My Bed Book

My newest children’s picture book, My Bed, Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World, brings readers on an international journey, showing children in varying cultures and home environments around the world. Each intricately rendered scene captures the spirit of a differnet place and way of life, all the while illuminating the universal theme of children sleeping safely in their beds.

Autographed copies of MY BED are available in my shop here.
Reviews like these are pouring in –
“(My Bed) is just stunning, calming and healing”, “ingeniously illustrated.”
“I am overwhelmed by the beauty and all the little details of each page.”

Watch this video to find out how I made MY BED.

See how Salley Mavor made the illustrations for her new picture book MY BED.

A Japanese translation of MY BED, published by Fukuinkan Shoten is now available in Japan.

A touring exhibition of the original embroidered bas-relief artwork that is photographed and reproduced in the book is now underway. Salley Mavor: Bedtime Stitches is traveling around the country, with bookings into 2027. More information about the exhibition (including a current schedule) is at the end of this post.

I shared the process of making the 3-dimensional bas-relief illustrations for MY BED on this blog, which involved stitching, embroidery and other embellishment techniques. Posts I’ve written about each page are listed here:

Title Page
Night Sky – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
Afghanistan – part 1, part 2
Ghana – part 1, part 2, part 3
Holland – part 1, part 2, part 3
India – part 1, part 2, part 3
Iran – part 1, part 2, part 3
Japan – part 1
North Africa – part 1, part 2, part 3
North America – part 1, part 2, part 3
Russia – part 1, part 2, part 3
Scandinavia – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
South America – part 1
Mongolia – part 1, part 2, part 3
Home – part 1, part 2, part 3
Animals (spot illustrations) – Rooster, Camel, Parrot, Elephant, Goldfish, Cat, Duck, Sheep, Rabbit, Cow, Crocodile, Giraffe, Dog, Pony.

The book’s author, Rebecca Bond, wrote a poem that celebrates the diversity of children from around the world. As the illustrator, it was my task to bring these children to life and create their varying environments.

SALLEY MAVOR: BEDTIME STITCHES

A touring exhibition of original artwork for my picture book, MY BED: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World, has been traveling across the country. The show is an opportunity for the public to see up close the fine detail and 3-dimensional quality of my bas-relief sculptural embroideries. Since its premiere in 2020, Bedtime Stitches has been exhibited in a dozen museums and is booked into 2027. Interested museums are welcome to contact me for information about hosting the exhibition. Please use the contact form at the bottom of this page.

What’s being said about the exhibition:
“Bedtime Stitches Provides Cozy Respite From a Tumultuous Year”
The Falmouth Enterprise
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“The genius of Salley Mavor’s meticulously realized imaginative worlds is just what we need right now.”
Artscope Magazine

Throughout the book, there are spot illustrations of animals on text panels. To see how they were made, click here.

BEDTIME STITCHES TOURING EXHIBITION

Sept. 11 – Dec. 19, 2020, Cahoon Museum, Cotuit, MA.
Feb. 28 – May 30, 2021, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mount Vernon, IL
Sept. 14 – Dec. 31, 2021, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA
Jan. 25 – April 10, 2022, International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, NE
June 7 – Sept. 11, 2022, Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, ME, Bedtime Stitches is included in the retrospective exhibition, What a Relief: The Art of Salley Mavor
Oct. 15 – Dec. 31, 2022, Historical and Cultural Center of Clay County, Moorhead, MN
Feb. 1 – Apr. 30, 2023, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner, WA
July 6 – Sept. 15, 2023, Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum, Carrollton, Georgia
Sept. 30, 2023 – January 7, 2024, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT. The Wee Worlds of Salley Mavor includes Bedtime Stitches.
Jan. 20. – May 5, 2024, Upcountry History Museum, Greenville, SC
July 27, 2024 – March 2, 2025, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY, Enchanting Threads: The Art of Salley Mavor includes Bedtime Stitches.
June 10 – July 20, 2025, Mariposa Museum and Cultural Center, Oak Bluffs, MA
Aug. 1, 2025 – Jan. 4, 2026, Mariposa Museum and World Culture Center, Peterborough, NH. This location also includes a wide selection of other work by Salley Mavor.
Oct. 31, 2026 – April 18, 2027, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA

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Visitors to the exhibition, as well as those of you at home with a copy of My Bed, can hunt for details in the artwork using the downloadable sheet below.

my_bed_hunt_printable Download

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We’re thrilled to welcome our new granddaughter, Catherine Eva, who was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA on July 19, 2026! She joins her parents Peter & Mary, and brother Eddie. They call her Kate, as well Cricket, which I hope sticks!

In this post, I share a behind the scenes look at the process of making a baby banner for Catherine. (See her brother Eddie’s banner here.) For several years, I’ve made personalized gifts for friends and family to commemorate special events like weddings and births. To see posts about this and other banners I’ve made, scroll through the archives here.

Earlier this summer, Rob and I decided to finally stop procrastinating and go through the stuff stored in the attic. We found plenty to throw away, but among the boxes, were treasures from long ago that my mother kept. To my delight, we discovered a collection of little girl dresses that my sister Anne and I wore in the 1950s.

I remember finding these dresses and deciding to hold onto them 20 years ago, when we cleared out my parent’s house, thinking that maybe someday a baby girl would come into our lives. Now, Catherine, the first girl in Rob’s family in 3 generations, will have a chance to wear these well preserved vintage outfits. I’ve already passed on some of the smaller sizes to her mother, Mary, who is all in favor of the idea!

MAKING THE BANNER
Read ahead to see photos, video, and commentary about making Catherine’s baby banner. The embellished felt banner combines two of my favorite things, hand embroidery and cursive handwriting.

The lettering is formed with DMC memory thread, which I wrap with embroidery floss. Memory thread is wire coated with a fibrous material which is easier to grab onto than slippery wire. Wrapping the wire smoothly and evenly takes a lot of practice, so it takes patience. The wire ends are bent over and wrapped, so that no raw thread ends are hanging out. If you’ve learned to wrap arms and legs for the wee folk dolls in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk, you’ve got a jump start on mastering this technique.

For these banners, I typically use variegated embroidery floss instead of solid colors because the shifting shades give the letters a more lively, natural look. Sometimes, when the letters need more contrast against the background color, I wind an additional single strand of lighter or darker shaded floss. I sifted through my collection of glass beads and picked out some leaves and blue petals to make a floral motif.

STITCH MINUTE VIDEO
The following video offers a brief overview of the banner-making process, with close-up views of wrapping, stitching, and embellishing.

I positioned the lettering with pins and stitched it to the felt pieces.

Throughout the process, I’m constantly adjusting the color and shade of the wrapped wire, by adding more layers of floss. Much like graphic design, the goal is to achieve maximum legibility.

I chain stitched spirals on the scalloped flaps at the bottom of the banner and later sewed four shells from an old souvenir necklace to dangle at the tips of the curves.

EMBELLISHING FELT BORDERS
I love embellishing with blanket stitching, especially with variegated thread. It’s a simple, but effective way to create an edge that looks clean and assertive, while also displaying a handmade quality. For me, it’s important to show that a real person made it, not a machine. For this banner, I created layers of felt pieces, which I blanket stitched with pima cotton (Watercolours by Caron).