Fidget Quilt

A young friend recently asked me to make her a fidget quilt to help with her anxiety during therapy.  I was honored she asked and readily said, “yes”.  I had been seeing these quilts online and had wanted to try my hand at it.  This was the perfect opportunity.

I have made several quiet books for my grandkids.  A fidget quilt is similar…easier…not so many pages.

This first picture is a compilation of supplies I had gathered to start with. Plans changed some as I went along so some of these made the final cut and others were added.  The black polka dot fabric is striking against the bright colors used for the activities.

What better way to brighten someone’s day than to see a big “SMILE” at the top of your fidget quilt.  I cut this out with my Cricut and ironed it on.

Probably my favorite feature of the quilt is the sun. It sits just below the big pink “smile” and with its own happy face (also cut out with the Cricut and ironed on).  It’s amazing how satisfying it is to tug on the beads and rings and pull them through the sun.

 

 

Just beneath the smiling sun is a button enclosed activity.  I’ll be honest.  I enclosed this one because I wasn’t sure, with her tactile sensitivities, if she would enjoy this textures of this one.  Come to find out, when she wrote me a thank you note, this was her favorite activity.  I love the way reversible sequin fabric feels too.

 

 

The bright orange square on the right side doesn’t look very impressive but there is more to it than meets the eye.  If you look really close you can see a spiral shape with a bulge in the top center.  That bulge is a marble that can be moved around the little maze the stitches provide.  It’s good for finger dexterity and just…well…fidgeting.

Where would a fidget quilt be without a zipper activity?  The big purple rectangle has a bright green zipper that, not only offers another way to fidget, but also offers a place to store small fidgety things like these stretchy bracelets.

The left side of the blanket is where I went a little crazy.  After it was all said and done, I wished I had switched the purple rectangle with one of these activities.  It would have been more balanced.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

The top left activity includes something to braid, something to tie and 2 stretchy loops to fiddle with.  The bottom left activity is just a variety of ribbons.

Putting all of this together and you get a fidget quilt that will hopefully soothe my young friend as she navigates through some difficult times in her life.

The fidget quilt is not really quilted.  I thought that would make it to thick and difficult to carry around.  Instead, it is backed with the most luxurious black minky fabric.  Who can resist running their hands over minky?