Creating a Quiet Book!

My good friend Brittany and I decided to start the LONG project of QUIET BOOKS back in March. It's become such a huge project (including the creation of a 'quiet book group' which meets once a month at church) that I'd like to share what I'm making with people; particularly family and friends who all live so far away!

Quiet Books are cloth activity books for toddlers, generally great for church use (which we spend a lot of time at)! We're spending lots of time and energy doing our best to make them high quality, that will not fall apart with general use. The goal is to have it become a family heirloom!

We are using unbleached muslin for our pages. Mine are cut 11" x 11". I enjoy mainly using felt, with embroidery floss stitching by hand, a style learned from my awesome friend, Jeni Taylor! The only problems with felt are: it cannot go through the wash machine, and it can stretch & pull apart with use. I've taken precautions to glue or stitch a layer of muslin to the back of any pieces that will be played with, or double things up with extra stitching.

I hope you enjoy checking out my projects, and possibly get inspired yourself!

The Wash Line!

The very first page I attempted was a wash line with little clothes and clothes pins for children to hang up. The wash basket is a pocket for holding the clothing, and is reinforced with muslin glued at the back, so that the felt will not stretch. There is also a circle of velcro on the inside top, to seal the wash basket shut and (ideally) not lose the clothes!

The Apple Tree!

Pick the apples and place them in the bushel! Each apple snaps onto the tree. The bushel is a little pocket, open on top. I made sure to do plenty of glue (liquid stitch) under that tree, and some extra stitching within those snaps, to make sure all the pulling won't rip the tree up off the page!

The Refrigerator!

The refrigerator is one of my favorite ideas, and I'm so glad with how it turned out (especially the cute little food)! Kids can put the groceries away in the fridge (the grocery bag is a pocket). My friend Britt went so far as to actually make a freezer in the top section, as well as 'crisper' drawers at the bottom! She has many more tiny food items to separate into their proper areas, which are ADORABLE (including a head of lettuce and a bag of frozen berries)!

Camp Scene!

My boys love this two page camp scene! The tent is made from homespun fabric, with a basic zipper sewn in, then sewn to the page. On the opposite side is a sleeping bag which opens and velcros shut.

And of course, the little camping guy to play in the scene with (made of felt, and glued together onto a piece of fabric- he's not 3D):

Harvest Basket

The root veggies are ready to harvest! Radishes, onions and carrots need to be pulled out of the dirt & put in the basket.

Each veggie has a toothpick inserted to give it the stiffness it needs to insert back into the ground.

Each row is labled with its own handstitched garden stake (ended up taking me a looong time, but the effect was so cute I decided it was still worth it).

The Barn!

Open up the barn to the finger puppet barnyard animals!

The funny looking sheep (hey, I did my best!), the pig, and a horse, specifically sized down for enjoyment on toddler sized fingers (not adults, except maybe your pinky).

Shoes!

Learn to tie a shoe (when I find a right length shoelace for this), and open/shut the velcro baby shoe. This was my youngest sons actual cloth baby shoe, which I just chopped the top off to use.

Buttoned Shapes!

The kiddos will master their matching and buttoning skills while putting these felt shapes in the right spots! Each shape has a stitched outline in the matching color.

Mr. Potato Head!

The boys love creating their own felt version of Mr. Potato Head! A clear vinyl pocket stitched on the other side holds all the felt accessories to stick on him. I didn't put too much effort into the accessories, since they'll be lost more easily, and I can always make & add more later, as desired.

Tic Tac Toe!

This simple game is great for mom or dad to play along with. Simple felt & hand stitched Xs and Os have velcro tabs on the back to stick to the velcro on the board.

The Cover!

I was surprised that making this cover was the HARDEST part of this whole process! I really love the way it came out, though, so I'm glad I put as much effort in as I did. I picked out a heavy duty fabric from the home fabrics department, and doubled it up with felt inside to make it thicker and more plush. It takes so much effort to get perfectly measured, perfect right angled cuts/ironed edges/etc. Make sure to measure the width of two pages, and ADD at least three inches that will be for your binded center. It can be very deceptive when you fold it up around all your pages, making sure it's not too short (you'll have yor pages poking out the side)!

I picked out some super cute shiny silver magnetic snaps. They're the type usually used inside a purse or something. They were chunky & square, and I thought perfect for toddlers trying to close the book. They're also strong enough to keep it closed, without being too tough for a toddler to pull open (like some snaps can be).