Fresh Paint!

The Fresh paint show in Everett last weekend was fantastic! So good to be back to doing what I love!
We moved back to Seattle in late July, so I had about 4 weeks to prepare for the show...that's when I wasn't getting a bank account, buying a car, gettin a home loan and a million other little things you have to do when you move back from being out of the country for 3 years.

Copenhagen was a great experience and we got to see so much of Europe! I will miss my time there and the connections that I made with folks both locals and ex-pats. I must say, though, that it's good to be home and the biggest thing I learned from living abroad...everything here seems so easy now! I know where things are, I understand all that I see and read, and I know where to get a good cupcake! :-)

New show!! August 15-16

We are back in Seattle and I have my first show of the year at Fresh Paint in Everett. I'll be in booth 94 with lots of new work...including cupcakes!!

The Cupcake Sewing Factory

Baker's Dozen - the first cupcakes fresh from the Cupcake Sewing Factory!

The Cupcake Sewing Factory presents... Baker's Dozen! The first 13 cupcakes fresh off the sewing machine! As with any recipe, there are variations in the end product as we perfect our technique. These cupcakes are available "as is", but we will also soon be offering custom cupcakes. These measure between 7 and 8 1/2" square and come with a hanging loop on the back.

You can have a cupcake of your own from the first batch for 25.00 USD, plus shipping. #1 and #7 have been sold as of May 13th. Please contact me at sharonleebenton at gmail.com (please copy and paste the email address, replacing the word "at" with the @ sign.)

March Madness

March Madness has a whole new meaning for me now. The days are getting longer now, but the weather is still crap. So that means more daylight so you can see more crappy weather. Absolutely no sign of spring yet and probably not for two more months. Yeah, I am kind of bitter. The only thing keeping me going is the sun lamp and re-runs of "My Name is Earl".

However, there have been spurts of creativity here and there. Art-o-mat pieces are fullfilling because I can create so many of them in so little time. Here's the latest batch:



And I've also been busy formatting photos for art show submission. I submitted to two shows -Art in the Pearl and Inland Craft. I should hear back in April if I am accepted.

Here it is at home

Here is Let's Hyggelize at home. A nice bright accent for Dark Danish December Days.

Project Blehm becomes "Let's Hyggelize!"

Project Blehm was delivered 21 November, just in time to be hung for CPH Thanksgiving! Heidi held a naming contest and the finished piece is called "Let's Hyggeilze!"

Nanda came up with the winning name - very appropriate considering the very Hyggelig** time we had celebrating an early Thanksgiving with our CPH friends.

**Hyggelig is a Danish term that loosely translated means cozy, comfortable, friendly.

The Tale of Two Backings

Tuesday: The plan for hanging this quilt was to add a second backing into which I could slip a piece of foamcore, then add a hanging wire. Well. For many reasons that did not work out. Tuesday eveing I put the quilt down. I knew what I had to do, but was not prepared to do it until Thursday.

At this point, I was rolling the quilt into a tube and hefting it over my shoulder to stitch the back and binding on:

Adding the velcro strip that was to be used to secure the backing after the foamcore was inserted:

Wednesday: Uncovered the quilt, looked at it, covered it back up. Considered my options.

Thursday: I knew I had to remove the existing back and binding and opt for a traditional hanging sleeve instead. I worked on this for about 3 hours, then took break to meet Heidi, Nanda, and Karine at a La Glace for the world's best hot chocolate. (Mmm) Back in the studio late afternoon to continue the work.

Friday: Finishing touches - added the last binding strip and finished hand-stitching the hanging sleeve. I made a sandwich of two pieces of foamcore with the quilt in between and wrapped it all in two layers of plastic and taped it securely. It has begun to snow - the first snow of the year - and I was delivering PB by train to Any and Heidi's. Probably a 5 minute train ride and 15 minute walk and man were my arms tired by the time I arrived!

Project Blehm. Completed November 21, 2008. Tomorrow I will take pictures of the artwork in it's new home!

Sharon in the studio

Here I am hard at work in the studio! I should wrap up PB on Monday, Nov 17th. Now just need a dry day to deliver it!! Guess that's what those giant garbage bags were made for...

The Finishing Toches!

Whew! This part always takes longer that I imagine. And I am just a little anal about it. Here's the process of the last two days, which has taken about 7 hours thus far:

Square the quilt: This involves trimming off excess binding and making sure all the sides are straight. In this case, I also have to make sure the two small pieces are the same length and width and they are the same length as the large center piece.

Attach the backing: Cut white muslin and fusible web for each of the three pieces. Iron the muslin to remove wrinkles. Iron the fusible to the quilt, then layer the muslin on top of the fusible and iron to attach.

Make binding strips: Iron fusible to the binding material, then cut one inch strips. This will be added to the quilt by stitching 1/4" from the edge, then folding over and ironing to the back.

Attach top binding: Attach binding strip to the top of each piece only.

Add the second backing: This quilt has an additional backing sewn on three sides and left open on the top. The top of the second backing is not stitched, as I will slide a piece of foam ore into this opening and then close with Velcro closures. The foamcore will help the quilt hang nice and straight.

Add binding to the other three sides.

Insert foamcore and add hanging wire for each of the three pieces.

Project Blehm is ready to bind!

Well, here it is stitched and squared and ready to be backed and bound. And a few more details just beacuse I like details. :-)

Continuing on Project Blehm - Hand Stitching!

After a fabulous week in France and Italy I am back in the studio working on P.B. Doing more detail stitching and also added some hand-work today!

Taking shape, adding more detail

My goal is to spend at least one hour a day on Project Blehm so I can finish it up! I know they are anxious to have some color on the wall during the dark danish december. I am making progress and adding more and more quilted detail, including some couched yarn (see the big red stripe).

Now I'm having fun! This is like icing and decorating the cake - the foundation is done and now it's all creativity and sweetness! Mmmmmm......

Two more shots of Project Blehm

Two images - one quilted, one before quilting. Contrast and compare.

The Blehm Project Continues!

Back in the saddle for a couple of days between vacations! (Tough life, huh?) I do miss working on this, though, while I am away. All of the background in quilted and now I am filling in the details.

Vacation Inspiration

I love the the play of light, texture of rocks, the patina of old paint. All inspiration for the next project

I

3 week vacation

Wow. Three weeks of vacation. More than we've ever done before. France and Italy. Fantastic. More later. Here's just a few photos...

Let the Quilting Begin!

I started quilting on Monday. Here are some details.

Final Design

Well, here it is! The top is pretty much fused. I realized I needed larger elements in the center to balance it (the yellow and purple circles). The colors aren't totally accurate in the photo - at least not on my monitor. The background is really more turquoise than blue and the little row of squares in the center look white, but they are really yellow. But, you get the idea.

Now to start quilting...after I clean off the sewing table.....

Have I gone too far?? Now What??

Is this too much?








I'm stuck. This is what we artist call being blocked. But you don't sit around saying "Oh dear. I'm a little blocked today. No worries! I'll just get on with life, pay the bills, clean up, buy groceries, trim the cat's claws, then I'm sure in a couple of hours I'll have a brilliant idea!!"



Crap - that's not right either!!






No your thought process is something along the lines of "Oh, god! Why did I agree to do this job? I'm a total hack! I'll never have a good/artistic/original/creative thought again! Can I back out? Can I pretend I forgot I agreed to do it? can I leave the country? Can I say the dog ate it?!"

It seems to be part of the process. I work with out a net, so to speak. I have and idea and just start. It builds and I get excited and I'm lovin' it! The piece practically designs itself..for a time. Then I manage to create myself into a corner and can't figure out how to get our of it. So I panic, I curse my empty mind, I curse the artwork, and why did I ever staqrt doing this 12 years ago anyway....

But then I breathe, let it sit for a few days and resume. Thing perculate, I stop obsessing, then it gets fun again. So now I am breathing and cleaning and otherwise distracting myself.

Evolution

Here's what I did today...it may change tomorrow! :-)