Biggest Honkin' Bear Paw

Lana had asked me last year to make a quilt for her mother that featured black bears. She and I went to a quilt shop looking for fabric and we found a backing that had the colors that were appropriate. No black bear fabric in Indiana, however. We finally found some on line and I ordered samples to see what it really looked like. One of the samples was a montage of black bears with several southwestern motifs thrown in - really pretty fabric and had all of the right colors.

Then the trick was to design a quilt pattern that used that fabric most effectively. I finally decided on alternating blocks featuring the bear fabric and bear paw blocks. Because of the way the bear fabric was laid out, it looked like 16" blocks were going to be the answer.

I used my trusty Quilt Wizard software (purchased for only $7.50 - and not worth much more than that) to lay out the blocks. It did tell me what size to make the bear paws but didn't give me the total yardage needed. So I guessed.

Note to self: Next time, BUY MORE FABRIC!

My March 31st post details my search for a creamy/orangey batik used in the bear paws. Shortly after finding that, I ran out of the light tan fabric with pine cones and pine needles. Another search ensued and I found that, too.

Finally, the quilt is complete! Lana picked it up today - they're headed to see Harold & Dorothy next week and will be able to deliver it. I loved making the quilt for them and hope it goes well in their recently completed log home in northern Wisconsin.

So, are these the biggest honkin' bear paws you've ever seen? The quilt measures 85 x 85 if that gives you some idea of how big the blocks are.

And even though I didn't have any bears climbing trees on the front of the quilt as was suggested by some of the Seaside Stitchers, I did modify a pantograph of bears wandering through a pine forest. I wanted to modify and enlarge the pantograph design somewhat to go along with the honkin' big bear paws! I finally figured out where to place things on my copier to get them to enlarge properly - I'd been aligning things on the wrong corner for several years! Once I had a variety of sizes, I just cut them out and taped them on the table of my longarm. Quilting them was fun. And the binding lesson at our guild meeting came at exactly the right time. Had to go buy some needles, however, because I had been using the biggest honkin' needle to sew the bindings on quilts. I've used that needle for years! I know longarm machine needles need to be replaced periodically. Why wouldn't I translate that knowledge to other needles? And a search through my sewing supplies revealed that, although I had applique needles, I didn't really have any other needles for hand sewing. I do now!

Cheers!

Margaret