I've been talking a lot about my latest quilt pattern, Bohemian Garden, and even though I've mentioned some of my influences, I wanted to dive deeper into one of them – the paper cut-outs of Henri Mattise. 

You're probably familiar with him, and even more familiar with the dramatic and captivating shapes he created through simple paper, but did you know that the work he created and was most proud to call his, was done at the very end of his life?

The Bohemian Garden quilt pattern is now available! Download the PDF here.

This light-hearted and whimsical design has been itching at my brain for over a year, and only now am I finally scratching that itch. My high school art teacher always emphasized the importance of an artist's "layering of experiences." I think about that all the time when tracing back the inception of a design.

A wise woman once said to me, “Suzy, the very first thing you should do when you get home from a fabric shop is throw all of your fabric into the washing machine. One must prewash fabric before quilting. It's essential.”

Another wise woman also said to me, “Prewashing??

We are fabric artists are we not? On our good days, at least, we make beautiful quilts, garments, purses, hats, whatever out of fabric. But how often do we stop to ask ourselves… how is fabric made?

I had a moment like this recently.