Away with the fairies..... arrived in the post

Isnt she beautiful! The very generous and clever fairy maker Ruth from "Away with the fairies" sent me her as a thank you for her new Fairysteps POD bag. Thank you Ruth!!!! She can look down at me as I make fairy shoes... hope she isnt too noisy.... I might get distracted! I feel a very lucky fairy shoemaker.

Fairy shoes by candlelight.....

Have I introduced you to my little bureau? It cost me £18 from the local dump and I love it!!! Yesterday evening when the sky was dimpsy I had the urge to paint the fairy shoes that were floating around inside my head. My notebook is full of sketches and construction notes for them but there is nothing like a good painting! The first 3 styles have been made, PUCK and THISBY have yet to get off the page.

The painting does at least show the 3 toe shapes I intend to offer (subject to me actually experimenting and making sure they work!).

• FAIRY - Long and pointy, the most extreme, because fairies spend most of their time on their wings not their feet!
• ELVEN - Still pointed but much shorter, because Elves walk along way and are apt to burst into a run....
• PIXIE - Shortest point offset, because pixies are always naughty and this whole shoe looks like someone naughty should be wearing it.....

So thats me sorted! Time to cook tea now and continue with shoe orders later, else I will never get these fairy shoes made, and I am desperate to!!!

Catching up with the draining board....

Im going to talk about something that has NOTHING to do with fairy shoes now..... theres a change! Isnt it great getting jobs finished that have hung around for years not getting done! Mr Fairysteps built us a beautiful kitchen, sort of not fitted sums it up best. I love it! My poor wooden draining board was made by my husband from Ash timber which came from a tree felled by my father shortly after I was born..... quite nice bit of history there for me to ponder on when Im washing up.... the old china sink was being used as a cattle water feeder in a field..... It bears the scars are decades of use by countless women before me. I wander what they thought about when they were washing up? I very stupidly varnished my draining board and as it has chipped and warped over the years the water went under the varnish and has caused black staining where its beginning to rot. Eeek! A strip down and a good oil was needed. Next problem was when could I ever stop washing dishes for long enough to do this and put it out of action for a whole day to get the job done? I did it on Saturday..... it looks wonderful.... I am so chuffed.....! Theres a wonderful quote at the beginning of the 'Shelter' book by Lloyd Kahn.. "If in doubt, start".

I saw something nasty in the woodshed.... and a sneak preview

Actually my woodshed is full of nice things, like logs..... it was on the internet when I reordered soling materials ready for an influx of fairy shoes...... the cost of materials has increased so much that I way underestimated what I could sell the new fairy shoe styles for. Ooops!!! I think material prices are rising all the time during this recession, has anyone else noticed this?

Anyway, having looked at my old style prices Ive set the new ones at the lowest cost of those. Enough of the depressing money side of the affair.......

Onto the 'sneak preview' of the post heading..... let me introduce you to QUINCE. I shall let the picture speak for itself. A mass of ribbons and I am sorely tempted. My own pair of Oberon fairy shoes have been on all week and Ive driven in them, worked in them, gardened in them, picked gooseberries in them and slept in them... just kidding about the last one!

I am thinking of offering a shorter less dramatic fairy toe for less extrovert fairies amongst us who may not want to go the whole hog with a true pointy toe shoe... what do you reckon???

A midsummer nights dream......

OBERON

TITANIA

I am floating on a cloud..... I decided all in a rush that special shoes needed special fairy inspired names and what more apt than being inspired by 'A midsummer nights dream'. So I have spent the morning adding these as bespoke fairy shoes to the fairysteps shop and have named them after the King and Queen of the fairies. Thank you everyone for your kind and supportive comments. It helps so much when straightening out befuddled heads. I hope they will be popular! I have a handful of shoe orders taken a while back which I am working on now..... I will then be starting on fairy shoes. IN FACT fairy shoes are ALL I am making in future. There Ive said it!!! Its what Fairysteps began for after all. Sorry to anyone who may have been waiting for other styles but my heart just isnt in it, and you must follow your heart, always. Ive even been drawing pointy toed boots... PUCK I think........ I shall have to take them from paper to leather soon when time allows. As for now the sun is shining and its 4 o'clock teapot time!!

Hopping up and down in pointy shoes...

I have been a very busy Fairy Shoemaker over the past few days....... I felt an incredibly strong sense of 'fairyness' wash over me and its inspired me to somehow see a little more clearly!!!! The website has gone through soooooo many changes while I have searched for that certain fairy feeling.... and not found it. I have been using other peoples graphics, and although lovely, they just havent embodied fairysteps. So I made my own in the end. The whole look reminds me of the woods, and ultimately home. Perfect combination! And O my, what have I made here........ fairy shoes, complete with pointy toes, called JINX So many requests over the years for proper pointed fairy shoes and I could never quite get my little shoemakers brain around making them, but (and this is where the inspiration bit comes in) it just popped into my head yesterday.

The bronze leather pair at the top were the protypes, I havent taken them off since! By jingo they are comfortable. The 'Ive got it sorted' pair are made in damask rose nubuck leather.

Ive seeon oodles of homemade elf, fancy dress shoes on the internet and they are all wonderful but they lack durable soling. People obviously want pointy toed shoes? Ive heard of lots of Elven themed weddings where people have struggled to find suitably matching shoes.... I may have hit on the answer!

These fairy shoes have grippy rubber soles and can be safely worn outside, plus because the uppers are all leather they will wear for years (keep polishing though). The soling can easily be added to when neccessary by a cobbler, so they could last for a very long time! I have decided to not shape this style as it sort of adds to the wrinkly fairy appeal, plus they will then mould to customers own feet. I can make standard lengths for stock.

After a summer of fairy festivals...... who wants to throw them in a cupboard? Ive put some little holes in the backs so you can hang them up and remember all of those fairy memories when you see them. Each pair will come supplied with a leather lace for hanging.

And so the very last thing I have to ask everyone is...... What do you think????

Feedback would be much appreciated before I start mass producing them in the attic.......!!

Knitting bag update....

Time for a knitting bag update me thinks. Lots to see because Ive got lots on the go!

Yet another of the cover ups, this time made on smaller needles to scale the whole thing down for tiniest tiddlywinks birthday. Now all completed and already being worn constantly, including in bed...... it even went on a gnome hunt......

Just to prove that I am still knitting this one! And I am happy to write that I have split for the armholes and am frantically knitting down one sleeve.... Im on the home stretch once the other arm is completed. Dont you love sleeves, they give one hope that it will soon be all over and you can start another project....

And this rather bland looking affair will hopefully turn out just like Ive envisaged it in my minds eye. I would never normally have bought this colour yarn, but its pure cotton and very soft, and most importantly was in a sale so very cheap! The whole thing will cost about £5 once completed. It has a lovely lace pattern, even though I hate knitting lace. The pattern is another beauty from ROWAN and is called 'Peaches'. Its beautiful to knit, it feels like butter on my needles. I think the colour actually suits this pattern, it looks like tea stained lace. Ive eyed this pattern for years in my book and never quite got around to committing to it BUT after spending about 2 hours searching through patterns for a cardi that was feminine, vintage styled and fitted and hopefully something to keep forever I decided on this one. I must admit though I started another one first. A moss stitch rib affair which I decided to unpick 3" up the back. Never mind, not too much time invested. If it turns out well I shall knit another in some Rowan luxury cotton dk I have in the woolly hoard in a deep chocolate.... I knitted the start of this one last night in the garden, sat on a big tree stump while tea cooked on the fire......

The joy of knitting.... love it!!

Gnome hunting.... didnt catch any.

This is a Gnome throne.... look... theres one behind it, peeping out!

These gnomes are very rude.... I had to avert my gaze (after I took the picture to show you all).

Ive told the tiddlywinks NEVER to converse with strange gnomes.... do they listen??? Here they were blatantly caught in the act.

We went on a birthday outing to the gnome reserve at Putford, Devon, complete with picnic and sunshine! It was wonderful!!! I wanted every gnome there but alas we just came home with 2. One big and a teeny handmade one, clutching a golden heart. It was made by the lady who started it all. She must have spent a long time with these jolly little fellows because I think she had the happiest face I have ever seen. She was a very clever artist too!

We finished the day at the seaside amidst pools of shimmering water and sand.

Cooking in a garden....

The garden is looking more inviting this year than even before. I dont know why. Maybe its because I am plummetting towards 40.... the age of reason and enlightenment! Maybe Im getting wiser and know whats best for me!!!

Heres me... attacking an aubergine and showing no mercy. Sat in a plume of smoke, cooking tea. I cook outside whenever I can now. Usually every weekend, in the week if I can manage it. I love one pot meals and the fire takes such a tiny amount of twiggy wood to cook a meal that it makes environmental sense too. In fact I cant believe how little it takes. I love poking pots on fires.....

This is our revamped fire pit area complete with chipped bark bought locally. It needs to settle down. Temporarily using a pair of old concrete blocks for my rack until we can find our old bricks again.... they got moved..... where? Ive been cooking under the outdoor bath up till now but its a swine getting a kettle under a bathtub.

Fairy shoemakers are a miserly lot....

Look at this shocking picture above.... I write this post in shame.... call myself a shoemaker???? Ive worn these poor old TULIPS shoes for over 5 years now and whilst the holes in the toe end do help with Summer ventilation its a poor show that I am wearing holey shoes to start with! These were the prototype shoe of this style and I made them in a poorer quality leather. That coupled with non stop wearing (and I do mean non stop wearing.... I probably wear them at least once a day) has resulted in them being now holey. Trouble is the footbed has moulded so well to the shape of my feet over the years and they are so comfortable that I cant bear to throw them out. I may have a go at embroidering a flower on the toe or something.... Fact is I really do need another pair, trouble is that everytime I make new ones in my size I feel guilty and put them in the shop!