Quiet Books, Part 1
The Early Years

One of my all-time favorite things to make are Quiet Activity Books for toddlers.

I made my first one in 2011 for my older sister's grandson as a Christmas gift.  Since I had never made one before, I purchased the I Can Do It! Cloth Activity Book pattern from Sew Baby.

 

It was a great introduction to making these books, and I followed the directions without straying from the pattern.   Sadly, I don’t have any pictures (or at least not any that I can find). 

I had so much fun making it, I decided that I would start a tradition - that each of my great-nieces and nephews would get a Quiet Book from their Great-Aunt Teresa for Christmas when they turned 2 years old.

In 2012 I made my next one for my youngest sister’s granddaughter.  Because I liked the size and layout of the Sew Baby pattern, I decided to use it again for my basic layout.  However, this time I changed many of the activities.  I continued to use the fleece mitten, clock, traffic light, and shoe from the Sew Baby pattern.

The bulk of the other activities came from Sew a Quiet Book by Modest Maven.  There is a link that opens a pdf file of the instructions and templates.  I also used the Circus Train, Mailbox and Breakfast food from Imagine Our Life to complete the book.

Refrigerator was my design.  Additional food is stored inside.

Finger Puppets were purchased from Restoration Hardware.  I don't think they are currently available.

Again, I was quite pleased with the results.  The books, however, were soon to become much more specialized.