About Salley Mavor

I make 3-dimensional fabric relief pictures that are photographed and used to illustrate children’s books. I sew together different materials to create fanciful scenes in relief, much like a miniature stage set, with figures imposed on an embellished fabric background. My work is decorative and detailed, full of patterns from nature and found objects, all sewn together by hand with a needle and thread.

Gates to somewhere

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Salley Mavor

I took some photos of gates last week, while looking for shots in the fog. These first 2 aren’t so foggy, but they got me looking through my image files for other gates.

This one of a garden gate was taken in France a few years ago.

And this one is the entrance to my friends Kathy and Ray’s house.

Here’s a tranquil spot in New England.

In hilly San Francisco.

I took the next 2 photos in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. These properties looked a bit too perfect for me.

And 2 from historic Rt. 6A on Cape Cod.

it’s foggy today

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Salley Mavor

It’s relatively warm today (in the 40’s), but the snowy ground and ocean water are still chilly. Sometimes that combination creates a thick fog and today it lured us outside. After lunch, Rob and I grabbed our cameras and drove around Quisset and Woods Hole to take photos. This section shows another view of our seaside village, from a floating dingy surrounded by ice to the dormant communal garden behind Challenger House. Even in winter, Nobska light’s fog horn sends a warning out to sea.

Eli’s jacket

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Eli was born a few weeks ago to a librarian friend. It was a good reason to get out the sewing machine and find some suitable fabric in my stash for a baby jacket. What satisfaction to complete a project in an afternoon! I’ve been making this style jacket for about 30 years and have recently taken to embroidering their name on the front. Welcome to the world, Eli!

Last year my friend Terry and I made a quilt for baby Teo, which you can see here.

Felt Wee Folk revision sent off!

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Yes, it’s finished and sent off to C&T Publishing in California, two weeks ahead of the deadline! Here I am, mailing the box in the Woods Hole Post Office. It’s full of necessary parts that make a book; patterns, CD of manuscript, thumb drive of digital photos, slides, 4 x 5 transparencies and a photo log.

The revised edition of Felt Wee Folk should be out in the world about a year from now, in the Spring of 2015. After months and months of designing and stitching new projects, writing directions, making how-to models, compiling lists of materials, drawing out patterns, constructing scenes and taking photographs, it feels strange to come into my studio without the pressure of working on the book. I had forgotten about the amount of fussy details that need to be taken care of, like labeling photos and inserting codes into the manuscript. I hope I didn’t forget anything!

Now, it’s time to catch up on business, speak to quilt groups and make Polly Doll a new outfit for our upcoming trip. I’ll reveal the location later, when Polly’s ready. I couldn’t find her anywhere and thought she’d gone AWOL, but then I remembered that she’s been locked up in a case at the Cape Cod Museum of Art for the past few months. I’ll be picking her and the “Posies” artwork up next Tuesday.

Wee Folk coming into the home stretch!

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Just a quick post to let you know that I’ve got almost everything for the new Felt Wee Folk compiled and ready to send off to C&T publishing by the March deadline. Rob and I keep thinking of more still life setups to photograph, so I predict we’ll be busy adding finishing touches up ’til the last minute. This scene in the light box shows an array of project materials, along with a helpful cast of characters doing laundry.

Maker’s in Business interview

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Salley Mavor

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Liz Smith for her cable program, Makers in Business, which is taped in Lowell, MA. I heard about the show through my friend Mimi Kirchner, who was a guest on an earlier episode. Liz’s welcoming style, along with her knowledge and insight made for an enjoyable conversation. The series is focused on the business side of art, so in addition to giving some background information about what I make, I talked about my different experiences in the market. Thank you Liz, for having me as a guest on your show!

You listen to an audio version of the program here.

Speaking to quilters this month

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Salley Mavor

This February, I’ll be speaking to quilters at different locations in eastern Massachusetts. I love the guilds’ regional names; Cranberry and Bayberry. It’s always fun to talk to these groups, because they “get” what I’m doing and have a personal interest in sewing and making things. The presentations are open to the public for a nominal fee, so you don’t have to be a member of the guild to attend. I will give a slide talk, sign books and bring along some original pieces. “Birds of Beebe Woods” will come along this Thursday to Carver.

Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, 10 am, Plymouth County Cranberry Quilters, Carver Public Library, 2 Meadowbrook Way, Carver, Massachusetts. Members free; guests $5.00.

Bayberry Quilters, Tues., Feb. 25, 2014, 7:00 pm at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, Harwich, MA and Wed., Feb. 26, 2014, 9:00 am at Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Rd., Brewster, MA. Members free, guests ~ 5.00. http://www.bayberryquiltersofcapecod.com/

Rabbitat Giveaway winners!

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Poster – Rabbitat

Thank you to all of you who entered the giveaway to celebrate 10,000 views of the Rabbitat film! I found your comments fascinating and loved hearing about which materials you like to work with. I think that this was a good sampling of the kind of people who follow my blog. Most of you revealed your preferences for wool, yarn, felt, paper and fabrics of different kinds. A more eclectic group won my heart, when they picked a variety of unconventional materials, from wire to corn husks. All in all, you are people who like to set your hands in motion making things–my kind of people!

And now for the winners! They are Ava Genho, a girl who likes to make little dolls, Vickie Conmy who works with Angora, which she shears form her own rabbits and Jonquilly, who praises Tyvek paper. I will contact them and shall be sending them each a Rabbitat poster.

Rabbitat 10,000 views Giveaway!

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Yippee! the Rabbitat film has been seen 10,000 times since it was released 2 1/2 years ago! The number of views has surged in the last few months, since I finally saw the obvious and put it on this blog’s About Me Page. Before that, the film was assigned to its own page, requiring some rummaging around to find it. Many people have also found the film through my Facebook Page.

Poster – Rabbitat

To celebrate, I am offering a Giveaway to 3 people from anywhere in this sweet old world. To enter, please leave a comment telling about your favorite material to work with. The winners will be picked at random on Feb. 1st and sent an autographed18 x 24 Rabbitat poster, which is also available from my Etsy Shop here.

Find links to blog posts about the process of making my piece, Rabbitat her e. A great big thank you to filmmakers Daniel Cojanu and Elise Hugus from UnderCurrent Productions for encapsulating my work in such an engaging way for 7 minutes. For those of you who haven’t yet seen the film or want to look at it again, here it is:

hunkered down in my studio

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Rob and I are spending every spare moment in my studio, taking photographs for the revised edition of Felt Wee Folk. We need hundreds of pictures for the new book and we’re making good progress! There’s barely enough room for all of light stands, wires and equipment. The light box creates an even, pleasing light, so once it was set up, we spent a few days taking overhead shots of the dolls and step-by-step samples. I just started writing the new chapters and directions, which I find requires a different kind of discipline than stitching. So, if I don’t post for a while, I may be absorbed into the world of words, telling instead of showing. We have another, larger light box that is good for the scenes. We’ve been taking pictures of the dolls all grouped together in a crowd, thinking that it would make a good book cover photo. Rob raised the tripod up really high to get the right angle. I wish you could see their little faces all looking up and waving, but that’ll have to wait until the book comes out in 2015.