Dare you enter?

Last week we visited Grandma's comfy cottage with her washing on the line. But Grandma's neighbour

is a lot less welcoming. Here the Wicked Witch lives, in a cobwebby house with strange symbols on the door. Incy Wincy Spider has taken up residence on the roof, at least till the rain washes him down. The witch is out and about, wearing a enchanting gold swirled dress and casting spells with her magic wand. She's certainly up to no good.

Every Wicked Witch should have a black cat. This one has sneaked out of the house and popped next door to Grandma's cottage, where Little Red Riding Hood has foolishly left the basket outside. The cat doesn't look like he fancies the fruit cake, but there may be a jug of cream at the bottom of the basket. I'm sure Grandma is good-hearted enough to let him have a saucer full.

Someone else with a large appetite is Tiny Dragon, who lives in this cave. He has been catching fish in the river and had a bit of a feast. The little bat in the cave seems a bit worried that he might be next on the menu. Unfortunately, Tiny Dragon is not very houseproud; he has left his fishbones all over the floor, and his treasure is spilling out of the cave. 

Finally, we have the intrepid Mouse of Hickory Dickory Dock, perhaps out searching for cheese. He's on his way up the clock, but if we notice the time, he'll soon be on his way back down when the clock strikes one. Hopefully he won't run into the Witch's cat. 

There were lots of tiny bits to sew on this week, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get the invisible thread through the tiny hole of the beading needle, and, even worse, trying to undo the invisible knots. A little bit of witch's magic might have made it easier!

 

Grandma's Washing Line

If Cinderella is looking out of her pumpkin-carriage window, she will have a great view of Grandma's enormous lacy bloomers on the washing line. These are surely large enough for the Big Bad Wolf to squeeze into, should he come calling, but Grandma must have very skinny legs, judging by her spotted socks. She is clearly a keen needlewoman and her cheerful patchwork quilt is out on the line too. 

At last, the frog has a crown. I had initially thought of this as a frog prince, but a better story is included  in 'The Starlight Princess' book mentioned last week. Here the frog is actually a clever princess with magical powers. In her frog shape, she marries the youngest of three princes and manages to outwit the lazy wives of the elder brothers. In this version of the story, she turns back into a princess and the pair dance away into the night, who knows where? A great ending for a story!

Like all fairy tales, there are many version of this, some of them not nearly so happy. There's some information about the story here .

Meanwhile, at the doorway to the Sultan's palace, someone has been rubbing the magic lamp. The genie is very flashy with his magic, bursting out in a flurry of stars. He's ready to grant the three wishes, but he's got a knowing smile on his face. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Horses and Carriages

One of the most fun parts of making the Fairy Tale Quilt has been adding all the tiny details, with whatever comes to hand. This week, the two lumpy horses on the quilt, with physiques that  look like they could barely stand up, let alone pull a carriage, have finally acquired manes, legs and tails, while their carriages have got some wheels, to make the job of hauling around princesses a bit easier. 

Cinderella has a roomy pumpkin to travel to the ball in, with little net curtains at the window and sturdy wooden buttons for wheels, which hopefully won't joggle her around too much. 

Cinderella's pumpkin carriage trundles off to the ball

Meanwhile, the princess from Puss in Boots is taking a ride in this fancy carriage, pulled along by a rare leopard patterned horse with a steely glint in its eye. I had fun decorating the carriage with ribbons and sequins, and glossy buttons for the wheels. The Ugly Duckling, looking rather cute, is splashing about in his pond as she goes by.

The royal carriage, about to be waylaid by Puss in Boots.

Like everyone else, princesses get hungry, so I've added a handy baker's shop for them to call in at. There are five currant buns in the window, round and fat with sugar on top, made from tiny chunky buttons with a white bead sewn through the holes.

Hopefully no-one has noticed the Gingerbread Man making his escape down to the river. I wonder how far he will get. 

Off goes the Gingerbread Man

There are some feisty princesses in this book, illustrated with beautiful embroideries by Belinda Downes. My favourite is the African princess whose husband hatches out of an egg. They live happily ever after, of course, but she keeps the pieces of eggshell, just in case he needs to go back from where he came. 

 

Little Trolls

Behind the recent parade of witches, ghosts and other beasties, the Fairy Tale Quilt has been progressing slowly in the background. It has its own share of monsters, though in my magical world, they are all quite amiable and unlikely to eat you, even if you do trip-trap over their bridges. The troll finally has his face back on, and sports a good head of woolly hair and plaited beard. It looks like he's doing a bit of a dance, maybe because the goats are all far away on the other side of the quilt. 

There's also a dragon on the quilt, looking a bit pensive. He's modelled after a favourite family toy, complete with pom-pom eye, although nowadays the real Tiny Dragon is looking a lot more raggedy than this. The brown shape at the bottom of the picture is his cave. Perhaps I will sew him a bit of gold and other treasures inside it, to please his dragonish tendencies. 

By the look of his stomach, Tiny Dragon has certainly just eaten something!

I enjoyed sewing the curly leaf stems onto the beanstalk, once I had finally decided which thread to use. It's a green perle thread, which matched the ric-rac stalk, and I have couched it on, rather than try to stitch with it. 

Trolls are common in Scandinavian folklore and there are some beautifully drawn ones in this 

a collection of magical tales illustrated by John Bauer, a Swedish artist. Like the one on the book's cover, these trolls dress themselves in furs and trinkets, and look out of the pictures with curious eyes.  

It doesn't hurt to have a small troll pottering about the house. This one was bought from a shop in Norway, picked out of a huge tub filled with his identical siblings. I wonder if he was pleased to be chosen? At any rate, he has made himself at home on my shelf, and is quite fun to draw, when I'm in the mood for a bit of sketching.

Tiny Troll and Happy Apple