COZY READS

When I was seven, my mother made a “busy book” for her first grandchild, L.J., who was a toddler. She traced the page designs from a pattern and then applied them to muslin. She used fabric paints to color the designs, but the project also involved some appliques. I remember a shoe with a real lace, a button and buttonhole, a zipper and a snap. There must have been a few more tasks to practice, but I don’t remember. (It was too soon for Velcro.) When I came home from school on pre-Christmas afternoons, Mother would be sitting at the kitchen table working on that book. Of course, as with anything she made, it was perfect when she was finished.

Silas rolling over

Obviously, my child-mind was impressed. I gained a longstanding fondness for cloth books, and while it’s not the same as a busy book from scratch, I’ve been making cloth books from fabric panels for Grandson Silas. Seems like something I can do to encourage his early education. A child should be read to, even if he seems too young – even if his current interest is in perfecting his rollover technique.

I made the first book in December -- “The Night Before Christmas,” of course – from a Mary Englebreit fabric panel. I used heavyweight Pellon (stabilizer) to stiffen the pages, and I sent it off to Silas as Christmas approached so that he would receive important early training in Santa Claus lore.

Making that book was such fun that I had to make more. I just finished “Pat-a-Cake,” “a huggable and loveable book by Sandra Magsamen for Studio e.” With this project, I realized that batting between the pages instead of Pellon would indeed make the book “huggable and lovable” – like a quilt. I had some leftover scraps of batting which were perfect. I love this book, weird art and all.

Moving onto the third book, “Mother Goose Rhymes, Vol. II,” another Mary Englebreit fabric panel, I was going to use Pellon again, but somehow the pages weren’t quite straight with the world and I didn’t like the way it wasn’t coming together. Again, batting came to the rescue. Somehow the imperfections of fabric and stitching become less problematic in the puffiness of a quiltlike project.

I would love to keep making these cozy books, but it really isn’t practical. Hopefully, Silas and his folks will enjoy them for a year or two, but eventually a real book will work better. He will outgrow his fabric books, even as L.J. did. And even though I made them with love for Silas, I’m not affixing his name to them. Perhaps they’ll become hand-me-downs and bless another little one who snuggles into mom’s (or dad's) lap for a cozy read.

So, there it is! Two finishes off my list this week. (Of course, I’ve thought of half a dozen more I should add.) KW