Today I would like to introduce you to Valerie Rose and her Shabbat Quiet Book. I believe learning through play is the best way to learn and this adorable book is a great way to learn about Sabbath.
Carissa D: Welcome Valerie! Please explain a little about yourself and your quiet book adventures.
Valerie: Hi Carissa,
I am a Wife, mother of 2 adult children and now a grandmother as well as a Midwife 4 days a week!!
I have been sewing and stitching since I was a small child but now I have the delight of sewing and creating for my granddaughter Ella who will be 2 in March. She brings me such joy and my love for her grows each day I see her. She loves playing with a box of felt and ribbon offcuts and various empty cotton spools I have saved for her. She loves the different textures so fingers crossed she has my passion for fabric crafts and sewing.
I am a Wife, mother of 2 adult children and now a grandmother as well as a Midwife 4 days a week!!
I have been sewing and stitching since I was a small child but now I have the delight of sewing and creating for my granddaughter Ella who will be 2 in March. She brings me such joy and my love for her grows each day I see her. She loves playing with a box of felt and ribbon offcuts and various empty cotton spools I have saved for her. She loves the different textures so fingers crossed she has my passion for fabric crafts and sewing.
I am privileged to look after Ella every Monday while my daughter works. I have made her several quiet books already which she loves. They are full of texture and zips and removeable pieces. Most of them have a small animal outline hiding in the pages in a subtle colour for her to find and prolong the enjoyment of the book. For example, her beach book has seahorses and her Farm book has rabbits. Some pages also have crinkle plastic inside and even animal toy squeakers. It has been a great way to use my cherished scraps of fabric.
In this Shabbat Book I have sewn 10 cat faces throughout the book for her to find.
I try to personalise each book for her but hopeful one day there will be other little people to enjoy them as well.
Carissa D: I am a Sabbath keeper, so perhaps that is why I love your book so much. To me, Sabbath is special because God commands me to rest. I have a very valid guilt-free excuse not to study/work/clean the house that day! Where did the idea come from to create your Shabbat Quiet Book?
Valerie: I come from a Jewish Family and growing up we always had Shabbat every Friday Night. It wasn’t a strictly religious night but I remember my father would bring home a block of chocolate for us to share while we played card games as a family after dinner.
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| Valerie's daughter on Shabbat - way back when! |
My daughter married a lovely guy who is not Jewish and I am very careful not to push my beliefs on him and my Granddaughter Ella. Because Ella’s mother is Jewish Ella is as well by her birth right!
When my son and daughter were little we did not celebrate Christmas, instead we celebrated the 8 nights of Chanukah. I made them a large very simple Felt Menorah wall hanging with removable candle flames. To this day my daughter still tells me how much she loved it and looked forward to Chanukah every year.
In December my daughter asked us to come to her home for Chanukah and Shabbat for the first time! She has decided Ella is old enough now to have some Jewish input in her life. I was delighted of course and excited. I instantly knew I wanted to make her a special Shabbat Book, and so I did!
Carissa D: My favourite part of your book has to be your Kiddush Cups. You achieved such a good effect with the fabric choice and embroidery. What is your favourite section?
Valerie: I actually love the whole book! I was delighted how it turned out! My favourite page would be the inside cover of special Shabbat Fabric. This fabric has sat in my stash for over 25 years just waiting for the perfect project. And this was it!
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| Shabbat fabric Valerie had been stashing |
Carissa D: I love it when you find the perfect use for that thing you have been saving. That is what happened with my Psalm 46 - Be Still and Know that I Am God Tea Set Quiet Book Page. The herb fabric made great tea bags!
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| The herb frabric I had been stashing - made into tea bags |
Carissa D: How did you create this book? Did you make your own templates?
Valerie: The book is mostly created using machine embroidery files I have brought. See the list below for crediting:
I stitched the designs for the pages on a Black Cotton fabric as I really like the contrast.
The removable appliques were stitched on felt then backed with felt to hide the messy side. For the flowers I added a small ribbon for a leaf.
The Wine Goblet, Challah and Challah Cloth have a cat face hiding underneath.
- Bunnycup Embroidery - Flowers, Dove, Heart
- Embroidery Online - Moon
- tmmdesigns on Etsy - Candle Flames
- 4-Hobby.com - Candlesticks, Wine Goblet and Challah
- Secretsof - SewAZ Embroidery - Cat Face was from the C Block of the ABC Crazy Quilt Pattern
The words I made on my Embroidery Machine.
I stitched the designs for the pages on a Black Cotton fabric as I really like the contrast.
The removable appliques were stitched on felt then backed with felt to hide the messy side. For the flowers I added a small ribbon for a leaf.
The Wine Goblet, Challah and Challah Cloth have a cat face hiding underneath.
Carissa D: I would like to take a moment to thank you for your generosity in sharing the embroidery files you made for the words of this book - here attached in .jef format for Janome machines:
Carissa D: How long do you estimate that you spent on this whole quiet book from concept to completion?
Valerie: The book probably took me 2 days to make. There was quite a bit of hand sewing involved in finishing the removeable pieces.
Valerie: Haha! No plans for a Havdallah book yet but I am planning one for Passover and then one for Chanukah later this year. But first I want to make another Shabbat Book to keep at my house!
Valerie: My favourite post has to be the Car Travel Dice!
This has inspired me to make a travel snakes and ladders or similar for holidays and picnics as well as to help Ella with counting.
Carissa D: That sounds like an awesome idea! I would 💖 to see it when it is finished.
Carissa D: How old is your Granddaughter and how does she enjoy finding the 10 hidden cats in this busy book? Do you find that they distract her from the message of the book, or do they ensure the book is loved beyond measure?
Valerie: Ella was just over 19 months when I gave her this book. On the Candle page she immediately took the two flames and put them on the candles on the next page! She was very quick to detach all the pieces. With the wine and the bread she was also able to feed her “baby”. As most of her Fabric books I have made her have hidden animal outlines she loves to look for them. I believe she loves it even more as it is personalised just for her. She always “reads” the book first then goes back to find the cats.
Valerie: First I decide how many pages I will have, always an even number, plus front and back cover.
Then I cut a small oblong from scrap interfacing to represent 2 pages.
Then I pin them together to make a book.
On each page I would then write what will be on it.
Once done I can unpin the book and see the true page stitch map.
Once stitched etc iron on interfacing is applied and the 2 pages are sewn together right side fabric facing inside then trimmed and turned right way out and the small gap is hand sewed or if I am lazy a top stitch all around the double page.
Finally the pages are stacked on top of each other in the correct order and several lines are stitched down the centre to form the book.
This way works best for me at the moment. This book has 3 double pages which gives me 12 single pages to decorate and works very well but there would be room for more!
Carissa D: Wow! That sounds amazingly quick to me! Is that normal for a book made using an embroidery machine?
Valerie: Some take longer but this one just worked out really easily. Her other books have more details like zips and ribbons and buttons.
Carissa D: When will your Havdallah quiet book be coming out?!! Do you have plans to make a Biblical Festivals quiet book?!!
Carissa D: I am waiting with baited breath!
Carissa D: Which is your favourite Faith and Felt Obsession post and why?
Valerie: My favourite post has to be the Car Travel Dice!
This has inspired me to make a travel snakes and ladders or similar for holidays and picnics as well as to help Ella with counting.
Carissa D: That sounds like an awesome idea! I would 💖 to see it when it is finished.
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| Tahlia with her Car Travel Dice |
Carissa D: How old is your Granddaughter and how does she enjoy finding the 10 hidden cats in this busy book? Do you find that they distract her from the message of the book, or do they ensure the book is loved beyond measure?
Valerie: Ella was just over 19 months when I gave her this book. On the Candle page she immediately took the two flames and put them on the candles on the next page! She was very quick to detach all the pieces. With the wine and the bread she was also able to feed her “baby”. As most of her Fabric books I have made her have hidden animal outlines she loves to look for them. I believe she loves it even more as it is personalised just for her. She always “reads” the book first then goes back to find the cats.
Carissa D: What a sweetie!
Carissa D: Lastly, How did you bind the book and are you happy with the method?
Valerie: First I decide how many pages I will have, always an even number, plus front and back cover.
Then I cut a small oblong from scrap interfacing to represent 2 pages.
Then I pin them together to make a book.
On each page I would then write what will be on it.
Once done I can unpin the book and see the true page stitch map.
Finally the pages are stacked on top of each other in the correct order and several lines are stitched down the centre to form the book.
This way works best for me at the moment. This book has 3 double pages which gives me 12 single pages to decorate and works very well but there would be room for more!
Carissa D: Thank you so much for sharing with us Valerie. Once again, your Shabbat quiet book is lovely and I hope it will be an inspiration to many as it has been to me. Terrific job!