I have been making Bear Paw patchwork blocks, four of them in all. These are my October contribution to my Refuge Circle quilt group (I first wrote about this group here). This month’s project leader asked for Bear Paw blocks which have lighter-toned ‘claws’ with a darker-toned ‘paw’ of the same colour. The idea is for all of us in the Circle to use left-over fabric from other projects (rather than buying new), so I set to and searched through my colour-coded baskets of small pieces (a fat eighth and under). It took quite a long time to my surprise as it was tricky to find materials that coordinated well. I was hoping to fulfil the suggestion of using some fun prints too. Finally, these were the choices.
Dark moss green with hearts print and paler moss green with stripes:
Red fabric with textured dots and red fabric with white polka-dots:
Leaf-green with a darker green print of leaves and branches and a light yellow-green with white writing print
Grey-blue fabric with dot pattern and a light blue fabric with motor scooter print:
For each paw, I needed two small squares. The ‘paws’ were four and a half inches squares. I cut the small coloured squares at two and seven-eighths square and also cut two white squares the same size for each block. I used the method of making half-square triangle units explained here. Here are the sixteen half square tringle units:
The final piece required is white fabric cut at two and a half inches square.
Here is the finished moss green block:
Here is the red block:
Here is the leaf-green block:
Here is the blue block:
All these four are in an envelope now on the way to the project coordinator in Germany. I’m so excited to see how all the different Bear Paw blocks will look like together when they are combined into small quilts. The quilts will go to a charity providing quilts for premature babies. Although designing and making quilts is my job, it gives me great pleasure to give away some quilt-making like this and I really cherish the opportunity.
Amanda Jane Textiles offers unique fabrics for sale here,
classes here
and quilts for sale here
This is my pattern for a A2 fabric portfolio – ideal for quilters to carry a large cutting mat and long ruler – or for artists to carry a sketchpad and brushes. You can buy it here.
