busy work for people with dementia for fingering
 

Does anyone have a pattern for I could make for dear friend who has demention. I don't know what its called I just call it fingering for lack of a better name.

I've heard some small quilts called 'fidget quilts' - they are lap size - maybe 12 x 18 or so - with different things to finger while holding them.

our guild president made one of these and i tried my hand at it too. i used a very busy fabric and that did not work as well as a plainer fabric. the hard part was to get the marble... i had to order them online. https://www.google.com/search?q=marb...w=1017&bih=685

Here's a thread I started a few months ago. It has info regarding how I make them and other people also gave hints on how they make them. I'm told the residents where I donate them use them a lot.

KenmoreGal2 - I was inspired by that thread and made one for my mother in law who is in a facility. My father in law was thrilled with it and said "mother likes it". I haven't had any more feedback. They told me she liked rosary beads but they didn't let her keep them in her hands so I found some beads on a thick string and sewed them on along with a zipper, a flap of fabric like a little book and several different size and texture buttons. The background was plain but everything else was very colorful. Great idea.

Wow, that touches me. Thank you for posting this. I love your idea of a rosary bead substitute.

Dementia is a demon.

There are lots of Fidget Quilt patterns/ideas on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pin...autocomplete|1

Local Memory Units
 

Our sewing circle had a blast making fidget blankets/aprons/table toppers. They used their own creativity and had lots of fun doing it. Local Memory Units were very appreciative of them

I became friends with a couple when I worked with the husband. They both retired, and I recently found out she had early onset Alzheimer's. I found out where she is and decided to make her a lap quilt. Thankfully for this thread I can make it into a figit quilt as well. Thanks for the ideas, it should be a fun one to make.

The ones we made were different kinds of fabric, from satin to burlap. Anything with a different feel. They are put together in squares or triangles or oblongs or a mixture of anything you want. I had a cut out teddy bear made of fur, so appliqued that onto a background with buttonhole stitch on my machine. Faux fur works great for such things.