Photo A Day, May 5

Bird

Today's theme is bird. I took this shot at a bird sanctuary in Key Largo. After looking at several similar shots, I noticed his eye had different expressions. I wonder what he's thinking. He's an old bird, as the sign said. Maybe he's thinking, "go away, I want to take a nap!" I do have a couple of him asleep. I believe he's thinking what a handsome fellow he is.

Photo A Day, May 4

Halloween Fun

The theme for today's Photo A Day challenge is FUN. This is my grandson Jack all set for Trick or Treat.

A Photo A Day, May 3

"What I Wore Today"

Warm balmy water, soft sand between my toes and beautiful sunshine. That's what I wore today. Went down to Ocean Reef on Key Largo for lunch; stuck my toes in the water. It was beautiful! 

Photo A Day, May 2

Skyline

May 2 challenge photo, Houston skyline, Nov. 2011 

Photo A Day Challenge

My friend Kathy Zeiben sent me this link to an online photography challenge: http://www.fatmumslim.com.au/2012/05/photo-day-may-its-time.html

We are to post a photo everyday that fits with the chosen theme for that day. This is the complete list for the month.

1. peace {something peaceful, a peace sign etc}
2. skyline {where the sky meets land, can be buildings, the beach, forest, whatever!}
3. something you wore today {while you're wearing it or not}
4. fun! {something you do for fun - big or small}
5. bird {a bird in the sky, an ornament, a picture, a pet etc}
6. you {a self-portrait, a picture of a picture of you, your reflection in the mirror}
7. someone that inspires you {could be someone in real life, someone well-known}
8. a smell you adore {perfume, a food, flowers, anything!}
9. something you do everyday {share something from your daily routine}
10. a favourite word {a word that you love to say, write or read}
11. kitchen {can be a picture of your kitchen, something from a kitchen or a cafe kitchen etc}
12. something that makes you happy {a person, a thing, etc}
13. mum {a picture of your mum, the word mum, a mum, mother's day celebrations etc}
14. grass {the green stuff that grows on the ground etc}
15. love {something that represents love, something or someone you love}
16. what you're reading {a book, a newspaper, a blog, a sign, a note etc}
17. snack {something you're eating as a snack}
18. something you made {food, craft, a child, anything!}
19. a favourite place {a place you love being in}
20. something you can't live without {something you'd rather not go without in your life}
21. where you stand {take a photo of where you're standing}
22. pink {something pink}
23. technology {something that uses technology}
24. something new {what's something new in your life?}
25. unusual {share something a little odd or weird}
26. 12 o'clock {take a photo at noon or midnight, whatever you're doing}
27. something sweet {a candy/lolly, a cake, a person, something cute ... anything!}
28. the weather today {is it sunny, rainy, cloudy today? Shoot it!}
29. a number 
30. your personality {show us your personality in a photo, a word etc}
31. something beautiful {share something beautiful in your life}

Peace

My photo for May 1. Taken at Fairchild Tropical Garden, 2010, Miami Fl. Dale Chihuly installation.

Mellow Fruitfulness

Full View

Finally I am able to share images of  my Seasons Challenge with you. Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine invited me to submit a piece for the challenge months ago but we were given strict orders not to show the completed piece to anyone until the magazine was published. Twelve artists were selected with three artists for each season; I was given fall. The only requirements were the size, 24"w x 18"h and it needed to have machine quilting. Needless to say, I was totally surprised, thrilled and so honored by the invitation.

Detail View

I made the outer border using the tissue fabric technique (visible on the left in photo above). Thin cotton, gel medium and then lots of scraps of tissue, candy wrappers, lace, newspaper, fabric and whatever else I could find that had text or texture. I applied another coat of gel medium and let it dry. I dry brushed paint in several colors over the surface and let it dry again. 

The border to the right or next to it is commercial fabric. Next to that is a small border of digitally printed and burned lutradur.

The fabric behind the leaf is also digitally painted with a leaf image digitally stamped onto the surface. That's what I used for my leaf design. I extended the lines of the leaf beyond the printed image, laid a piece of polyester organza over it and stitched over the lines. When I was through stitching, I burned  through the organza.

I created the heavily stitched small leaves by stitching on water soluble stabilizer in a hoop. Next post I will have photos of how I did this.

All of the Seasons Challenge quilts can be seen in the May/June 2012 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited. The magazine is available at larger Barnes and Nobles and Joann's Fabrics. Here is a link to the Machine Quilting Unlimited website: www.mqumag.com

The Eleven other artist who participated are: Sue Reno, Heidi Zielinski, Patty Hawkins, Patricia Anderson Turner, Eileen Doughty, Roxane Lessa, Carol Ann Sinnreich, Lea McComas, Patt Blair, Kate Themel and Kathie Briggs

Decision/ Faces And Places

"Decision"

by

Judy Momenzadeh and Michaele Shapiro

Detail View

We just received notice that our piece, Decision, was juried into the Faces And Places exhibit in St. Augustine, Florida. The exhibit is put on by the Fiber Artist Network. 

Faces And Places

Fiber Art Exhibit

A juried exhibit of contemporary fiber art

Butterfield Garage Art Gallery, St. Augustine, FL.

April 6 – 28, 2012

Juried by Gretchen Ebersol

fiberartistsnetwork.org

This piece has a lot of meaning to Michaele and I since we both have ties to New Orleans, which is where I took the photos. The main theme of the piece are the decisions so many had to make when Katrina approached New Orleans but I think everyone can relate as we are confronted with difficult decisions, big and small, on a daily basis. It's about the known vs. the unknown. The scenes were shot in the French Quarter on a visit there last summer.

We used one of my favorite techniques, collagraphy (a type of monoprinting), to add another layer of color to the photos. Five separate images were used. In the background we used flour resisted linen and upholstery toile. A design decision was made to reverse the door on the left, the numbers are reversed to show things are not always as they seem, the unknown.

Moulding Paste/Mango Color Study Project

Completed Project 12" x 12"

Well, I decided it would be a good idea to post  a photo of the finished molding paste project! I was so excited about the results, I couldn't wait to share the technique. So here is the finished piece. I used a piece of tissue fabric I created for another project for the border. It has lace, paper, packing material, candy wrappers, organza and cotton all coated with gel medium then painted  with acrylics. I love the subtle contrast or blended look of the piece.

Wen Redmond and Molding Paste

Close up, second attempt.

Quilting Arts Magazine (Feb.,March) has a wonderful article written by Wen Redmond entitled Textured Fiber Photography. It got my attention, I had the materials on hand and a new project waiting for an idea.

In a nutshell, it's molding paste spread on a stabilizer, textured, washed with acrylic paint and then run through the printer. It allowed me to achieve incredible texture and it's so easy! Check out the magazine for detailed instructions.

I created two prints using a cropped and edited photo of mangos. The first one had too much paint in the wash, I wasn't happy with the deep orange color. Here are shots of both printings.

I can't say enough how impressed I am with this technique

Full size, first printing. The swirls are the texture created in the molding paste.

Close up

Second try, molding paste, textured and washed with paint before printing

The color in my second attempt suits my project much better.

Quiltfest Jacksonville--

--or who I saw at the quilt show. I drove up with my friend Gail on Wednesday so we could be there when the doors opened on Thursday morning. At the hotel I ran into Carol Holsopple in the lobby and later at dinner. As we were eating she said, "there's Marlene Glickman". A name from the Quilt Art list! I want to meet her.

As fate would have it, Marlene's booth was one of the first ones I came to. I introduced myself. She was demo-ing silk dying and let me try one of the scarves she had for us to play with. She had the nicest kits put together with everything needed to begin silk dyeing; I had to have one.  She was assisted by her big, handsome, hunk of a son who couldn't have been nicer. He offered to take one of the shots below so I could get a better shot of Marlene and her customers. She was very busy!

The shot below shows all of her dyes and materials for her demos. Her customers actually get to take something home. I was so glad I got to meet her, she's delightful. Here is a link to Marlene's website--http://www.silkdyes.com/

As I mentioned, I ran into Carol Holsopple. Carol is a member of Art Quilter's Unlimited, a very talented group, on the west coast of Florida. Her booth featured quilt kits designed for children to make. You can see the samples behind Carol in the photos. They are whimsical and very colorful. I think it's  wonderful idea.

Carol's website is http://www.carolholsopple.com/. Click on Kids Can Quilt too! to see her children's kits.

The third person I wanted to blog about is my friend Debbie Jones. I first met her when I was program chair for Ocean Waves Guild here in Miami. She came over from the west coast of Florida for the weekend to teach. She is the hardest working teacher I have ever met. She brought a small quilt shop's worth of fabric for us to use in her class, talk about generous! We worked on her collage technique, Fabric Decollage, but she also teaches fabric painting and sun printing. Her booth has some of her fabulous painted fabrics for sale.

Here is another shot of Debbie's booth. You can see her fabrics and her Decollage class samples behind her. Here is the link to her site: http://www.debbiejones.com/

I hope that you will visit my friends, new and old, on their websites. They all have something unique to offer. 

My Facing Technique

I put this together a couple of years ago when I began teaching art quilting. I really liked the look of a faced quilt so finished many of mine this way. Naturally my students wanted to know how to finish theirs the same way. There are many tutorials on the internet explaining this method, google "facing a quilt" to see what's out there.

Here's what I put together--

Facing Technique

Judy Momenzadeh

1. Cut strips the length and width of piece and 2 1/2”  wide. Press under ¼” on one long side of each strip and stitch down.  Lay strips right sides together matching raw edges on top and bottom edge and then on either side. The side strips can be slightly shorter (1/2") than the full width thereby eliminating some bulk at the corners
2. Sew all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance. See photo below. Notice the corners are stitched across diagonally with 2 stitches rather than sharp, square corners. Clip corners and along seam allowance for about an inch to remove bulk.

3.  Press facing open and stitch with the quilt facing up along seam, on the facing side,through all thicknesses (facing and all three layers of the quilt). Turn facing to back and press with steam, making sure it’s not showing from right side.
4. Hand stitch around the entire facing making sure it is pulled tightly to the back but not rolling the front to the back. If you want to add a sleeve, tuck it under the facing before hand stitching.

judy MOmenzadeh designs 2011

Poinsettia Pop

I have been very busy in the last couple of months. My partner, MIKE, (Michaele Shapiro) and I (MO) decided to start a line of patterns featuring a photo printed on fabric as part of the pattern. I had some designs completed already including "Winter Garden" which I blogged about previously. While Michaele worked on the website, I completed new patterns. We now have a total of 7 for sale on our site, www.moandmike.com. Click on the link to the right of the page.

I needed two samples of our Christmas pattern, "Poinsetia Pop" so I decided to quilt the second version differently.  I used a complimentary thread color to quilt the background in both but different quilting designs.

Here is the first version following the outlines of the petals in a kind of echo style.

 The second version with a complimentary thread color and using a repeat of the quilting lines that followed the veining in the petals in the photo. My favorite is the second version.

I taught this piece in a class yesterday at Sunshine Sewing in Margate, FL. yesterday. The class really worked hard, lots of cutting, but they hung in and everyone completed a fabulous version to take home. You can see my class schedule on our website, just click on the link on the top right of the page. Poinsettia Pop was also featured on the EQ Printables Blog. We love using and have started using EQ Printables to print all of our photos for our patterns from MO and MIKE.

I'm Ready For Fall/New Pattern

I am so ready for fall. I'm ready to open the windows, let the breezes in. That also means here in S. Florida,  that hurricane season is winding down. Unfortunately we have a ways to go with one churning in the Atlantic right now. I'll hide my head in the leaves and post "Winter Garden". I took this photo in La. last Christmas, hence the name "Winter Garden." The bright red spot on the leaf caught my eye. We don't get much fall color in Louisiana so it stood out.

I love to extend the lines in my photos with free motion quilting. The leaf was a perfect candidate and I was able to go to my stash for the great fabrics I used. There are actually two photos in this piece; the second being the lined, rusted rectangle below the leaf photo. I created that in photo shop by scanning a page from an old book. I also scanned a piece of rusted fabric and through the genius of Photoshop Elements ( don't we really take technology for granted) created another "leaf". I wanted to experiment with my free motion quilting; I seem to get in a rut from time to time and repeat the same designs. I found inspiration from the design in the long, light rectangle fabric. I'm happy with the quilting on this piece. I used mostly polyester threads on this piece with a # 80 Topstitch needle and nylon invisible in the bobbin.

I think of my 8( opps, he's nine today)year old Grandson, Jack when I look  at this quilt. He was sitting in the tree these leaves fell from when I took the photo.

Winter Garden is one of our new series of patterns available at www.moandmike.com.

"In the Ditch" Walking Foot

I just received my new sole with the guide plate for my Bernina walking foot. I was working on a commission piece that has several inner borders so I decided to ditch stitch them. Oh boy, time to try my new foot. It was easy to switch over from the regular sole and I went to work. I used rayon decorative thread on top and nylon in the bobbin with a #80 sharp needle. I love how it does the job. My stitching was straight and with just a little practice and attention I was getting very good results. I found that I needed to run the "fence" right over the seam to get the stitching in close. It's much easier to ditch stitch with it than without. here's what it looks like in action. You can see the "fence" out there in front and the seam I just finished on the left.

The photo below shows a wider view of the borders and stitching. The only drawback, and it's a small one is, it's hard to see where to put the needle in when you begin to get just in the right spot. I just leaned over to the right and looked under neath. It's also difficult to see where the needle is stitching, you just trust the "fence", you really don't need to see what the needle is doing. 

I'm very happy with it's performance.

Sacred Threads Exhibit

Hi all--I just received notification that "Jars Of Clay" was juried into Vikki Pignatelli"s Sacred Threads, an art quilt show with a spiritual theme. For the first time this show will be held in the DC metro area. It is held every other year and received more entries than ever before. This will be my second time to be included in this show.
"Jars Of Clay" is a digital image printed on cotton. I tiled the image and printed it on four separate printer sheets. The green jar in the background is hand painted with acrylic on cotton fabric. Maybe I shouldn't tell secrets but it is actually one of my clean-up cloths from other paint projects. It's hard for me to wash paint down the drain so I wipe it up with fabric. I love the spontaneous results I get. I used oil sticks on the orange borders and free motion quilted the entire piece.

I'm thrilled to be accepted; this piece is one of my personal favorites; thanks Vikki for the opportunity to show my work. Approx. 36"x36".

"Generosity" by Judy Momenzadeh

Wow, was I in for a surprise. I entered three pieces in the show, one large that I hoped to win something for, and two small works that I really liked also. I won an Honorable Mention ribbon for one of the small ones, "Generosity" that I made a year or so ago. It's really interesting trying to outguess the judges; you just never know what they will like. I tied with another artist. They gave two Honorables and no third. I felt really pleased that I won in a fairly traditional show and won for a relatively small piece. The other small piece I enetered was "Orange Butterfly" which is farther down in the blog. "Generosity" measures about 12"wx18"h, can't remember exactly. It was a good show, Catherine Waltz won Best of Show for "In The Garden" which was spectacular. I'm sorry, I didn't take a photo but I did want to mention her name. They have not updated the show site with current photos. Congratulations to all the winners and to all who entered!

I used oil pastels to shade in the areas of the hibiscus that aren't in the photo itself. This is an inkjet print, 8x10", on cotton.  I stamped the oriental seals with black ink and free motion quilted.

Coming Soon: Mo & Mike

We're excited, very excited to announce we will be offering quilt patterns that include a pre-printed photo on fabric.  We will be offering printing services and will print your photo on fabric.  We will also have stock photos to choose from.  You can get a sneak peak on Flickr: of a few of our photos in our catalog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mo_and_mike_photos

We will offer photos for artists to use in their work.  There will be textures and artistic backgrounds, all of which we can print for you.

The Mo & MIke web site will be up and running in June.

Winter Garden

This is a small piece I just finished. I've been working on extending the images in my photos into the backgrounds. I hit the jackpot with the light fabric from my stash. It was a perfect match to the beige leaf in the photo. Sometimes things just go right; this piece seemed to design itself. Almost anyway. I really enjoyed the quilting. I also scanned a page from an old book,and layered it onto a photo of some rusted fabric that I also scanned using Elements. It is the element bottom center with the vertical black lines. It 

measures about 22"x18".

.