I have been watching with delight a house finch make her nest in a honeysuckle bush right outside the back door. She laid three light blue speckled eggs and has sat faithfully day after day even enduring a sand storm one day and rain the next. After baby birds hatched she and the father finch worked hard to feed these little ones. I was looking forward to seeing the new fledglings leave the nest soon.  One morning I looked out and the nest was absolutely gone. It must have been an owl or hawk in the night swooping down and carrying off the whole thing. All that work and attention coming to a sad end. Farewell. . .

Illustration from ” The Long Dark Scary Night” by Pat Holt

Dylan’s parents have just told him it is time to get ready for bed.  He is really quite afraid of the dark – just the thought of turning the light off is not something he is looking forward to -

I have been working on a Quiet book for my granddaughters to use when they are expected to be quiet – at church, in the doctor’s office or maybe on Sunday afternoon. It has been a fun and distracting project, not much pen and ink drawing getting done. But it is fabric art so I really haven’t deviated too much from the creative process. Many of the ideas come from other people – a few are my own.

Canada Geese study – geese in flight, sitting on nest and nest with eggs:

I added to the pages for the Quiet Book – some of these ideas are found on other sites for quiet books and some I came up with myself . . .

the sweet song of the robin whispers of spring . . .

pencil sketch of the European robin

The wool on this highland long haired sheep was the reason for wanting to attempt it’s drawing. So much character in all those curls!

I have been working up a storm on a fabric art project! Making a quiet book for my granddaughters. Another person has very nicely described a quiet book as:

“a set of fabric activity pages bound together with the intent of instilling calmness and restful playtime for babies and toddlers in the event of the numberless boring adult occasions that require a hushed atmosphere.”

I am making two books at the same time – the pages will be interchangeable.

These two pages will be for fruit snacks. The pockets at the bottom of the page are lined with plastic to keep the snacks clean.

Buttoning, counting and zipping . . .

buckle, flaps, and finger puppets . . .

counting and shape matching . . .

And of course, the cover with handles and a latch.

I have always loved to draw old fashioned wagons with large spoked wheels – the light playing across the wooden pieces and its shadow casting on the ground nearby. 

This is a slight deviation from my illustration work but I actually love working with a needle and thread almost as much as with a pen and ink. My two little granddaughters ages 3 and 2 are learning to sit quietly in church and there is another waiting in the wings who is age 3 months, so my daughter has been talking about needing a Quiet Book. I did a few hours of looking around online and found these are quite popular. There are so many ideas out there, ranging from simple fast done projects to intricately pieced and interactive pages. I plan to do most of my book using hand sewing and I will cite the placed I have used for my ideas to give them credit. When I come up with an original idea I may post free patterns to help anyone else making a quiet book.

I am looking forward to this project

I finished the first two pages except the grommets for the rings to go through. These are based on an idea my daughter is using already of a tiny notebook with one small sheet of simple stickers and one crayon. To prevent the crayon from getting away I hot glued the ribbon to the crayon and sewed the other end to the edge of the pocket. My daughter wanted to attach as many pieces with this method as possible so she doesn’t have to continually pick up fallen things during the sermon.

The purpose of the book is to keep the child quiet when very young and learning to have the discipline of sitting still and listening.  So I am going to try not to have pages that tend to very involved imaginative play but simple activities to promote sitting still. I also will probably use Bible themes for some of the pages.

I plan to make many different pages. My daughter will keep them in a removable cover (which I will make after I have a few pages finished) when getting ready for Sunday church she will pick a few pages for each child, this way one book will work for several children at the same time. I may design smaller covers for each child or some way to carry them without pieces falling out.

So the fun begins. . .more to come!

sites where some of my ideas came from

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/06/sweet-flowers-quiet-book.html

 http://thedagenaisdaily.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/my-first-quiet-book-is-finished/ 

http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/03/24/sandcastle-quiet-book-page/