Close-ups (windows)

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Windows are opportunities to go from one world and into another. They are like mini stages, complete with curtains. I also like the way they provide a structure for bringing pattern and color into a scene. This series of window close-ups are all from children’s books I’ve illustrated. The first one is from You and Me: Poems of Friendship. There are clay “brick” beads framing the window and the ones on the wall are painted on gray felt.

Illustration from "You and Me: Poems of Friendship" 1997

The next two are from the board book, Wee Willie Winkie. The window box is made of wire wrapped in embroidery floss and the fence is a row of budding branches.

Illustration from "Wee Willie Winkie" 2006

The last group are closeups of illustrations from my upcoming book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.

Illustration from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Felt Cat Pin tutorial

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This project is from the first edition of my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects. I showed how to make the cat pin on HGTV’s The Carol Duvall Show soon after the book came out in 2003. Here are the same pieces we used in the step-by-step demonstration on the show.

Find out about books I’ve illustrated with fabric relief here. See more cats I made of felt in an earlier post here.

Felt Cat Pin from “Felt Wee Folk”, 2″ x 2.5″

Living without TV, I was unaware of the numerous cable craft shows and was unfamiliar with this new term “tutorial” on the internet. I’m slowly crawling out of my peaceful sewing room, but question how a person can both do their creative work and keep in touch with the vast sewing/fibers network! I suppose, like everything, it’s a question of balance. I hope that you enjoy this cat pin project and use it as a launching pad for other ideas of your own. You can read and see earlier posts about my pin business here.

FELT CAT PIN: To complete the project, you’ll need to understand how to do a blanket stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch and fly stitch.

Materials: 1″ pin back, pinking shears, embroidery needles, 2 green glass beads (about 1/4″), embroidery floss: black, brown, orange, gold, light green, wool felt: 2-1/4″ x 2″ pink, 1-1/2″ x 1-3/4″ blue, 1-1/4 x 1-1/2″ orange

Step 1. Cut out shapes from wool felt: orange for cat, blue for the middle layer and pink for the bottom layer.

Step 2. Sew the pin back to the bottom layer with floss or sewing thread.

Step 2

Step 3. Satin stitch the cat’s nose with double strands of orange floss. With brown floss, stitch the bottom end the cat’s nose.

Step 3

Step 4. Stitch the mouth and whiskers with double strands of brown floss. Sew the green bead eyes onto the cat face with black floss, stitching vertically to make the eye’s pupil. Stitch an outline around the bead eyes with a single strand of brown floss. With a double strand of gold floss, use a fly stitch to make cat’s stripes.

Step 4

Step 5: With double strands of orange floss, stitch the cat face to the blue middle piece, blanket stitching all around the outside edge of the cat face

Step 5

Step 6. With a single strand of light green floss, chain stitch the curly queue on the blue felt, above the cat face. Then, with double strands of light green floss, blanket stitch the blue middle section onto the pink piece.

Step 7. With sharp picking shears, trim around the outside edge of the pink felt piece. You’re finished!

Step 6

Close-ups (mittens)

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Mitten (n.) A covering for the hand, worn to defend it from cold or injury. It differs from a glove in not having a separate sheath for each finger.

Even though Spring is around the corner, we still have cold snowy weather. Here are some mittens that have appeared in some of my pictures, starting with a detail from the tempera painting “Laplander”, which you can see here. Then there’s a boy with red mittens holding a kitten from You and Me:Poems of Friendship. The cozy father and daughter scene is from In the Heart, where red mittens as well as hearts show up throughout the book. The balsam pillow and felt purse projects are from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects. Last is a boy dressed for winter from Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, which will be published in September.

detail from “Laplander” 1977

detail from “You and Me: Poems of Friendship” 1997

detail from “In the Heart” 2001

detail from the balsam pillow in “Felt Wee Folk” 2003

felt purse from “Felt Wee Folk” 2003

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Close-ups (hearts)

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This selection of hearts begins with a sleeping cat on a heart covered bed spread from my book In the Heart. Then there is a felt balsam pillow and a heart pin covered in french knots, both projects from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk. The last two are a chain stitched heart that’s part of the endpapers and a heart tart from “The Queen of Hearts” nursery rhyme (see in this post) from my upcoming book, Pocketful of Posies (Sept. 2010). The original illustrations will be shown in a traveling exhibition which you can find out about here.

detail from “In the Heart” 2001

balsam pillow from “Felt Wee Folk” 2003

pin from “Felt Wee Folk”

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Close-ups (winter houses)

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Houses appear so frequently in my artwork that I’ve divided them up into categories to show you in this Close-ups series. When you think about it, the shape is just a square with a triangle on top that can be depicted in any color and style to bring mood and stability. And houses are strong symbols of security that I seem to want in my pictures. This collection of winter houses starts with the winter section of a 4 seasons drawing I made at age 7. Then there’s a detail from a fabric relief piece called “Skating”. The next three are from the books, You and Me: Poems of Friendship, The Hollyhock Wall and Pocketful of Posies, which will be published in Sept., 2010.

by Salley at age 7

detail from “Skating” 1986

from “You and Me: Poems of Friendship” 1997

detail from “The Hollyhock Wall” 1999

from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Close-ups (the Moon)

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This series of moons are all details from some of my children’s book illustrations. The close-ups are from The Way Home, You and Me: Poems of Friendship, In the Heart, Wee Willie Winkie and Pocketful of Posies and Hey, Diddle, Diddle!.

from “The Way Home” 1991

from “You and Me: Poems of Friendship” 1997

from “In the Heart” 2001

from “Wee Willie Winkie” 2005

from “Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Queen with Duster

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Salley Mavor

In the late 1980’s, my 97 year old grandmother died and we cleaned out her house in Bristol, RI. Along with drawers full of old keys and costume jewelry, I saved a stash of garter clips and kept them in wait for a future project. Their day came in 1995, when I started working on Queen with Duster.

“Queen with Duster”, fabric-relief, 10″ x 11″, 1995

I’m always on the lookout for small interesting objects that can be sewn down and I liked the pattern created with the garters lined up. The figure started out as a bride, but evolved into a queen when she was crowned with a bejeweled pin.

a collection of my grandmother’s garters

Her dress is made from an old wool petticoat of my grandmother’s that was washed so many times, it had become very thin felt. The silver hairpins were also my grandmother’s and she made the tatting on the bottom of the skirt. See “Pink House”, another piece made with my grandmother’s things, here.

my grandmother, Louise (Salley) Hartwell in the 1920’s

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Close-ups (Winter Trees)

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Salley Mavor

This group of trees starts with a paint and crayon picture I made as a child of 7. Next is a detail of a painting I did in art school and then part of an early fabric relief winter scene. The last two are taken from my book, Pocketful of Posies.

snowman and trees, 1963

from “Laplander Mural” 1977

detail from “Skating” 1987

from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Close-ups (Cats)

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Salley Mavor

Today, I’m starting a regular series called Close-ups, which will feature detailed images taken from my artwork. I’m having fun grouping different subjects for future posts. There will be close-ups from my childhood drawings, student work, sculpture, illustrations and fabric relief pieces, all presented in somewhat chronological order. The following cats are from my books, The Hollyhock Wall, Felt Wee Folk, Wee Willie Winkie and the upcoming book Pocketful of Posies.

For a tutorial on how to make this cat pin, see another post here.

from “Wee Willie Winkie”

detail from Pocketful of Posies

from “Pocketful of Posies”

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Mimi’s pin cushions

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Salley Mavor

Mimi Kirchner’s Tiny World pin cushion

Mimi Kirchner inspired me start a blog because she makes it look so creative and fun. We first met in the 80’s at the Christmas Store, a seasonal cooperative in Cambridge, Mass., which is now named Sign of the Dove. At the time she was making wonderful hand painted ceramics. A few years ago, Mimi asked me to be a part of an exhibit she was putting together in Arlington, Mass. called “Still Playing with Dolls”. We’ve been in frequent contact ever since and I’ve been following her blog, Doll, regularly. She is constantly coming up with delightful new designs, never the same thing over and over again. One thing we have in common is the almost obsessive compulsion to make things. Am I right, Mimi?

Snowy Hill by Mimi Kirchner

Rapunzel by Mimi Kirchner

Mushroom House by Mimi Kirchner

In a recent conversation, Mimi mentioned that she remembers seeing some pin cushions that I had made to sell in the coop store decades ago. Here are some pictures of a house and lion I made in 1980, along with some pages from my sketchbook of that time. Now, with her Tiny World pin cushions in tea cups, she has taken the concept and made it her own, producing new beautiful designs at an incredible rate. I agree with Mimi, who says, ” I am a believer that there is nothing new in the world and we are all inspired by each other.”

Mimi has taught Tiny World pin cushion classes in her studio in Arlington, Mass. and now has a pattern for sale in her Etsy shop.