Quiet book sew alongs are a great way to get motivated and actually start making one.
They are held in facebook groups and possibly other online platforms (if you know of others please comment below), and are a great way for busy/stuck at home people to join in on a craft group. It can be difficult to find a craft group that you can attend in person, especially one tailored to a special interest such as quiet books. With an online group, things like the time of day doesn't matter as you can read, post and comment any time of day or night!
I run the Facebook group Quiet Book Sew Along, and aim to have monthly events from February to November. Ten months worth of quiet book pages are enough to make a full book (plus the front and back covers). You can sew enough pages for a book during the year and have December to sew it all together for a present!
Sew alongs are a great way to get inspiration, free patterns, advice and encouragement. I love seeing the variety that comes out of the same template used by different people.
Step 1: Join a Facebook Group that runs Sew-Alongs:
Aims for monthly events - February till November
Has run events in the past - you could join late if you are shy!
A French group
Step 2: Navigate to the Events tab under the group heading
Step 3: Click on the Event you would like to attend
Step 4: Mark yourself as attending the event (and invite your friends to join in)
Step 5: Get started - Print the pattern, ask questions, post progress photos, encourage others, have fun! The separate Event thread enables all of the posts relating to the Event to be separated from the normal group posts - so only those participating are notified etc (although you do need to set your notifications to all as per usual if you want to be notified anytime someone posts something new).
Do you sometimes wonder why you went to so much effort making a quiet book page when your little one prefers the simplest page in the book?
I think this page is suited to a child around the age of four, but older children will still have tonnes of fun with it too. They do need to be old enough for you not to worry about them wrapping the cord around their neck and choking on it if you are going to let them play with it unsupervised, however.
How to make my To The Moon and Back quiet book page:
I used a pen to copy the template onto the back of my velour fabric and sewed zig zag off the edge of the holes after they were cut out, but you could definitely do it before and then cut out the holes too.
I sewed the cord onto the rocket button and then hot glued the loose sections at the back of the button as well, just to make sure it would stay attached and not get in the way when threading. Sew the moon onto your background fabric using zig zag stitch along the outside edge, tucking the other end of the cord under one section. Leave the craters open to allow the rocket to thread it's way in and out through there as well.
I made this version for a cheeky little girl. Her name is Jannali, which is an Australian Indigenous name meaning "the Place of the Moon". I hope she gets a lot of fun out of it and it keeps her quiet when her Mama needs a break.
I think it made a good front cover.
Join a sew along!
This page is so easy and it comes together very quickly, especially if you use a button for the rocket. We did this page one month in my Facebook Group Quiet Book Sew Along. If you want to join in the fun, join the group, go to the events tab and mark yourself as attending, print the pattern and post your progress photos in event thread. It is a great way to keep yourself motivated, and you can ask all the questions you need and get advice from other quiet book makers.
In Genesis 17, God establishes a covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham, and Sarai becomes Sarah.
Memory Verse: “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.” Genesis 17:5 NKJV.
Materials needed to create the Abram becomes Abraham quiet book page:
5mm ribbon in matching colours to your white and coloured felt
sewing threads to best match the page
diaper hook and loop tape material (like velcro but doesn't wreck felt so much and is wider and can be cut to the size needed) - I bought this (not an afiliate link)
clear plastic - you can use tablecloth plastic or sheet set packaging
scotch tape and paper
hot glue and glue gun
scissors!
Firstly, cut out as many alphabet blocks as you need for the names you are making from the gray hard felt. I used: YHWH (4 blocks in white), ABRAAM (6 blocks in blue), SARAI (5 blocks in pink), and TALIA (5 blocks in green). You can add your own child's name if it has an "ah" or "ha" sound in it.
Tahlia's toy came in handy to trace around to make the perfect block shape for me
Cut out you letters as required for the blocks above - see my Letter Cutting Hacks post (I used the Sizzix method). Sew them onto the gray alphabet blocks in the center of each block. Work out the length of each ribbon required to trim each block (13cm from memory). Cut the number of lengths needed and melt the ends to prevent fraying. Sew a border around each block using the corresponding colour 5mm ribbon, tucking the end of the ribbon under itself to finish it nicely at the ends.
Cut out the pocket from your clear plastic and trim with ribbon in a simmilar manner as above. Place scotch tape onto your sewing machine foot so the plastic will move through your machine easily. I also place paper underneath part of my sewing machine - see my set-up on my Psalm 46 - Be Still and Know that I Am God Tea Set Quiet Book Page post. Sew the plastic onto your page on three sides leaving the top open to form a pocket. Place it at the bottom leaving room to sew the pages together at the end and enough room at the top for the writing strip.
Cut the writing strip from loop tape material and sew it onto your page at the top.
Cut as many hook tape backings as you need and hot glue to the back of each alphabet block.
Finished! Store blocks back to back in the pocket to minimise dammage that can be done with the hook side of the hook and loop tape material.
Difficulty Level = Difficult
It would be easy except for sewing the ribbons around the corners is a little tricky, but you will get better with practice! Sewing the plastic is very tricky if you don't follow the suggestions of using scotch tape and paper above.
Key Learning Areas and Skills
Genesis 17 - God gave Abram and Sarai new names to show his covenant with them
Spelling - learn to spell the names Abram, Abraham, Sarai, Sarah, and maybe some others
Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination
I heard something about this Bible chapter once and it has stuck with me. I don't remember where I heard it so unfortunately I can't give credit where it is due. It may have been a sermon - I'm not sure. But their words definitely helped inspire this quiet book page.
Basically, they were saying that when God changed Abram's name to Abraham, and Sarai's name to Sarah, He was breathing into their names (and lives). God added the "H" sound from His name YHWH (often translated as Yahweh) to their names. The "ah" sound is the sound made when breathing, so it was as if God was speaking a miracle into their lives. And when God speaks, things happen!
God created the whole universe by speaking. He said "let there be light" and there was light. He made a man out of dust, and when He breathed into him, he became a soul. When God breathed into Abram and Sarai's lives, they had a baby in their old age, even though they both laughed at the idea.
Who But You (Abraham & Sarah)
I had heard this before Tahlia came along, and it definitely influenced how I spelled her name. It HAD to be spelled with an "ah" in it. Many Hebrew names contain an "ah" sound, and I suppose it is only natural since God interfered with the name of the first Hebrew, Abraham.
As I have discussed in more detail in my post Tahlia's Quiet Book - Front Cover and First Page, Tahlia means "dew from Heaven". If I had known that the root word for "dew" in Hebrew was "Tal" beforehand, I might have spelled her name Taliah instead. I have explained all this reasoning to her and occasionally she now likes to spell her name Tahliah! I guess the more "ah" sounds the better hahaha (pun intended)!
I hope this page will become a special one to your child as well, especially if their name is spelled with an "ah" or "ha" too. May God breathe into their life, and yours.
In Genesis 19, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed and Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt, but Lot and his two daughters escape.
Memory Verse: “At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”” Genesis 19:15
Materials needed to create the Sodom and Gomorrah quiet book page:
A4 felt background sheet - I used cream
felt scraps in brown, orange, yellow, gray, light blue, sparkly white (or white plus glitter glue), and various other colours
This quiet book page was inspired by a page from Glued To Glory's Quiet Book #16: Old Testament Bible. If you want to simplify this page - head over to her site and take a look. Heck, just take a look anyway! The more inspiration the better.
Cut out a section of brown felt to cover the bottom half of your page and sew a horizontal buttonhole in matching thread towards the top of the brown and just to the left of the middle of the page. (You can use the template to line up where other things may be positioned to work out where a good spot is. This will form the pop stick slot for Lot's wife to be inserted in and out of so it should be wide enough for that but not much wider to stop her from moving around too much.) Then sew the brown felt to the bottom of the page around all edges.
Sew down your sun, the buildings, three little people and the right mountain. Double the felt for the left mountain and sew it down leaving the cave mouth open.
Cut out Lot's wife out of yellow felt and sew her down around all edges except the bottom to a piece of sparkly white felt (or add sparkles with glitter glue later), making sure she is facing the right direction for each colour. Cut her out and insert a pop stick, securing it and the bottom edge of lot's wife with hot glue.
Sew down the city in rows, adding your fire and brimstone furry yarn over the top of the two rows of city using zig zag stich before finishing with the city wall.
Finished!
Difficulty Level = Intermediate.
You will need to do a fair amount of hand turning of the wheel on your sewing machine as there are lots of small fiddly pieces.
Key Learning Areas and Skills
Genesis 19 - Learn about where our focus should be - on where we are going (Heaven) rather than love of our current situations. Also, there is a Tale of two cities going on here - repentance is the difference between the different treatment of Sodom and Gomorrah and Nineveh.
Inserting - insert Lot's wife into the buttonhole, then pull her out, flip her over and insert again! Explore the cave with your finger.
Imaginative play - Lot's wife runs away but looks back and becomes a pillar of salt
Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination
Verse 13 talks about the outcry that has reached the ears of the LORD against Sodom. The things reported to have been done there are recorded in Ezekiel 16:49-50. "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Whilst God longs to forgive and have all come to repentance, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed as a warning that sin results in death. You can read a thorough explanation of the text at What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? by Greg Koukl.
Had Lot taken the warning more seriously, would his wife have looked back? Yes, she was sorrowing for her other children who had not left with them, but should we also loose our salvation because someone else chooses not to accept it? Did she end up any happier? She showed that she cared more for her treasures that she left behind than for the favour God had showed her.
Jesus said that the people of his day were worse than those of Sodom - it is because they claimed to follow God, yet their lives did not reflect that. It seems to me that the Third Commandment applies to Christians more than anyone else. I know that mis-using the Holy names of God as swear words is not good, but it seems worse to me to claim that you are a Christian and then not live up to that claim as of course I frequently don't. People who use God's name as a cuss word probably don't even believe in God and therefore it is not such bad intent. But to actively say "I follow Christ" and then live life like there are no consequences to sin is to malign His name so much worse. We are giving Christ a bad name. People think that if that's what Christianity is like then I want no part of it, and we can hardly blame them.
Rather than miss out because others we care about are missing out, we should use our witness to encourage others to take the warning seriously. This world is destined for destruction, and we should make every effort to influence those we care about to accept God's love and provision of salvation. As the song Freely, Freely by Carol Owens says "Go in My Name and because YOU believe, others will know that I live."
This DIY felt board set has been a real hit! I think for the lower primary aged kids numbers and letters become pretty fun.
My sister says her kids wouldn't even know what a Hymn Board is. Even though they attend church every week, they go to a church where hymns are seldom played, contemporary Christian music dominates, and the words are projected onto a screen.
Fortunately for us, we often visit smaller country churches where a hymn board is still mounted on the wall and a Hymnal can be found tucked into the back of a pew.
I have been singing Tahlia to sleep with hymns since she was born so she knows a few and it melts your heart to hear her randomly singing them.
Because we believe in keeping the fourth commandment, our church also has a sunset times board on the opposite side of the pulpit to the hymn board. In Genesis God says there was evening and there was morning, the first day and so on. Like the Jewish people, we know that the day begins and ends at sunset. So it is handy to know what time sunset is so we know when Sabbath is coming.
I had intended that these would be part of a church (as opposed to Bible) themed quiet book, where Tahlia could copy the numbers from the board at church and kind of follow along with church each week. And they will probably make it there eventually, but for now we are having lots of fun with them mounted on our felt board like you would find them on a wall at church.
Tahlia has been learning to follow along with the words in a hymnal of late, and I have been encouraging her to flip through and find the right one that is coming up next based on what the hymn board tells us. Apparently that's not so fun... too much like school work I think. But for some reason the Hymn Board and Sunset Times Felt Board Play Set rates high on the fun scale.
How We Made the Hymn Board and Sunset Times Felt Board Play Set
A Sizzix Original and capitals lollipop alphabet/numeral die set or another method of cutting numbers about 2.5 x 3 cm in size - see my post on Letter cutting hacks. (Or you could just print them onto the felt using the sublimation/heat press method and save yourself a lot of sewing - see my post Sublimation Printing on Felt - Test).
1. Use the template to cut out your pieces (for the number cards it would be easier to rule up a piece of white felt and cut them out that way but I included the piece for size reference). I made 63 number cards (six of each number 0-9) and 3 colon cards for displaying the time. That way there is an extra in case one gets lost. My white felt sheet divided into 63, so that is how I decided how many to make. Plus 60 number cards is a common amount if you were to buy a set for an actual hymn board, so I figured there would generally be enough of each number required.
2. Double the thickness of your black runners by sewing them to another piece of black felt and cutting them out.
3. Position your black runners in the positions shown on the next two pages of the template. You can cut out the black runners places on the positioning templates and lay the runners in the position and pin, then remove the template. It doesn't matter if it rips when you take it off.
You could use this pattern to make a sports score board too!
4. Sew the runners down the center for the ticker ones and either the upper or lower edge of the thinner ones to allow the number cards to slide into the track formed.
5. Use an original sizzix to cut out the required letters and numbers and sew in place on the backboard and number cards. I used the centers of the zeros to make the colons for the sunset times.
6. Play with your DIY Hymn Board & Sunset Times Felt Board Play Set!
Baby likes to play too!
If you make one of these please tell us about it below or send us an email with a picture. It would make our day. It actually took me at least 1.5 hours drawing up the template on this one so you guys could download it (not including the design time so I could make it initially) so it would really make it feel worthwhile to see some pictures if you do make one 😍
