My first

I started making my first quiet book about one year ago, at the end of year 2017 or at the beginning of 2018.

My first

I'm not really sure, when or where did I get the crazy idea to start making one myself. One motivator could have been the two quiet books, which were given to us by our friends, when their child outgrew them. They looked nice, but quite elementary. Both had about four pages, each of which had one small assignment. For example, open one small zipper or button. Tie one shoelace. Learn letters and numbers, but on one page there was only the letter A and inside an apple was a small worm, which could be moved a bit. Or number 2 and two birds, which could be seen from a window with openable blinds. (Pictures of them can be found at the end of the post.) But there weren't many pages, so only a few numbers and letters could be learned from there... So these books seemed quite pointless and not very entertaining.

It was probably around that time, when I remembered the self-made quiet book, which was shown to me a few years earlier. After that I spent some time googling, what exactly is a quiet book, how to craft one and what kind of games and activities others have made. I also looked for some self-made books, that could be bought online, but these seemed to be as pointless as the ones I already had. Furthermore - rather overpriced. So at some point I made a decision - I will make one myself!

Done as soon as thought of! Or at least started doing.
I gathered ideas from the Internet (mostly from Pinterest) and asked my friend what she had made - I remembered her books to be very interesting and thorough. Based on the ideas I had found, I assembled and designed games, which seemed most interesting ones to me. Some pages I designed from scratch by myself, but unfortunately I haven't got to crafting those yet. I always storm in to starting my handcraft projects - I get an idea, I make a plan of action, hurry after the materials and start crafting.

Some notes on different ideas

Sadly, sometimes the inspiration subdues half way down and the project is left undone. My first quiet book is also not quite done yet - basically it is ready and usable, but there aren't as many pages in it, as I would like it to have. The main reason for it was lack of time.

Crafting a quiet book in pretty time consumable, because there is a lot of work that needs to be done, especially on the little details. It took me about half a year to finish 6 pages (+ the covers), which included 5 different games. The book served its purpose - our a bit over 1-year-old kid had something to do in the car while we were on a road trip. But during that summer, our lives got very hectic and kind of complicated. To start with, I was about 4 months pregnant. In addition to the fact, that this pregnancy was much more difficult for me than the last one, I also had to take care of our 1,5-year-old at the same time. Which meant I was tired all the time. Secondly, we were having our house built, but the completion kept dragging on. As if that wasn't enough to keep us busy, the apartment we were renting at that time, was sold out. So we went to live out of our suitcases at my parents' house for 3-4 months. Basically, we moved 2 times during half a year. To conclude, it's been only a few months since we moved into our new house and I haven't had much time to think about sewing, until now.

One day, I was sitting on the couch and thinking, how being a stay-at-home mom with two kids can get quite monotonous and I could use an additional output for myself, so I would have a bigger feeling of accomplishment. Don't get me wrong - having kids is an achievement in itself and I'm very proud of them, but it doesn't feel the same, staying at home with them day by day. But then I remembered my yet-to-be finished quiet book and my imagination started rushing again.

My first quiet book is completely made of felt and most details are fastened by Velcro strips. This isn't the best combination. During the time, the felt has gone rather nubbly. Also Velcro fastens quite well on felt as well and children don't always fasten Velcro strips very accurately, so this doesn't improve the condition of the felt either. As a result, I decided to start making a new book sooner than I had planned at first - I want to try using other materials, hoping for a better result and easier crafting process. The second thing that annoys me the most about the book is the softness of the pages - some games need sturdier pages, to work better. I should research a little, how to make them stronger. But before moving on, I have on last page to finish, which I already started during the summer. This also gives me the opportunity to try using magnets instead of Velcro strips.

Even when I started planning the book I knew, that I would like to give it to my child for playing, before actually finishing all the pages. That is one reason, why I didn't sew the pages to the covers, but used rings instead. This gave me the liberty to add, replace or remove any pages, if I wanted to. In addition to that, it looks good and turning the pages is really comfortable. I am very pleased with my decision and I'm sure I will bind my next book the same way.

I veered off from the original plan by using very many ribbons to attach removable details to the book. At first, I didn't want to do it, but when the first numbers with Velcro strips got lost under the couch, even before I sew the page together, I decided it was necessary. As a result, the book looks much more clustered, but at least we still have all the pieces, which otherwise would be lost in the car or elsewhere. I still have to think, what would be the best solution, but I would like to make the new book less messy. Maybe I just won't make so many small details.

With and without ribbons

But I am very proud of the covers I made for my first book (especially because it is the first one I ever made). I put a lot of work and effort into them and I have to admit - they came out very well! I am also pleased with all the games I included, even though some of them could have been executed a bit better. The book currently includes these games: shapes, numbers, colours, the snail and the mouse and cheese game.
In the next posts I will talk more about these games, about crafting them and also about crafting the covers.

From the book we got from our friends

From the book we got from our friends