Nancy Gregory

Approximately five years ago, Nancy Gregory saw a little beaded necklace at an art fair. She bought the necklace – with a Scottish terrier and plaid pattern. “I started talking to the artist and found out that she was teaching classes in beading,” says Gregory, owner of Mango Dreams. At this point, she signed up for beading classes and started creating pieces primarily with needle, thread, and seed beads.

Today, Gregory works with all sizes of beads to make necklaces, earrings, bracelets, key chains, and badge and eyeglass holders. “I love beads! All beads! Little fussy ones, big chunky ones, glass, natural stone, intricate Bali silver beads….whatever. Beads just make me happy. I have a terrible time resisting a pretty bead even if I don’t have any plans for it,” says Nancy.

“I also work with yarn. Knitting is a very comforting thing to do in the winters in Michigan. I especially enjoy the natural yarns that you can felt,” she says. She creates purses, hats, and baskets that have been knitted from wool yarn and felted. The felting process subjects the wool to temperature extremes and, essentially, shrinks the piece into a sturdy, tight-knit wool fabric. She also knits fashion scarves and other accessories with the exciting new yarns.

As a “cat mom,” her love of cats led her to work with the Heart of Michigan Animal Rescue. Her volunteer work there includes producing their newsletter. Gregory is currently the president of the Midland Beading Guild, where she has also served as the vice president and program coordinator. Her work regularly appears at student exhibits at the Midland Center for the Arts’ Alden B. Dow Museum.