  He "OOOooo'd" when he first got it, and loves to look and point at the people he loves on the pages.  He also likes to crawl around with it on his head, but that is just totally him.  I am so happy he loves it, just like I love this little guy so.

And in case you would like to read it, I am going to try to put a slideshow here of the book's pages: