"Bear Paws in the Great Outdoors"
I did finish up this quilt to the end and got it washed, dried, and photographed!
I did go together reasonably quickly - certainly a block with 3.5” cut squares is going to go together faster than one made from 2” strips and squares or one that requires a lot of figuring out of the details.
Anyway, it’s done!
It meets my approval. If you are wondering if sometimes my quilts don’t meet my own approval - the answer is “yes”. I’m not always happy with the end result. If it is awful, I may not even show you - but most of the time they are okay to at least display - one recently I moved from a series I was working on to a charity quilt because I didn’t like it enough to keep it there. But it will make someone happy - so there it goes. I know it will make someone happy because when I give charity quilts away, people get to choose their own - I’m not just randomly “handing out” quilts.
Anyway……..
The only thing different about this quilt and the pattern is that I ran out of my background fabric, so I would have used all background fabric and no solid tan, had I had enough. it’s a close enough match that it’s not too noticeable, though.
But I had to piece some fabric together (!) just to get enough for the blocks, so it was impossible to come up with enough for the first border as well.
My first ever “Bear Paw” blocks. Yes…surely not my last! I like them. Because they were going to be my first, however, I went big, instead of small! I’m glad I did. I think they make the statement I was looking for with this design/pack.
But otherwise, if you follow the pattern as I wrote it and showed it, yours will come out very, very similar to mine.
Some people want ideas for the packs that we offer - and this is one that seemed particularly hard for people to relate to. That is why I made up this quilt - plus I liked the pack so I asked my sis if I could bring it back to Poland with me (from when I was there last fall) and make up something.
I don’t often make a 9 patch with such big blocks, but I decided it was just what I needed to do in this pattern.
I did use a cotton batting in the center of this one. The more I use cotton or wool - the more I like it!
Sigh.
It, however, is so expensive for me, as compared to polyester, that I will continue to use poly in most of my quilts.
Believe it or not, in all my fabrics that I have, I couldn’t find a piece big enough that I thought looked right with the front. So I pieced a backing together - this is what it looks like:
It wasn’t as if I was looking for something super magnificent, but the colors weren’t right in the pieces I have. I find that my green yardage - big pieces, is a bit limited. I wasn’t aware of such a shortage in my stash!
So, I took some darkish green yardage I had, pieced it to make it as wide as I could in the length I needed and then added a cream piece to each side to make it wide enough.
The quilt roll:
The wind was having a heyday.
The pattern is on the free patterns page - for your enjoyment and use.
Obviously you could just use your own fabrics as well - it would be fine! In the pattern are close ups of the fabrics in the pack so for future use, if you want to sort of imitate the look, you can, no matter whether or not my sis has the fabric available.
You can get your own “The Great Outdoors” pack of fabric here. It’s only $30. You will need 2 different background fabrics, however. Just check out the pattern. It’s available at the free patterns page - link given above.
This is one of the things that I’ve been up to lately!
Have a great day wherever you are reading this.
Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!