For Laura Muir, art is a way of connecting with joy in the moment. And she hopes that sewing with her fabrics will give quilters that same feeling. Laura, who hails from Utah, has been painting since she was a young girl and took art lessons, which she continued throughout her school years. She painted mostly realistic subject matter, including portraits, with oil paints. She rented studio time for painting during a difficult first pregnancy and realized that while she loved the act of painting, oils weren’t meeting her needs. After the birth of her second child (Laura has an 11-year-old daughter and 7- and 4-year-old sons), she picked up watercolors, noting that she thoroughly enjoyed their free-flowing movement. Inspiration for her works comes from the landscape around her and a love of florals. She learned that her great-grandmother, who she never knew, had been a talented water-color artist who painted similar subject matter. Creating fabric is another way for Laura to connect. Her collaboration with Moda began when she met design director Cheryl Freydberg at the stationary show in New York City, where Laura was exhibiting her first collection of water color-illustrated stationary. Sewing was something Laura learned from her mother—a talented maker of clothing—and her grandmother worked with her during high school on her first quilt (queen-sized). In addition to sewing, Laura plays pickleball every day and calls herself a serial hobbyist.