Italian mosaics are the source of inspiration for intricate, beautiful quilts. The book Bella Bella quilts: Stunning Designs from Italian Mosaics by Norah McMeeking (I found it here) is a great example of such quilts. I have at least two of them on my list of UFOs (Utterly Fun Objects!)
In my case, it was the other way around. Quilts inspired this mosaic I pieced together on the back porch of my previous house. First, I designed the block. When I was satisfied, I applied grout to a section of the wall at a time, and pieced each block marble by marble.There were a total of four blocks, with sashing and borders. I loved the process and the result was great!
