Team etsyBABY April Challenge – it’s STORYTIME!

When I participated in the Team EtsyBABY Spring Fling Challenge I did not realize we were going to have these challenge’s monthly.  When I received the following email I was extremely excited!  Yeah!  Another Challenge! Dear EtsyBABY members,
It’s challenge time!  We want you to tell us a story using your favorite crafting medium!
You may list as many as you want but only 1 entry will be eligible for the poll.  The winner will get official bragging rights. Here are the following details to participate in the Story Time Challenge:
A.  Design an item to be listed in your shop that tells/interprets an original or classic or modern story.
B.  All Items should be listed by the 1st of April.
C.  Include in the title listing : EtsyBABY Story Time Team Challenge. Write in either the title or the listing body what the name of the book or story is…
D.  Add the following tag to the listing: "EBST"
E.  A poll to vote for your favorite "EtsyBABY Story Time" item will be available on April 4th and will end on April 30th.
     All Etsybaby members can vote just once.
F: The use of licensed materials (ie Disney, Olivia, Dick and Jane) is prohibited
Please take the opportunity to use this for a treasury and to further promote the team and the challenge. Hmmm…a story huh?  I realized I would have to think about this.  In the meantime I continued to work on further editions to my Spring Flowers Series.  One night I decided that maybe I would try to put together a purse get I had purchased using a Fabric Central Charm Pack.  Once I started, I realized that the charm pack would make a gorgeous background for a boys quilt (I always have a difficult time making boys’ items…maybe because I have  two girls?).  So, I scratched my purse plan and sewed the charms together for the quilt back.  Then, I hung it up on my design wall.  I walked by it every day for a week and it reminded me I had to come up with something for the Story Time Challenge.  I also used a blue Faux bois fabric from my stash  for the border after reading the Etsy Finds I Wood, Wouldn’t You Storque article.  (and the color was perfect!) For some reason, at some point, someone brought up corduroy’s to me.  When I heard the word ‘corduroy’ I knew what I was going to do for my entry.  My next step was the library. On Saturdays they have story time at the Poynette Library and I decided that I would take Cedi to her first.  We got to the library a little early (first I had to get my coffee from Little Blessings) and then I found the book I was looking for. The inspiration for my project is “Corduroy" by Don Freeman.   I LOVED this book when I was little…and it would be perfect for my newest quilt! When I got back from the library (and a quick visit to a really nice new quilt shop in Lodi (Village Creek) I sketched  out Corduroy Bear.  I was going to appliqué him onto the quilt.  Once I had my sketch complete I cut out a piece of ‘HeatnBond’ and traced the picture onto that.  When I made this I new one of the best elements to the quilt would be the addition of special ‘feel’ properties I would add to it.  I used a suede fabric that I had to make the base of Corduroy.   The next thing I did was find a pair of my husband’s old corduroy jeans and I cut out the bear’s overalls from that.  It was perfect…a wonderful combination of suede and corduroy that any baby would love to touch and play with.  Typically I can just iron my appliqué’s onto the quilt and the heatnbond will hold it on until I do my last quilting.  I guess I couldn’t get it hot enough or something but the appliqué’s were not staying as they usually do.  So, instead of using the appliqué stitching as part of my final quilting I decided to stitch the bear onto just the top layer.  Once he was on securely I added the buttons!  If you know the story of Corduroy you know that he only had one button and felt like no one would choose him because of that.  So I stitched one button onto his overalls (using quilting thread and many layers to create extra security) and one to a random square in in the quilt portraying the ‘lost button’.  I also stitched buttons onto his eyes.  Once I had ‘Corduroy’ on the quilt as I wanted, I layered batting and a cozy blue flannel together and started to quilt.  I decided to keep it simple and just do random quilting all over the quilt and finished by outlining Corduroy.  I also did a fun stitch all around the border of the quilt (I consider this one of my signature’s for baby quilts).  I’m excited to hear what everyone thinks of my entry for the April Challenge!