Free-Form Embroidery with Judith Baker Montano: Transforming Traditional Stitches into Fiber Art Paperback – November 16, 2012

I am a huge fan of Judith Baker Montano's, owning five of her books to date. I actually use her books, not just for inspiration, which is plentiful, but for instruction. In this book, Montano is branching off from strict embroidery or crazy quilting, though the works have elements of both, into fiber art pictures, landscapes and abstracts using embroidery, painting, dying and crazy quilting techniques. The results are phenomenal. Plus, it is a lovely book to look at with Montano's watercolor sketches of stitches, plants and landscapes.First materials are reviewed including, thread, ribbon, fabric and tools along with a bit of color theory. There is a good stitch guide encompassing surface embroidery and some ribbon embroidery of some sixty stitches, including some ideas about how to combine stitches as well as showcasing stitches in different materials and how it affects the results.Montano also covers the basics of constructing a fiber landscape using crazy quilting techniques. Montano also names the supplies she uses to get specific looks by brand and this is helpful as well. Montano also talks about thinking like a painter and constructing landscapes that have a discernible fore, middle and background, helpful for those of us with little experience in drawing. Montano goes into more depth in her single technique books and I would recommend getting one of Montano's a crazy quilt book for further techniques in construction of fiber landscapes, but this wonderful book does give the basics of construction.Another wow from Montano, one of my favorite embroiderers and fiber artists. This book is worth the price of admission alone for the lovely artwork and inspiration. As with all of her books, the reader gets the feeling that the writer is a generous teacher and sharer of techniques. Recommended to quilters, embroiderer's and fiber artists who want to take the next step in fiber construction. A solid A.

One of my favorite embroidery artists and authors. Wonderful inspiration and how-to.

I have been looking at this book since I first found it on Amazon. What was I waiting for? This is the most beautiful book on embroidery I have ever seen (and I've looked at a lot of books on the subject)! I'm from an artistic family: Father and Sister=painters, Sister=sculptor, Mother=cake decorator, Me=(once called "life artist" by a "selling" oil and acrylic painter and by a computer artist) prefer fabric, "string", and found things. This book has the basics for all of us! Ms. Montano has applicable advice on color, line, everything an artist needs to consider, AND stitches and stitches! She has sketches of plants and sea creatures you can use as design elements, examples of her work showing the use of her stitches, and wonderful advice. Hurrah for Ms. Montano! Does she have any more like this coming?

The book contains good instructions with closeup photographs of the actual embroidered stitch, as well as clear diagrams to illustrate each stitch, along with variationson the same type of stitch. This is the best part! While the informational sections on trees and plants was nice, I thought it detracted from the primary focus of the book. I found the book to be both inspirational and instructional.

I was fortunate enough to take a Fabric Landscape class from Judith about 20 years ago. I had no idea who she was... just another teacher who I would probably forget all about, lol. I recreated a vacation picture of the Grand Tetons with fabric, threads and beads, and have used her books for learning and inspiration ever since. This book may have some duplicate methods (shown in her other books), but I am so pleased that it does. I want to know how all of the different methods relate to what I am trying to create, and having it all in one book is the best. Beautiful photos, wonderful hand-drawn images, excellent stitch instruction... I can't say enough nice things about it. I wanted this book since I first saw it, about a year ago. Finally was able to buy it, and I couldn't be more pleased! Worth every penny!

Ms. Montano's writing style is precise and easy to follow. This is a no-nonsense book that covers every aspect of free form embroidery, from selection of materials to the techniques involved in putting them together. She has lots of illustrations that are helpful and inspirational. I learned so much from reading it! I thought I knew a lot about embroidery, but I couldn't believe how much more there was to learn! Can't wait to try it all out!

I love Judith Montano's books for their clear instruction, she really does "paint with thread." The samples of her work are a wonderful showcase of inspiration with useful suggestions for her readers to use in our own projects. It is fascinating to see seascapes, desertscapes, and mountainscapes all in the same book and so beautifully done. I can't wait to start my next project.

This is a great follow-up to her other books, taking the embroidery from crazy quilting to other forms of fabric art.