Fairy Slippers

Remember these? The Snow Queen slippers were made for an exchange a couple of years ago following Annette Emms pattern from Issue 50 of Stitch magazine issued by the Embroiderer's Guild. This issue is sold out but Annette does sell the pattern in her Etsy shop.

Our local branch of EG wanted to make these 3.5" slippers as one of our Early Birds workshops so I adapted the instructions for a hand made version thus enabling all members to have a go.

These gold slippers were made by applying gold foil to bondawebed black felt before fusing the top layer of red organza.

Dupion silk bondawebed to black felt, detail below

If you would like to have a go at a hand made version, here are the instructions:

Fairy Slippers by hand
Ingredients:

Basic sewing kit including beading needles & sharp scissors
Plain fabric 10" x 6" (not patterned) can be cotton, organza, silk or satin (tight weave is best)
Bondaweb 10” x 6”
Craft felt 10" x 6" similar colour to fabric
Coordinating sewing cotton
Selection of coordinating/complementary embroidery threads & fibres
Small beads, sequins, fine ribbon, trims etc for embellishment (these slippers will be approx 3.5" long)
Slipper Templates from Issue 50 of Stitch magazine or Annette's Etsy shop

Method:
Fuse fabric to felt using bondaweb, if you are using a sheer fabric like organza, consider applying foil or fine fibres to the bondawebed felt before fusing the top sheer fabric.

Using slipper templates trace 2 sets of uppers & soles onto felt side of fabric & cut out.

Blanket stitch in matching embroidery floss using 2 strands & small stitches around the edges of all of the cut out pieces.

Now the fun starts, decorate your slipper uppers using embroidery, beads sequins etc.

Once the decorating is complete, make up the slippers by stitching first the back seam of the uppers, then attaching them to the sole using small slip stitches through the blanket stitches around the edges, using one strand of embroidery floss in the same colour used for the blanket stitching.

Once the slippers are made up they can be further embellished around the top edges with beading, or couching fine cord or fibres etc.
Enjoy!

Green organza on green felt decorated with French knots & beading

JC Quilt Along

My practice block - centre points need improving

I blame this blog post & this Flickr album for tempting me to have a go at this and discovering that there are also great colourful quilting fabrics out there.......wow I didn't realise Kaffe Fassett made such stunning fabrics!

Kellie at Don't look Now has very kindly posted tutorials which are brilliant & is hosting this Quilt Along, click here to go there. While you're there, check out her amazing raw edge applique, I just love her tree pattern Lilly Pilly & may have to make one of those too!

My Kaffe fabric selection of yellows, limes & oranges........these on black background should make the colours pop, don't you think?

I ended up having to order these from Glorious Colour in the USA as the only quilt shop on our little Island has nothing like this in stock, nor do they even have any Civil War/Repro fabrics or Moda, would you believe......thank goodness for online quilt stores!

I've just made a few petals to start with......just to see how they look & have set this aside until my hexagon quilt is finished.

Quilting blogs & a little Blue and White

I know I've already said this but there is so much inspiration in blogland, here are a few I've come across & enjoy revisiting time & time again, one day will have the courage to leave a comment but have just been admiring from a distance up until now.

Kathy at Material Obsession in Sydney, Australia, which I discovered having purchased both her books & signed up for the Sue Ross BOM also has a great blog.I haven't started any of the Sue Ross blocks yet as I need to gain a bit more experience as some of them look a little tricky but I fell in love with the bright colour combinations so couldn't let this opportunity pass.

Another blog I enjoy is another Kathie from the USA Inspired by Antique Quilts , I just love the inspiration from old quilts & fabrics and Kathie makes some gorgeous mini quilts which I will have to have a go at too.

Wanting to learn applique to add to my patchwork & quilting skills I came across Janet's blog another Australian quilter who also makes amazing quilts and has some super tutorials on applique, thanks Janet for posting these, they have helped me tremendously. Scattered throughout this post are images of Blue & White 4.5" patchwork blocks I am making as an ongoing long term project. Some of the blocks are taken from the Dear Jane book, others made up as I go along & some are just classic blocks that have been around for centuries. They are all hand pieced over paper templates, the EPP method & one day will end up being a large sampler quilt. These are nice to make now & again in order to break the monotony of an ongoing larger project.

Hexagons

This project was inspired by finding this fabric & discovering this blog. I find myself drawn to the old fashioned Reproduction & Civil War fabrics & decided to use this jelly roll for my hexagons. Aren't these colours just fabulous?

1st diamond

After much deliberation I finally decided to make up diamonds with my hexagons & set about working out how far my jelly roll would go. Wanting to make a fair sized quilt I felt it would be safer to get an extra one, you know, just in case......

Hexagons back

As you can see from the above photo showing the back of the work, I'm no longer basting the fabric through the paper template but running the thread through & over the corner sections to secure it. This way the basting cotton remains on the back of the work, the templates pop out & you don't need to spend hours unpicking all this thread which will not show on the completed top.

This is the top almost complete as I just need to add a couple more rows of black hexagons to each end, then it's done. I have no idea how I am going to quilt this........any ideas anyone?

close up of top