Ribbon Quiet Book Binding Method

The Ribbon Quiet Book Binding Method is a very simple way to put a quiet book together if you want the book to be completely bound. By 'completely bound' I mean that you cannot swap the pages in and out. It is a completely bound book and will stay that way.

The pillowcase closure has been pulled back underneath so you can see the layers side on.

Explanation Video

This is a method I came up with after trying Debbie's tutorial of How To make Cloth Books from her website Cloth Books for Baby. I tried her method on my Up-cycled Clothes Quiet Book, and while it was super simple, I found that the spine was rather thick and difficult to sew. It didn't help that I sewed some of the clothes right to the edge of my borders, but I guess that is what you get when you make a quiet book. Very thick pages.

So to combat this issue, I tweaked Debbie's idea slightly and came up with the Ribbon Quiet Book Binding Method.

I must warn you, I put this quiet book together very late, actually very early, on Christmas morning last year. It came together quite quickly, considering. If I was using the traditional quilted quiet book binding method, I am certain I could not have finished in time.

I think I may have already attached my Pillowcase Quiet Book Closure to the back cover before that night, but I can't quite remember. Let's assume that I had!

Most of the pages were made by people in a swap that I went in, so I can't take any credit for those. Aside from the cover, the pages I did made for this book were for a Felt Board in a Fabric Quiet Book, and a pocket page to store the felt board pieces and random pieces from other pages. I wanted the pocket to be easily accessible from the felt board pages as it is not constructive to play to be having to turn the page to get to a pocket, especially when there is nothing attaching the pieces, and they would likely fall off and have to be re-positioned.

View of the book folded out with the cover and closure showing.

I positioned the pages in the order I wanted them to appear once put together, then sewed the pages on two or three sides (depending on how many ribbon spines or joiners were to be attached to them) with right sides together. Then I turned them so right sides were facing out before attaching ribbons to form spines or joiners between the pages.

This reduced the bulkiness along the seams, and meant that the pages could be stacked together and sewn down the middle to form a spine so much easier than with my attempt for the Up-cycled Clothes Quiet Book.

Mum was horrified that I didn't top stitch the pages once I turned them, and is worried that they will fray, especially if I need to wash it. I guess I am just lazy, and I will hand wash it anyway if I need to so I think it will be OK. The zigzag stitch should help with that too.

View of the ribbon joiner attached at the seam where the pillowcase closure is attached.

The book can be folded innumerable ways so that any page can be sitting on top.

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Let me know if you try my ribbon quiet book binding method!

Luke 12 - Where is Your Treasure? Quiet Book Page

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus talks a lot about possessions, and what they say about our priorities.

Memory Verse: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke:12:34

Materials needed to create the Where is Your Treasure? quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used pink.
• felt scraps
• ribbon
• large heart button
• trinkets for the treasure inside
• sewing threads to match ribbon
• the treasure chest template by Stephanie from Imagine Our Life

I'm not going to give a detailed explanation here because Stephanie has already done a tutorial on how to make the chest in her post. Of course you will need to make the loop of ribbon on the lid large enough to fit over your heart button, and sew the heart button in place on the bottom piece.

It is important to sew the chest pieces using a colour thread that matches the ribbon rather than the felt so that when you sew the pieces onto the page and you go over the ribbon it doesn't look funny. That's my opinion anyway.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

Getting the loop right is probably the most difficult section.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Luke 12 - This page tells the story of how it is better to store our treasure in Heaven, because on Earth our treasure can easily get stolen or ruined
• Imaginative Play - who doesn't like to find treasure!
• Buttoning - Opening and closing the treasure chest
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Luke 12

Devotional

As I was reading this chapter and wondering what to write the devotional on, one thing stuck out to me.  A man asked Jesus to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him. Jesus doesn't. Actually, he reproves both men with one story. A man had a bountiful crop and no-where to store it, so he decided to build new barns so he could store it all up for himself and sit back and relax and not work anymore. Instead he dies that night and who knows who got to enjoy his bountiful crop. Jesus' point was that it is better to share what extra we have rather than trusting in our possessions to look after us. We can't look after ourselves by having lots of possessions anyway. For all we know, we will die tomorrow, and no amount of goods can change that.

The inheritance cannot save either of them, but God is the one who will meet their needs. And we can trust Him to because he values us much more than the sparrows, whom he never forgets. Life is about more than food and clothes, and God will ensure he looks after the basics if we stop chasing after them like madmen and take time to focus on the important things, like seeking the Kingdom of God and looking after others.

I used to be enthralled with the idea of self sufficiency. As I have grown older, I have begun to realize that self sufficiency is impossible. No one can grow and make everything they need. It takes too much effort and too much skill. Some climates are not suitable to grow certain things. We can do without a lot, but even so, I get exhausted thinking about everything I would have to do if I wanted to be self sufficient.

God created family and community so that we could support each other. We are supposed to need each other because that teaches us that we can't supply everything we need, and that we need to rely on God. The village baker and the village candlestick maker had very different jobs, but if you had a village full of butchers/bakers/candlestick makers (and every other job-ers), there would be a village full of hungry people with no working tools.

If we all focused on what God has given us that we could share with others and we would all benefit from the best of everything.

That man had a chance to ask the Lord of the Universe a question, and he blew it on "tell my brother to share the inheritance". I hope I would ask a more meaningful question than that, and receive an answer I could treasure.

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Where is your treasure?

Psalm 58 - Snail Quiet Book Page

In Psalm 58, David asks God to make the wicked like snails that melt away as they go along!

Memory Verse: "May they [the wicked] be like snails that dissolve into slime" Psalm 58:8a

Materials needed to create the Snail quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used sky blue.
• felt scraps
• rik rak
• sheer printed organza or other colourful sheer material
• embroidered flower motifs or other hide-able object
• glass stone or marble, button, bead etc
• sewing threads to match 
• this snail colouring page from Coloring Pages for Kids (and a printer)

On your background sheet, arrange some green felt in the foreground to make grass and sew down.

Cut out a double layer of the same green felt in the shape of a bush. Sew the two bush pieces back to back. Then sew them down along the right top edge of the grass, ensuring you leave enough room to fit the snail along the rest of the grass.

Fold back the bush and sew/iron on your motif underneath.

Print and cut out your snail colouring page and use as a template. If you need a more detailed explanation, you could read how I used a colouring page as a template in my post on Jacob's Ladder.

Cut out the snail body and sew down, then add the eye pieces on top.

Measure how much rik rak you need by laying it over the snail outline. Cut a little extra to tuck underneath at each end. Melt the ends with a match so they don't fray.

Lay your organza or sheer fabric over the area where the snail shell will be. Pin your rik rak down in a spiral pattern over the top and slip in a glass stone or other item underneath the organza. Make sure there is enough room to move the stone around while it is still pinned. That way you can adjust it before sewing if needed. I started from the outside edge and went in towards the middle, then turned around a stitched all the way back out again. That will help to make it tough and be able to withstand being played with. Then trim the organza back.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The tricky part is lining up the rik rak. Also, make sure you cut out the snail shape after sewing it down and not before - I had to re-do it as I missed catching a section and there was a hole that the glass stone kept slipping out of.

This is Tahlia with her three pages of sewing on paper that we did after finishing the snail. She often sits on my lap while I sew and has been dying to test out the fancy stitches on the machine that I never use. So I let her.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Psalm 58 - This page tells about how ultimately the wicked will be like the snail - they will melt away and dissolve into slime!
• Imaginative Play - Garden play perhaps, imagine how big everything is when you are as small as a snail
• Button/stone/marble maze - push the stone around the track
• Shapes - learn all about spirals
• Peek-a-boo - lift the flap to reveal the (half) hidden flowers
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Psalm 58

Devotional

All too often, those in authority use their power to take advantage of others. Sometimes they are scary and they scare people into obedience. Sometimes they seem too difficult to stand up to. I guess David knew how that felt. The king of Israel was supposed to be looking after God's sheep, but instead he was hunting one of them down to try to kill him. David.

In a way this verse reminds me of the story of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz story.  She seems formidable until a simple bucket of water causes her great concern and she cries "I'm melting!" as she dissolves into nothing.

I guess my point is that the bucket of water is like a tiny bit of good or a tiny bit of faith. God and goodness are infinitely stronger than evil. In fact, wickedness is self-destructive. It cannot prevail against goodness.

This point was taken to heart by Desmond Tutu in his opposition to apartheid in South Africa. He knew he was on the winning side, because goodness always prevails in the end. Although living in a very volatile situation, he led his country to a war-less end to systematic racial discrimination and segregation, and advocated reconciliation through forgiveness. The country underwent a transition to democracy, and apartheid rule that had lasted over forty years was broken. It melted away because of goodness.

David had experience with that too. Everyone else could only see a giant problem when they looked at Goliath. But David knew that a little stone in the hands of faith could melt that problem. He trusted God to deal with his problems. Our problems might look insurmountable to us, but when you know how good and powerful God is, suddenly you have a way to dissolve them. Just ask Him.

“Good is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death. Victory is ours, through him who loves us.” Desmond Tutu.

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What would you like dissolved? Take it to the LORD in prayer and don't give up until He answers.

Genesis 8 - In The Ark Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 8, the Flood recedes and Noah checks by sending out a raven and a dove through a window in the ark.

Memory Verse: "When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth." Genesis 8:11

Materials needed to create the In The Ark quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet, I used navy.
• felt scrap for pocket
• Betty Lukens Felt book 07 Noah's Ark available at Koorong.
• sewing thread to best match the page and pocket
• scissors!

Cut out all the pieces for this page, and the two ark pages from the set leaving as much margin as possible. You want enough to make it easy to sew back to back and also to leave a flap on the respective sides so you can sew it down to the page along that and it can flip open. The Betty Lukens FAQ section has posted a cutting tips PDF.

Cut out the three sides of the window and door so they can open. Hot glue (or sew) the pictures behind the window and door.

Sew the two pages back to back, sewing around the top along the shape of the ark. They should line up fairly well. Trim the excess, remembering to leave a flap down one side to sew it onto the page with so it flips open.

Make a pocket by folding down the top edge of a rectangular piece of felt and sewing along that edge to reinforce it. Then sew it onto the middle of the page where it will be hidden by the ark.

Sew the ark onto the page along the flap, going over it twice so it is strong.

Pop the pieces inside the pocket (or better yet, play with them)!

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate.

Double check everything when sewing the pages back to back and ensure you leave enough margin to form a flap for the ark to flip open.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 8 - This page tells the story of how the Flood receded and Noah tested this by sending out a raven and a dove through a window in the ark
• Imaginative Play - Open the window to let the raven and dove in and out.
• Matching - Check on the animals inside and match the pairs
• Peek-a-boo - open the window and door to see what is underneath
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Genesis 8

Devotional

I always wondered what Noah and his family filled the ark with besides all the food they and the animals would need for a year or so. If I was planning a new life in a new world, what would I bring?
My sewing machine would be high on the list of wants, but how much good would it do me without electricity at the other end? Did they have items like this that they just had to leave behind because it would no longer be useful? I imagine they packed as much as they could to make setting up a new life as easy as possible.

I also imagined one of Noah's sons' wives being pregnant on the ark. When I was a child I guess I didn't consider things like sea sickness getting in the way of that, or the enormous amount of work looking after all those animals must have been. The first child to be born after the flood was born two years after the flood (Genesis 11:10). So I guess it didn't take them long to get organised enough to feel that getting pregnant was OK.

I recently had a dream where it was my family entering the ark, and as I was busily packing forgotten items, it suddenly hit me that all my debt was gone. I couldn't stop hugging my family and celebrating! In the morning there would be no more bank! I'm sure you can extrapolate this to mean Jesus paid our debts. But what really hit me was the physical debts gone. And that is also coming with Jesus' return. Money will become useless once again!

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What would you pack on the ark?

Genesis 4 - Cain and Abel Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 4, God accepts Abel's offering but does not accept Cain's.

Memory Verse: Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6,7.

Materials needed to create the Cain and Abel quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used dark green.
• felt scraps in thick white, thin white, stone, and wheat colours
• sewing thread to match each colour of felt
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
• various blind samples in stone and stick colours and patterns
• red and wheat coloured wool scraps
• an altar template - I used this activity page from Calvary Kids
• a sheep template - I used this image from Free Bible Stories For Children
• my wheat sheaf and altar sticks template
• instructions on how to do the wheat embroidery stitches by Mary Corbet on YouTube

Cut out the altar template as a complete altar, leaving space around the edge. Cut four of this from stone coloured felt and sew them doubled up to strengthen them. Sew them down leaving the edges that face the middle of the page open so that the altars become a pocket to store the other items in.

Cut the stones out of the template. Cut two lots of stones from blind samples, one from a light stone colour, and one from a darker stone colour. Hot glue them onto the altars using a mixture of light and dark stones on each altar.

Cut out the sticks background template and cut out doubles from dark brown felt. Sew them back to back. Cut out the sticks from a mottled brown blind sample and hot glue them onto the backgrounds.

Cut one the complete sheep template and cut one from some fairly thick white felt. Then cut off the legs and face of the sheep from the template. and cut out two lots from some thinner white felt. Sew them onto the sheep as it's wool coat, one on each side. Cut out the ears from the thinner felt and attach by hand or using a zero stitch length zig zag setting on your machine.

Tie some red wool around the legs of the sheep.

Cut out the wheat sheaf template and cut one from some fairly thick felt. Cut out two from wheat coloured felt. Hand embroider the wheat on first, then sew on either side of the thick felt with the wheat coloured wool layered in between. Tie the wool into a bow.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The sheep and bundle of wheat are the slightly harder elements of this page. You could simplify it by finding images online to print onto transfer paper and then ironing them onto the felt instead. This was the first hand embroidery I have ever done (aside from a few cross stitches and things as a child).

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 4 - This page tells the story of Adam and Eve's sons Cain and Abel, and the devastating result of sin
• Ordering - place the sticks and sheep/wheat in the correct order on top of the altar
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

 Read the Chapter

Genesis 4

Devotional

There is debate regarding why God was displeased with Cain's offering due to the fact that there are no recorded instructions given by God prior to this incident.

Some think that the reason was more that Cain's offering was proud and or selfish, not the fact that he had not brought an animal. Cain needed to trade with Abel in order to get an animal, since he was a herdsman and Cain grew crops. The other differing point was that Cain brought some of his crop rather than the best like Abel did, bringing fat portions of some of the the firstborn.

An offering can be, but does not necessarily refer to a sacrifice.

God did demonstrate what constituted a sacrifice for Adam and Eve before they left the Garden in the previous chapter, Genesis 3. God made them clothes out of animal skins. Most people think of them dressed as a cave man and woman, but it was most likely sheep skins they were dressed in, and therefore they were wearing white. The animals were used to cover them, and represented the covering of their sins. They were made righteous again by the shedding of the innocent animals blood which represented the shedding of Jesus' blood, which if they believed, would make them truly righteous. I am sure they tried their hardest to be good parents, to raise their children well, teaching them how to serve God and passing on this story and belief. In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 9:22 CJB. This verse refers back to Leviticus 17:11 in the old testament.

Also, Cain and Abel were grown men - Cain reminds God that wherever he goes, people will want to kill him, surely evidence that by this time, his brothers and sisters had also grown up and reached adulthood. So I assume this was not the first sacrifice they had done, and that Cain had previously pleased God with his sacrifices.

So, why do you think God was displeased?

Image Source

The mark given to Cain by God is very interesting. Jewish sources (Rashi and the Zohar) claim that the mark was a Hebrew letter. I imagine that it was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 'tav'  or "t" in English, which was in the shape of a cross and means "mark, sign, signal, or monument". Follow the transition of the shape of the letter 'tav' from early to modern Hebrew on the Ancient Hebrew Research Center website.

The purpose of this mark was to dissuade people from wanting to kill Cain, i.e. to save him. God continually offers us His grace, forgiveness and salvation, no matter how bad we think we are. I think there is a chance that Cain accepted God's grace and will be in Heaven.

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Did you learn anything through this quiet book page?

Tahlia's Quiet Book - Ice-cream Page

What little girl (or boy) doesn't like Ice-cream? This page encourages imaginative play, and imaginative ice-cream flavour naming!!! I can't wait to hear what Tahlia comes up with.

The pocket flap is designed to extend the page so it is tall enough to stack up lots of flavours. The bubble gum flavour on the top of the right cone is one of my favourites, and it was made by collecting a heap of coloured cotton scraps and sewing them down by machine.

I wanted this page to be it's own pocket. It was a challenge for myself as I already had the idea of one page per chapter of the Bible, which doesn't allow for extra pocket pages. Plus why not make each page as exciting as possible, rather than just being a filler in a book?

To reinforce the bottom pocket section, I just folded it in on itself and sewed the edge down. To do the top part of the pocket where the ice-cream hangs down past the pocket flap, I sewed two green spotted felt pieces together where I wanted the flap to end, but left both edges with a large length of hem below where the ice-cream edge now is. Then I sewed down the ice-cream tops on the top of the flap and over the seam extending into the length of hem. Then I trimmed the hem around the ice-cream tops and along the flap edge.

It took forever to create this page - around three weeks of evenings, and I did double of nearly everything so I could include this page in my niece Vashti's book as well. The bead work really slowed it down.

My mum made the pattern for this, which is a great personal touch for Tahlia, and something I really appreciate. However, I did have a problem on my machine with the wavy edge being a little tight to allow me to turn easily. Since then, I found a free pattern available from Wee Folk Art which will probably work better, so I will refer you to it instead of uploading my mum's template.

🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦

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What is your favourite flavour of ice-cream and how could you make it in felt? Comment below!

Sew a Hexagonal Game Board

I have been wanting to make a hexagonal game board forever... You can play lots of abstract strategy games on this board, including hexagonal chess and three player hexagonal chess.

I've been thinking about how to make a hexagonal board with ease, and when I went through my material stash and found this material with hexes already printed on it, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. But if you are a sucker for punishment, here is a link to a blog post by Candice of Sew Says You with awesome pictures of how to make quilt-as-you-go hexies.

So, this is the not-really-quilted game board I mentioned I was working on in my Placemat Game Boards post.

It is double sided, with a 91 cell honeycomb board (the more common one) on the blue side, and a 127 cell honeycomb board on the pink side.

Board Game Geek has a list of games you can play on a few different sizes:

• 37 cell; 4 hexagons per side
• 61 cell; 5 hexagons per side
• 91 cell; 6 hexagons per side
• 127 cell; 7 hexagons per side
• 169 cell; 8 hexagons per side

127 Cell Honeycomb Board set up for Batalo

I went through the internet printing off a myriad of board game rules and boards quite a few years ago, and I remember a game akin to paper scissors rock played with a queen, horse and bishop on a hexagonal board. I can't find it again, but I'm hoping it is with the stuff I printed off. I can't access it at the moment as it is in storage, but when I can, I'll have the board ready.

I did find a similar game on another site Pair of Dice Games where you can download a printable board, rules and counters.

Materials Needed to Make a Hexagonal Game Board:

• wool quilt batting
• hex printed material (in two colours)
• thin ribbon to outline the board
• thick ribbon for edging
• co-coordinating and contrasting thread

How to Sew a Hexagonal Game Board:

Decide how many cells you would like in your honeycomb board. Cut a square of batting slightly larger than the area taken up on your material by that number of hexagons. Fold it into quarters and mark the center with a pin.

Unfold the batting and place your first colour of hex printed material on top. This will be your smaller board. Line up the center pin with the mid-point of the central hex of your board. Pin the material to your batting.

Pin each hex and batting together around the outside edge of your board to make it easier to follow where you are going for the next step.

Sew through the middle of a ribbon along the outer edge of your game board so you can easily see where it ends when you are playing. Remember to melt the ends with a match to prevent the ribbon fraying.

With your needle firmly planted in the corner of each hex edge, lift the foot and pivot your material and ribbon ready to sew the next edge.

 Pin back the material out of the way. Turn your board over and place your other colour on top, again lining up the center pin with the mid-point of your central hex. Also make sure your boards are oriented the same way. Pin each hex and batting together around the outside of your larger board. You can turn the batting over to check they are lined up OK before you sew the next step.

 Sew a line of fancy stitch in a contrasting colour around the edge of your larger board. A fancy stitch is wider and will be more visible than a normal stitch. You will need to to this on the actual side you are outlining so you can see where you are going. My picture is of the other side so you can see why you need to pin the under side back (that way you won't get two outlines on the smaller board).

Unfold the fabric from underneath and Cut off the excess from your board. Leave enough room for your binding ribbon to stay clear of your contrast stitching.

Sandwich your thick ribbon around the outer edges of your boards and sew down. I stopped and started a new line of sewing for each side. 

At the corner I only sewed until I reached a pin I had placed perpendicular to the outer board hex, and then back stitched. That gave me room to fold the ribbon for the next side. When you get to the end, fold the ribbon under itself before sewing the last section down.

Enjoy!

And why not take the opportunity to talk about different strategies - Satan's, God's, and ours in how we can reach other people with God's love...

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Do you like to play any games on a hexagonal board?