I Iwould like to share the opening reception of my first gallery show with you. It to0k place on Oct. 9 at Art South in Homestead, Fl. it will continue until the first week of Nov. We had a wonderful crowd and the response was very positive. The title of the show is "A Different Point of View". Marianne Williamson shared the show with me; she is the other point of view.

I posted some shots from the show. Marianne is the single person standing in front of her work. I also included one of my most recent pieces called "Jars Of Clay" The piece is inkjet,digital image on cotton, hand dyed and embellished commercial cottons, rayon, cotton and metallic threads free motion quilted. The green jar is appliqued and the 4 photos are a single photo divided into a 8x10 sections and printed. The piece measures 36"Wx35"H.

Rusty T-shirt

This is my latest experiment in t-shirt enhancement. I rusted a white cotton t-shirt using vinegar with steel wool and brake shavings. After rusting, I dyed the crumpled shirt randomly using gray dye. I then stenciled using iridescent charcoal and silver shivas. I also stamped with acrylic paint. I've noticed that the rust seems to have affected the give of the fabric but not enough to make a difference. I've washed it several times right long with my other lights. I just love theway it came out.

Into The Light by Judy Momenzadeh

I finally finished 'Into The Light' which was a thank you to our praise and worship team at my Church. They are such a blessing to us all, I felt lead to return the favor through my work. I took the photo in the Sanctuary and edited it PS Elements. I divided the photo into 4 sections (thanks Beth Wheeler) and printed on cotton prepared for printing. I prepared the background fabric (commercial) by re-arranging the bands of color and then discharged using a flour resist. I then applied another flour resist and added copper and blue metallic paint. I also added some copper Shiva Stick rubbings. I hand stitched the photo to the background and then quilted the entire piece. I then added the other elements which were printed on Lutradur and silk organza. I used metallic and poly threads and hand stitched with embroidery floss. I debated whether to add beading to the background behind the cross and got lazy and didn't do it. Mistake?  Maybe. I have mixed feelings about this work; I honestly don't know if I like as well as some of my other work. I think I am too emotionally attached to it, wanting it to be perfect. And I'm not sure I conveyed the message I started out to do. Anyway, it is what it is. I can always try again. Labels:

Fresh From Start To Finish

Fresh was created for the Quilting Arts Magazine calendar challenge which was fruit and flowers themed. Since I use nature in my work, I thought this would be an interesting project. I chose a digital image of a banana flower because of it's color, shape and texture. As I thought about the piece, I decided to use some of my Mother's banana bread recipes in the background for text. I created the background layer in Elements using my painted base and then layered the text and another photo of banana trees. I also included the banana flower image printed on brown paper as the left portion of the background. I used digital images printed on fabric and paper, commercial batiks accented with Shiva oil sticks, painted and burned polyester batting, cheesecloth, free motion quilting, hand stitching, cotton, rayon, polyester, and metallic threads, beading. My friend, Kathy Zeiben gave me some very good design tips along the way. Thanks Kathy!!

I made the finalists cut for the challenge but didn't make the final selection. I believe this is one of my best so far; I really like it. I think I will consider options on mounting it on a larger background. The finished piece now is 12"x12". 

Generosity by Judy Momenzadeh

This is the December piece done for the Take It Further challenge. The theme for this final month is" generosity". I see so many metaphors in nature; generosity is just one. It overwhelms us with the generosity of it's beauty and asks nothing in return. I chose this image because it illustrates this theme. The piece is a digital image printed on cotton fabric, other fabrics are stamped cotton and commercial batiks. It is fused and free motion quilted.  14" x 20.5".

Tranquility III by Judy Momenzadeh

Tranquility III is my November "Take It Further Challenge" piece. This month's theme was Typography. I created a paper fabric using a hand made paper with oriental writing on it. I layered more paper, ribbon, threads and finally tule on top of the hand made paper to make it easier to quilt over. The water  lilly and green and white image under it are my photos that I edited in Photoshop Elements. The images were printed on cotton; the other fabrics are commercial cotton fabrics. I felt the border fabric was too strong so I layered cheese cloth that I colored with Ranger Inks. I also used dimensional paint to create the copper circles and free motion quilted the piece.   21.5" x 32". 

Tranquillity by Judy Momenzadeh

This piece is my entry into the journal Quilt Project II: Elements for 2008. It was accepted in the special exhibit and will be shown at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

I photographed these images in Walton County, Fl. because they are so beautiful and peaceful. These are inland, salt water ponds and are unique because they are found only in Walton County and in Africa. I edited the photos in Photoshop Elements and printed them on Habotai silk. The lilly has an overlay of cotton organdy attached with beads. The background fabric is commercial cotton enhanced with watercolor pencils. Hand dyed scrim, Angelina, couching, free motion quilting with various threads. 17" x 22".

RAIN II

So far, it's been a creative summer for me. This is a larger piece, about 36" x 42". I bought some fabric spray paint and tried it out. The colors aren't brilliant, but I liked the effect I got. Judy Momenzadeh ran a piece of cotton through her smocking machine. I cut the threads and ended up with a piece of narrow fabric with little pleats. I painted loose circular shapes. The paint ran and formed lines where the pleats were. It acquired stripes of sorts. I cut my "people" out and fused them. I used a commercial sheer to make the violet raindrops. I made little drops out of sheet protectors from Office Depot. I put threads between the two pieces of plastic and ironed it between two Teflon sheets. It makes the greatest raindrops or bubbles. I quilted in a circular pattern. The piece is mounted of Fast 2 Fuse covered in black Egyptian cotton. The edges of the quilt and Fast 2 Fuse were finished with a zigzag stitch (about 6 times around). The quilt is stitched onto the black with a zigzag stitch over the edges that matches the finished edges. The quilt is tacked down in the middle with a couple of stitches done by hand in two places. The quilt can be removed from the mounting at a later date if I want.

Michaele Shapiro

Lovely Rose Surprise

Another Milestone

"A Gathering of Old Souls" by Judy Momenzadeh

This is my Journal Quilt 2007 entry. It seemingly designed itself when I used a piece of plain cream fabric under a piece of silk organza I had sprayed with scrapbooking inks. The inks dripping through the organza created little pools of color that immediately brought to mind "old Souls". I painted the centers with acrylic metallic paint.I free motion quilted it, added the center medallion made of painted, heated tyvek and then beaded the piece. The borders are commercial fabrics and hand dyes.

Judy Momenzadeh
Homestead, Fl. <><

Japanese Ribbon

For this quilt I used Japanese fabrics and bobbin quilted a very ornate Japanese ribbon.

Elizabeth Janowitz

Challis

Elizabeth Janowitz

WEDDING QUILT 3

The border fabric is made of photos taken at Ben & Nekole's wedding in Hawaii. You have to look very closely to see they're photos. Some of the pieces in the middle have bits of thread, etc. covered with tulle.

Michaele Shapiro

CAMP UNGER

Seth and Alli were married at a summer camp in CT. Really. They took over the whole camp, cabins and all. The wedding was complete with s'mores, color war, and water skiing. This quilt was their wedding gift. The green piece is the back of the quilt, which was their logo. That's a picture of Seth and Alli in the middle of the heart.

Michaele Shapiro

JARED

Sit or stand way back to see Jared. Lots of photos from Jared's childhood are dispersed throughout this quilt.

Michaele Shapiro

3 GREEN BALLS

More leftover black and white fabric.

Michaele Shapiro

QUILT UNZIPPED

This was one of those quilts that just appeared. I had a vague idea to do a zipper. I had black and white fabric leftover from another piece. I saw the perfect zipper pull fabric at Wal-Mart. I made a stuffed zipper pull and sewed it to the quilt.

Michaele Shapiro

WEDDING QUILT 4

While I'm at it, I'm posting a few of my pieces. I've been fascinated with pixelated photos. I take a high contrast photo; put it through pixelating software; play with the color value; decide what photos or fabrics I will use to make the photo image. There are over 2500 1" squares in this piece. Yikes!

Michaele Shapiro

Zach Quilt Detail

I added a detail section of Zach's left eye. It's made up of individual photos of his lips, hair, eyes, back of head, ears, and some others. I altered most of the photos to get different values. I tiled the photos and cut the pages into 2" squares. Will these dye based phots fade badly over time?

Michaele Shapiro