I have had a ton of interest in how I did my quiet book for Noah. So this is a post for that. Sorry, everyone else. I will see you next post! For those interested, keep reading.
This was a project I knew I wanted to do for a long time so I had been gathering ideas here and there (thank you, Pinterest). This project from start to finish took me about a month and a half of sewing almost everyday. It can be pretty daunting to do a project like this, but I wasn’t going to let that overtake the experience of it. I made it my motto to take it one page at a time, rather than focus on the project as a whole. I can tell you that I am so proud of this and the hard work I put into it. Especially to have had it finished on a deadline (before leaving for our Tennessee and North Carolina trip). I did it! This will not be a tutorial, but if you have any questions, please email me!! So, here it is.
The cover: I saved this part for last because I was pretty particular about what I wanted but had no clue how to execute so I waited until I could talk it through with some people. I knew I wanted a 2 ring binder so that I could add or remove pages, but I also wanted the rings to be hidden (insert the help of dear hubs to help me engineer that one). I also knew I wanted something a little sturdier for the cover, but not a hard cover. I was going to go with denim until I went to my favorite fabric store Fabric Bliss and saw some fabric I wanted instead. She helped me decide what type of stabilizer to use as well and helped me problem solve some other issues I was having with the pages ($7.00 well spent). I had straps to add to the book so Noah could easily carry it but I got in too big of a hurry while I was sewing and forgot. Oh well, next one!
The pages I wanted were all based on what Noah is really into right now. The book is designed to keep him busy and learning and quiet so I picked things that he likes, but can be challenging for him. And it keeps him quiet because he is concentrating so hard. Win for momma!
Shapes page: He is able to match the shape and color. They are attached using velcro. The black box at the bottom is a pocket. I free handed all of this stuff and I learned that I cannot draw a star to save my life. I’m just glad that he at least can recognize it as a star.
Counting page: Noah likes the repetitiveness of moving things from one place to the other, so I thought that an abacus would be great for him. I had this cute little ribbon leftover from a belt I made him and yarn leftover from another project. Simple page. One of Noah’s favorites.
Buttons page: Noah isn’t quite ready for this page. It’s too frustrating for him at the moment. I learned how to sew a button hole and to not be scared of using the button hole attacher foot on my sewing machine. The vase is a pocket as well. This page teaches buttoning, unbuttoning, and color matching.
Peek a Boo page: This was the easiest page to make. When Noah opens the door, he will find various objects or pictures that I have secured in a plastic see-through pocket. For example: behind door #1 – a pic of him and Pa on a tractor, door#2- 2 firetrucks, door #3- 3 police cars and door #4- 4 balls. I used a fabric pen to write directly on the fabric. One of his favorite pages.
Traffic Light page: Each light attaches with a snap so Noah is practicing snapping and unsnapping. He is also practicing color matching. I realized that I absolutely cannot sew in a circle. I attached the lights with yarn (but need to replace it with something sturdier).
Barn Yard page 1: I think the barn is a staple in the game of quiet books. Mine is nothing fancy. I have a pocket in the barn that the finger puppets are placed in. I thought about making a closure for the barn but cut my fabric too short so, oh well. I bought a package of finger puppets for .99 at Ikea in the kids section.
Barn Yard page 2: This page is what gave me the idea to do the quiet book. Noah has a felt board that was given to us by some neighbors that he loves. He likes placing the tractor, the horse, the cow, the trees, etc on the board and moving them around. I knew I would have that in this book. The bottom half (green felt) is a big pocket to hold all of his felt toys.
Train page: Noah loves trains so I knew I was going to do a train. I drew the outline of the train on notebook paper and traced it onto the fabric, then added embellishments later. For the train carts, I knew that I wanted him to be able to put stuff in and out of the carts so I sewed them like a pocket. I also sewed a lot of buttons for this page. A lot! The thing I would do differently is to have the buttons snap or velcro. Noah really wants to pull off the buttons. I made the buttons sturdy so that part is okay. I just wish it was more interactive for him rather than putting the animals in and out of the cart. Next time.
Zipper page: This little boy loves zippers, plus living in Colorado and having 2 parents who enjoy camping, it wasn’t a stretch for me to want to do to this page. He likes putting Jake in the tent to go to sleep with his panda bear. The pocket at the top of the page is for a little compass that I bought at the Dollar Store and a little LED light.
I still have a few pages left to add. I want to have a “Tie Your Shoes” page so he can practice tying his shoes. I also wanted to make a page to keep a small notebook and crayons.
Resources I Used:
- Quietbook Blogspot - I referred to this website a lot to figure out what materials I needed and how to put the pages together. She also has a lot of links to other quiet books.
- Pinterest. I would look at ideas of others to figure out which pages I wanted to do first.
- The hubs. When I couldn’t figure out how to construct something or I just needed help figuring something out, he would come to my rescue. Have someone you can bounce ideas off of.
- Aurora at Fabric Bliss. She helped me problem solve various issues as well as helped me work through how to do the cover.
So there you have it! I was able to complete 10 pages plus the cover by Dec 9th. Noah took it on the plane and we got lots of mileage out of it. I also bring it with us to restaurants and other places I need the little man to stay quiet. So now I am ready for my next project! What should I do next???
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