Posies wins Boston Globe-Horn Book Award!

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WOW! My stitches are bursting open with excitement over this news! I’ve been holding my breath for a week, ever since Margaret Raymo, my editor at Houghton Mifflin called to tell me that Pocketful of Posies won the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book award in the picture book category. I answered her phone call while making soup from left-over sword fish. When I got the call about SCBWI’s Golden Kite award, I was making Portuguese kale soup. The message is clearly to keep making soup! Sometimes I think my artwork is like making soup, adding this and that, trying out different combinations of materials, sprinkling in a ton of French knots and then letting it stew until done. Thank you so much to the Horn Book panel of judges for selecting and recognizing my work. It feels like a door has been opened and I don’t have to hang out at the fringes anymore, even though I like being in the outskirts. (fringes, outskirts–I must be over-thinking the textile connection) With this new award, there’s lots to celebrate!

I don’t feel the need to do another book right away and will continue to explore new subject matter, experiment with materials, and above all, play with a needle and thread!

UPDATE: Autographed copies of Pocketful of Posies are available in my shop.

Rabbitat – part 2 (topiary)

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Continued from Rabbitat – Part 1 (driftwood house)

Back in December, when I started making this new piece, I had no definite plan, but knew that the scene would include topiary of some kind.  I had so much fun using animal shaped topiary in the Molly my sister and I rhyme illustration in Pocketful of Posies that I wanted to make more.

Molly My Sister and I, from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

I thought about animals with distinctive forms that could be identified easily and envisioned a rounded, contained rabbit with ears poking upward. I cut separate parts out of dark green felt and started embroidering branches and leaves. The eyes, nose, mouth and whiskers are wire wrapped with embroidery floss. I also sewed wire along the scalloped outside edge, so that the pieces could be bent and shaped. Two glass leaf beads make the eyes.

The body, head and limbs are all constructed separately and stuffed on the back to raise them up.

While I was working on the  topiary, I decided  that rabbits rather than people would live in the driftwood house and started constructing a rabbit family.

I also decided to turn the scene into a vertical picture and enlarged the dimensions enough to create a yard in front. Since this is not an illustration with size and type placement specifications, I was free to change things around as I went along.

This is how the rabbit topiary looks in the finished piece.

To be continued.

Here are some opportunities to see the original picture:

Rabbitat will be hung in my show at the  Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont from July 15, 2011 to March, 2012.

Rabbitat will also appear at this reception before traveling to Vermont:

Woods Hole Public Library, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Sunday, July 10th 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Reception to celebrate the Golden Kite Award for Pocketful of Posies. Original illustrations from the book will be displayed and Salley will give a brief talk. A short film about the making of her newest piece, Rabbitat, will be shown. See the film here.

windsurfing wedding pair

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Back in the 80’s, when my friends were getting married, I made portrait bride and groom dolls for their cakes. One memorable pair was Ben and Julie, riding side by side on a toy windsurfer. Julie showed me what her dress would look like ahead of time, so that I could match it.

I don’t think Julie actually wore red pumps at the wedding, but these Tammy shoes were the right size. Ben wore Ken’s leather slip ons. The shoes are stuck onto the board with double sided tape.

Over the years, the dolls had started to fall off the boat, so I reattached their hands to the boom. Now they can go back home to Ben and Julie’s. We went down to Woodneck beach in early evening, just before sunset, to take photos in the low sunlight. See other posts about  more recent wedding figures here and here.

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key chain doodle

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I made this key chain during the doll workshop in Muscatine last week. I’ve got to keep my hands busy, and this is my way of doodling, just taking a simple wooden bead, covering it with felt and decorating it with stitches.

I sewed on a flower petal we had on hand for the fairy dolls.

 The felt pieces fit around the bead like a beach ball. I used my favorite leaf stitch after the bead was covered.  Sorry this isn’t a tutorial, but I’ve sworn off writing directions! This kind of thing could also work as an ornament.

Nobska morning

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I biked to Woods Hole at 6am this morning. Here’s the view along Vineyard Sound, looking toward Nobska point.

And then going up the hill toward the light house.

And then Nobska Lighthouse at the top!

I biked further into town, past this charming house, which overlooks Little Harbor. What a beautiful day!

new page added-FAQ

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Salley finishing “Rabbitat”, May 2011

The same questions keep coming up about my work,  so I’m adding a page of Frequently Asked Questions. Things like, “Do you use a sewing machine?”or “Will you write another how-to book?” or “May I make and sell dolls from your book, Felt Wee Folk?” I’ve already written about most of the issues on this blog, but I can’t expect everyone to spend hours combing through all 233 posts.

See the FAQ page here.

weekend in Muscatine, Iowa

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I spent the weekend in Muscatine, Iowa, giving a doll making workshop and attending the reception for the Pocketful of Posies Exhibit at the Muscatine Art Center.

The 50 original fabric relief  illustrations fit perfectly in the museum’s modern exhibit space, which is an addition built onto an old mansion. The lighting was so well done that it looked as if there was no glass protecting the artwork. Thank you to Katy, Barb and to the other staff at the museum who made the show look so good! My artwork will be on display until June 19th.

In Saturday’s workshop, we spent all day wrapping pipe cleaners and sewing little felt clothes for our dolls.

Everyone made at least 2 figures, with fairies being the most popular.

In the past, I’ve learned that my students get stressed over painting the faces, so I brought bead heads that I had painted ahead. That way we had more time to sew. 

This well dressed little guy is being fitted with shoes. We had a great time working and chatting together. Marcella found out about the workshop on this blog and drove all the way from Wisconsin to make dolls with us! Sorry, but there are no more workshops planned.

At the reception on Sunday, I met Elaine and her 2 daughters, who came the longest distance–from Texas! She saw on this blog that the Iowa location was probably going to be the closest to her, so she planned a trip around coming here. This home schooling, children’s book loving family also toured several  Little House on the Prairie sites in the midwest, including ones in Wisconsin and S. Dakota. Impressive!

Closeups (barns)

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Houses are my favorites, but I also love to add barns my scenes. This first one is a detail from Picking Peas, which I made in 1986. I  used the sewing machine to applique the door and window, but hand embroidered leaves along the ribbon tree branches. See the full fabric relief picture on this post.

detail from "Picking Peas" 1986

These barns are on the title page of the first edition of Mary Had a Little Lamb from 1995. At this point, I sewed everything by hand and no longer used a sewing machine. The “snow” is an old linen table-cloth.

detail from "Mary Had a Little Lamb" 1995

Jump ahead 9 years to this illustration from the 2006 board book, Jack and Jill. I’m using wool felt, so the look is softer and more fuzzy.

detail from “Jack and Jill” 2006

The last two barns are from Pocketful of Posies. The roof is a piece of bark and the door is driftwood.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

This barn from the Mary Had a Little Lamb rhyme makes use of hook and eye parts. The lamb is about 1/2″ long.

detail from Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Rabbitat – part 1 (driftwood house)

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After working all winter long, I’ve finally finished Rabbitat! It’s large, compared to my book illustrations, measuring 24″ x 30″ , with a depth of 1 1/2″. I’m waiting for professional photographs of the finished piece, so for now I’ll just show pictures I’ve taken during the process. It’s got lots of parts, which I’ll be showing in several posts. This piece was unlike my book illustrations, which have to meet size and subject specifications and are planned out ahead. I let this project evolve by itself and just followed where it led.

To start, here are some drawings from my sketch book. My first ideas include a vine-covered house, which could be a topiary. A bunny showed up, too.

Then, the house became a structure made of driftwood pieces, with a rabbit topiary outside. I didn’t know who’d be living inside yet.

I combed through all of my driftwood and selected pieces which I could see as a roof and side beams and a doorway.

And carved them in spots, so that they fit together and lay down as flat as possible. I don’t know how the little chair appeared in this picture. Some of you may recognize it from another scene–the Driftwood Clan in my book, Felt Wee Folk.

I drilled holes at the joints and glued wire pins into the holes. That way the parts are held together, but the wire joints keeps the structure flexible. I don’t know if this description is clear, but I essentially use wire in place of dowel pins because I don’t want the joints to break while I’m manipulating and working on the house. I’m always adjusting things until the last-minute, so the joints need to be somewhat bendable.

I decorated the house walls with an embroidered chain-stitched vine pattern on felt. The green mossy patches have lots and lots of french knots.

At this point, I’d decided that rabbits live in the house, so I made a father and son to sit on the bench outside.

I told my husband Rob that I was making a habitat for rabbits and he immediately said, “Oh, it’s a Rabbitat!”

Continued at Rabbitat – part 2 (topiary)

See the Rabbitat film here.

See all of the Rabbitat posts here.

Berry Family dolls

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I brought the Berry Family outside for an airing. They’re a bit moth-eaten–a downside to working with wool. For the last couple of winters, I’ve gotten into the habit of bringing all of my felt and felt clothed dolls outside when the temperature dips below freezing, hoping to kill any moths.

I made the mother, father (4″ tall) and baby members of the Berry Family in 2005, as a Ltd. edition of 25. They are based on the patterns from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.  All of my Ltd. edition dolls are currently sold out and I won’t be making any more.

The Berry Family, Ltd. edition 2005