Art Quilt - Cedar Waxwing In Progress

I love art quilts!  This was my first attempt at my own.  I took a picture of this Cedar Waxwing at Morrison Knudsen Nature Center in Boise, one of my favorite places to wander when the weather is cold.  I love birds and thought the Waxwing would be perfect to use because of its beautiful color.  

This video tutorial from Interweave.com had easy to understand art quilt instructions to get me on my way.  My main supplies included batik fabrics, Mistyfuse, a silicon pressor sheet, iron, Transdoodle tracing paper and a great pair of art quilt scissors.  What fun, especially if you sat back and just enjoy the process which I did for once.  Now I am on the to the next stage where I will fuse to a backing and begin topstitching.  

Have you made an art quilt before?  What was your inspiration?  

New Fabric Arrival - Soho Collection

The Soho fabric collection by Studio 8 has a modern look that is clean and crisp.  Its main print is a grouping of dandelion flowers in various sizes.  The coordinating prints are geometric in nature and include hexagons, dots, chevron and stripes.   Its color way is based on reds, grays, and golden yellows.  

I could not wait to get stitching with it.  I recently brought interfacing into the shop that helps you create the Rob Pete quilting pattern.  This was a new experience for me.  You use the interfacing to help you create the "petals" that you appliqué onto a base fabric.  A book from Quilting Smart, Rob Pete & Friends, has great how to instructions and patterns.  There is enough interfacing in the book to make one table runner.  If making one of their large projects, you will need more interfacing.

The interfacing was easy to use and took a small amount of practice to get the placement on the base fabric just right.  I would recommend starting with a small pattern first such a pillow or table runner before diving into a large quilt.  The runner turned out beautifully, just enough red for Valentine's day and just enough yellow to give a hint of spring!

What would you create the Soho fabric?