2020 was definitely the year of Bear Paw blocks for me. I taught a color class for Modern Domestic, a local quilt store, which was all about color in quilting. We used a fabulous book by Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color called a Quilters Field Guide to Color as a resource… and like Rachel does in the book we workshopped color using Bear Paw blocks. What this means is I made enough bear paw blocks to finish up 8 quilts… you are going to see a lot of bear paws over the coming months.
But before I started my over zealous production of bear paws for class, I set the block as my Do Good Stitches block. Actually in May 2019 I posted about making two blocks at a time in various sizes… the result of the tutuorial and my Bee mates work is this stunning quilt…
This quilt uses blocks that are 3, 6, 9 and 12 inches big… a whole rainbow of colors…. and tons and tons of scraps.
Each body of the bear paw is made up of four squares which allows for maximum fussy cutting potential and scrap usage. I know with the blocks I made I had a blast finding different novelty prints to cut up.
Now laying out this quilt was not to hard because there was a logic to the size blocks I chose – using a 3 inch grid…. but being a perfectionist I did um and ah about it a lot. It sat on my design wall for a bit before I was happy with it.
It was slightly tedious to sew together…. I grouped blocks together where I could and only had a few partial seams to deal with. I could have made it easier on myself and just gridded the layout so there were no difficult seams but in the end I loved the layout I had put up… it does not feel regular or predictable.
So this post I am giving you half the Nick pinkies photos to end… as well as the a full body shot. Mr Wombat is usually pretty camera shy but I snuck this picture of him. His identity is safe as he is fully masked LOL.
This quilt headed into the wild last year via the Portland Modern Quilt Guilds charity quilt program… which we somehow managed to keep going despite a world wide pandemic… actually we managed to get 15 to 20 quilts a month to our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit which was quite a feat.
WOMBAT QUILTS 
Those bearpaws are a show stopper!! Great colors and layout!!
The colors and design of the Bear Paw quilt are fabulous.
LOVE this quilt.
Thank you for always inspiring me.
I love the quilting community because it is constantly inspiring me….I am glad I could inspire you.
Love the play on color. This quilt makes me happy. I will need to make one for the cold Minnesota winter I am about to start dealing with.
I have mixed feelings about the cold…I love the layering and keeping warm…it is perfect quilting weather…but it is cold and Minnesota is really cold. The chances of frost bite increase too much for my liking.
Beautiful! 😍
Thanks. It is a favourite finish that is for sure…and I am glad I did not have to make all the blocks myself.
Beautiful! Love the varied sizes.
Thanks Elaine. I think the variety in size really makes the quilt interesting… though definitely harder to put together.
Just beautiful…. and the quilt too, of course! Seriously, though, the colours are all so clean and clear even though it’s a scrappy quilt. It’s fabulous!
Thanks Kate. It is nice to be “talking” again…it has been too long. The New Year is looking good for a catch up – if a variant does not interfere. Will email you when I have a clear plan.
Fabulous! We’ll be in NSW for a couple of weeks end of Feb/early March, but otherwise should be around. It would be so good to catch up!
Lovely quilt! Bright rainbow colors make for such a happy finish. And impressive turn around in your charity program! xo
I AMA bit of an overachiever when it comes to the charity program…and it was my only job this year, aside from physical therapy. 😂
Love the bear paw photos. So happy to see you posting again. Missed you.
This is just a glorious use of colour! Bravo!
Love the layout. That would be a wonderful RSC project. Would you mind if I make something like it at some point? I’m glad to see you’re in the Portland area; I may actually meet you in person once in-person guild meetings start up again.
That’s really lovely! I never knew I’d like bear claws so much! And congratulations on making it through your post-stroke recovery. I’m so happy that it wasn’t worse for you.
Love this one–the colors, and the opportunity to use so many scraps. Still recovering from a recent flurry of HST quilts, so I may wait a bit but do plan to try my own. So glad your recovery is going well.
Love the bright colors along with the size difference. Recently saw another with different sizes of one block but she used all reds. There was a pop just here and there on this bedside quilt. I forget who made it but I’m sure one of your readers will know and correct any errors I made describing the quilt and I’m OK with that.