Connecticut Book Fair

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Salley Mavor

This past Saturday I gave a talk and signed books at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair, which is held every year at the UConn campus in Storrs. It’s a big affair, with about 20 different authors and illustrators giving presentations. Just before my slide talk was about to start, I learned that the ordered cartons of my book, Pocketful of Posies, had not arrived. They had a few copies of Posies (from the UConn Coop), some Felt Wee Folk and Hey, Diddle, Diddle!, but that would be it. I was stunned for about 30 seconds and then decided that I wasn’t going to let this taint my weekend at the fair. People had come to see me and I would give my talk and spend time meeting them even if there wasn’t a stack of books to sign. I had brought posters, so I signed those instead of the Posies book. I met some really nice people and one woman told me that she drove 3 hours to come see my exhibit and hear my 10:15 am talk! And my husband Rob had a great time schmoozing with the other authors and illustrators and their spouses. Oh, see my new leather and carpet purse from Turkey on the table next to me.

The highlight of the evening banquet was seeing my former teacher, David Macaulay. He was one of the authors at the fair and I was hoping to have a chance to talk to him. It had been about a dozen years since we saw each other last, so we had a really nice chat, catching up and reminiscing about RISD days. I was surprised when he pointed to his lapel pin, which looked vaguely familiar. It was a stuffed cloth pyramid that I gave him when I was his student in about 1977! His Pyramid book came out around that time.

I had completely forgotten about making it. He knew I was going to be at the fair, so he wore it! I was so touched by his thoughtfulness. I spent the rest of the evening floating on air. Read about my pins here.

We saw the exhibit of my original illustrations from Pocketful of Posies on campus, at the Dodd Center.

Here’s the sign at the entrance to the gallery.

The space is perfect for small work, with lots of cases and good lighting. The curator, Terri Goldich did a great job fitting 39 illustrations into the gallery. There are some comfy chairs and a small TV at the back where you can sit and watch my Rabbitat film, too.

A visit to Mimi’s

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I’m still catching up on writing about last week activities and will soon get to last weekend’s Conn. Book Fair and also post more pictures from my trip to Turkey.

I visited the talented doll and pin cushion maker Mimi Kirchner in Arlington, Mass. As you may remember from previous posts, Mimi inspired me to start this blog. This is the first time I’ve seen her new studio since she moved in. It was good to see that she has totally taken over the room. Unlike her previous quarters in the attic, she has heat and windows to look out of! Like her attic space, it’s chockfull of materials and inspiring objects. Downstairs, her inventory of Wee World pin cushions in tea cups were lined up on the piano.

And some dolls were piled in a wicker baby buggy. You can read more about Mimi and her work on her blog here.

Turkey (street vendors)

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Salley Mavor

We’re home from Turkey, still jet lagged and dazed by our experience. From now on, when hearing about Turkey on the news, I will picture the amazing sights, remember the taste of the delicious food and think of the friendly and playful people. I’m going through the hundreds of photos from the trip and will be posting them according to subject matter. Everywhere, there were vendors, from the streets of Istanbul to a remote rocky island with no habitation in sight. The first picture shows what looks to be a real live gnome sitting on a plastic chair. He was selling honey and jewelry on a desolate cove where we spent the night in our boat. We followed the sign to the restaurant, but found it closed for the season. The other pictures were taken in Istanbul, which throbs with commerce.

You could buy brooms, pails and mops…

drink freshly squeezed pomegranate juice…

eat roasted chestnuts and corn…

have your shoes shined…

buy fresh fish…

and nibble a pretzel.

Turkey – textile heaven

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Salley Mavor

This is our last day in Turkey and I have to share these images from the bazaars of Istanbul. There are textiles galore, with pushy carpet sellers at every turn.

I bought a few meters of this fabric to make into a shirt. I’ll be showing LOTS more pictures of Turkey when I return home.

Delectable Mountain

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I’ve heard about Delectable Mountain for years and finally got to visit this past summer. We’ve gone to Brattleboro, Vermont a lot lately because of my show at the Brattleboro Museum. We’ll be heading there again this Saturday, Oct. 15th for my talk at 3:00 pm. I was glad to find out that both the museum and Delectable Mountain survived the storm (Irene) in August.

Delectable Mountain is not your ordinary fabric store. Everything is beautiful and luscious; silk, brocade, buttons, trims. There are no bolts of cotton to be found.

Old lady’s hats are displayed among the fine fabric, scarves and buttons.

Remnants of silk are bundled together and laid out in boxes.

Larger pieces are stacked in shelves.

Looking at this fabric makes me want to conjure up a special occasion to make a garment for.

While I was there, several husbands waited impatiently while their wives became more and more mesmerized.

The button selection is to die for.

I liked the way they displayed the buttons in small glass dishes and bowls. It all glistened and sparkled.

I bought some of these bone buttons, along with some pieces of cloth that I couldn’t live without. This shop is well worth a visit!

Portland, Maine

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Salley Mavor

Last weekend, Rob and I visited our son Ian at his school, the Maine College of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine. I got up early and walked around the city, taking pictures.

There is nothing like early morning light with its warm, soft glow.

We walked down one of the piers and ate breakfast at the Porthole Restaurant, which has been here since 1929.

We liked Portland and can see why it’s listed as one of the most livable cities in the country.

I love the moss growing on the roof.

Oak Bluffs cottages

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Salley Mavor

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went in our motor boat across Vineyard Sound to Oak Bluff’s harbor. We took the launch ashore and walked the short distance to see the cottages in the Martha’s Vineyard Camp-Meeting Assoc. Campground.

The 300 or so mini cottages look like gingerbread-styled play houses, all nestled closely together, with barely a path between them. The cottages have an interesting history, with their plots originally holding tents for religious revival meetings started in the 1840’s.

In the 1960’s, cottage owners began to have fun, painting them bright colors. The early Methodists who formed the campground had a long “Do Not Do” list. I’m sure that they would be appalled at today’s collection of flamboyant cottages.

The original canvas tents were built on wooden platforms. Then, wood sides were added, with canvas tops. By the 186o’s tiny prefabricated “Carpenter Gothic” wooden houses were built in place of the tents. Today, 320 cottages remain, with 52 winterized and occupied year-round.

I’ve been here many times, but found new inspiration looking through the camera. Here are a few of my favorites.

magical island

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Salley Mavor

South of Woods Hole, most of the islands in the chain of Elizabeth Islands are private and protected from development. The only public settlement is on Cuttyhunk, which we visited earlier this summer (see post here).

Lately, I’ve been doing more adventuring than sewing, although I am working on something that I can’t show until later. We went to this particular island to visit our friends Heydt and Barbara, who are the caretakers.

We walked to the top the highest hill and took in the view, while Heydt shaded himself under an umbrella.

I brought Barbara some dahlias from my garden. Their old boat sits on the lawn near their house.

There were scrub pines in a low, sheltered area.

And bursting milkweed pods.

This monarch larvae was happily eating a milkweed leaf.

I found many dead horseshoe crabs washed up on the beach by the storm, Irene.

What a beautiful, peaceful day!

cruise to Cuttyhunk (part 1)

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Salley Mavor

On a calm day earlier in August, before Irene blew up our way, my husband and I took our boat to Cuttyhunk Island. It’s only an hour ride from Woods Hole to this little gem at the end of the chain of Elizabeth Islands. In the harbor, we met up with our friends Ben and Julie and they rafted their sail boat up to our boat.

We took our dingy to shore, walked around the town and passed the public library.

We had a lobster dinner.

And walked back down to the dock to take our dingy back to our mooring.

On the way, we passed acorn stand in a golf cart which operated on the honor system .

As the sun went down and the moon came up, we returned to our boat and spent a peaceful night on our boat in Cuttyhunk harbor.

to be continued…

Cruise to Cuttyhunk (part 2)

fiddlers on the roof

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Salley Mavor

As we were heading in from our mooring in Great Harbor we couldn’t help but notice some house boats had rafted together in a clump, with people all over. They were celebrating a friend named Kenny’s 60th birthday, Woods Hole style.