I’ve been tired and the souricettes have been needy and nothing has been working quite right. I had no clue what I was going to write about. And then, my swap partner got the package I sent her! That means I can finally talk about that top secret project. I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats… And it is (drumroll please)……… a quiet book!
It’s only 6 pages but that’s a good thickness. More pages would have been too much. Each page is an 8 inch square with grommets on the side. There’s a layer of cotton batting in each page to make it more squooshy. My goal at was to have a modular book so most pages have nothing but a pocket on the back. My swap partner has a little boy the same age as souricette 2 but she’ll have another one soon. I wanted it to be possible to split the book up in case of fights. That meant each page had to stand alone.
One exception is the front page. Since there’s no activity on the front, I made an appliqué kite on the back with different textures. I figure the baby might like that one. The colors aren’t as good as I would have liked but I had to make do with what I had. So grey crinkle taffeta, grey corduroy, pink fleece, blue laminated cotton and pink tulle. I wish I’d had orange or green corduroy…
After the front page is the very first page I made. Thank you to Pinterest for that one! The flowers button on and off to work fine motor skills as well as color matching. The back is just a pocket with a button.
Next up is the second page I made and the one I’m most proud of. It’s a day and night page. It has a flap in the middle. Flap up is night, flap down is day. I made the same scene for both and added 8 velcro items to put where they go. I actually had a harder time finding truly diurnal animals than I did finding nocturnal animals. A lot of animals are actually crepuscular, did you know? Zippered pocket on the back of this one. I was going for different closures. Fine motor skills and all…
Next up is an abacus. I was just going to do random beads but then I thought I might as well make it even more useful. So three rows of ten beads to be able to count to 1000. I sewed some vinyl squares to the side and crayon pockets on the back. You can write on the vinyl with the crayons and it washes off with a wet washcloth. So mom can write a number or draw some dots and have kiddo move the appropriate number of beads.
The second last page is a puzzle page. Pinterest again! Simple enough. I just sewed a 6 inch square of felt on and topstitched some lines to make 9 2 inch squares. And then I made two 9 piece puzzles. The pocket on the back has a snap and is big so the two puzzles can be stored.
Finally, I made a bee maze. Inspired by this page. Also found on Pinterest. That one covered two pages which didn’t work for me so I had to size it down. The bee lives in its hive and goes around the page collecting nectar. The numbers 1 to 10 are embroidered in the page, each one with a loop. You’re supposed to take the bee through the loops in order. Of course, a two year old might not do that but just threading the bee will be work. On the back, I made a weaving heart (also from Pinterest) since I didn’t need a pocket.
I’m really happy with it! It was the most time and energy consuming gift I made for my swap partner and I really hoped she would like it. And she does! Happy dance!
Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?
Deux souriceaux 
This is great!
LikeLike