Ocean Counting Quiet Book Page

I’ve been so super busy between work and starting Jax’s Halloween costume, plus starting to get ready for our California trip in two weeks. I’ve also sewn a bunch of his quiet book  pages into their final double-sided pages with grommets. So much to do! But today I got another page done at last!

I love the beads-on-a-string style counting pages that are common in quiet books, and when I came across these ocean life beads in the kids’ craft aisle of Joanns, I knew I had my theme.

It’s a pretty simple page in terms of cutting and sewing because the beads are so crazy.

Here’s what I used: aqua felt background, felt (in natural, lime, yellow, hot pink, blue, orange, purple and browns), blue ribbon, ocean beads and embroidery thread to match.

I started by sewing down the sand. My page is 9″ wide. If yours is different, you’ll need to adjust the sand pattern accordingly. You can totally just freehand it!

I sewed down all the numbers then went back with pale blue floss and did a stem stitch border around them to make them pop.

On the coral, I made large French knots randomly all over instead of sewing it down normally. For the plant, I stitch down the center of each leaf. I sewed down the starfish, then cut out some pebble shapes in tan and brown and sewed them on.

For the counting beads, I used 3 lengths of ribbon. I would sew down one end, add the beads and sew down the other end. I also sewed the ribbons into separate sections so they didn’t droop. I then cut out some bubble shapes and sewed them down over all the ribbon stitching.

All done! I think Jax is going to love this page because he gets so excited when he sees these beads.

What do you think? If you use this pattern, leave me a comment with a link so I can check your version out!