The Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy’s Creative Side is a virtual Quilt Show. All you need to do is sit in your favorite chair or at your desk and flip through lots of quilts on blogs using your computer. I think the best part about this virtual show is reading more about the quilts than one would get at a live show.
I attend several live quilt shows each year but I do enjoy reading and seeing the quilts here at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. This is my second year I’ve entered but I’ve been enjoying this festival for a few years. My last year’s entries were the Plus Quilt and the Little House on the Prairie Quilt.
This is my second entry into this year’s festival. (My first entry, Quilter’s Laundry Day Mini, can be found here.)
This baby quilt contained a lot of tiny pieces and took me awhile to make. I changed the pattern somewhat in that I have the bear on the front of the paw patch rather than having the green sashing going through the bear. I also left out the bear paw in the square with his rump. He does have a black eye as well as a black nose. I thought I had a close-up of it.
I designed the back to look like that bear had walked right over it. Our exchange daughter, Kerstin, helped me with the layout of these blocks. The pattern included these paw prints to be used as a border around the larger size quilts but not the baby quilt. Since my mom says “Quilts just shouldn’t be square,” I added an extra row to make it longer.
I started this bear quilt last summer during a sewing day with my mom and sisters. I had a couple of projects going on. They offered to help, sort of.
This pattern has lots of little pieces. But that’s ok as my motto is “I dabble in small pieces.”
My sister, Bonnie, was in charge of pressing and quality control. If she didn’t like the way I’d sewn a square, it came back to me for correction. Don’t let those two irons fool you. She only used one at a time.
Eventually, there was quite a pile that needed trimming.
Mom thought we should stay organized. So she used my Tupperware container and filled it up. Eventually, both containers were just about full.
At the end of the day, I found the scraps shaped like this.
I think my mom was the creative artist behind it.
We got together last summer several times for sewing and eating. Really, there was more fun than sewing going on during those days. Mostly we’d eat. My sister, Sheila, was in charge of cooking because she said she doesn’t sew.
We’d have morning coffee with treats.
If the weather was nice, we had our coffee outside in my gazebo. Coffee time usually lasted at least an hour and sometimes longer.
Then all too soon it was time for lunch.
On this particular quilting day, Sheila made us homemade pizza on the grill. She said it would taste similar to my much-loved Punch pizza. Yes, she’s rolling out homemade dough.
Even my husband was enlisted to help because he’s the grill master. After all, if you want to eat around here, you have to be part of the process.
The pizza was yummy!! It had fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves. Grilling the crust worked. I’ll just have to write a separate post about the process.
Afternoon tea and treats followed.
Where am I? The question really is; where is Tu-Na Helper (my husband)? If he’d been around, then I could be in the picture, too.
I had read through this MOD Bear Paw Quilt pattern for Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts offering suggestions before she published it. Then I started sewing it. The pattern can be purchased here on her pattern site if you’d like to sew one, too, and want your directions all in one spot. She also offered it as a free quilt-a-long on her blog. Find more info about the quilt-a-long tutorials and the free pattern here.
My daughter, Emily, is showing me how the bear’s front paw should look when walking as I was questioning it. I think she makes a good bear model.
I learned a lot when making this quilt: the importance of sewing a scant 1/4″ seam especially when the block has lots of little pieces; using lots of spray starch (Best Press is my favorite) for easier cutting, sewing, and to make the seams and blocks lay flat; and asking someone to look over my work.
That last tidbit of learning needs a bit of explaining. I had the quilt all laid out on our pool table (which serves mostly as a design table for me since it’s always covered with fabric—or folded clothes) when our exchange daughter, Kerstin, came to spend Christmas with us. She took one look and in about 30 seconds pointed out my mistake. I had turned a half-square triangle in one of the paws the wrong way. Out came the seam ripper so I could correct that mistake and then I enlisted her help to look for other errors. I was relieved when she didn’t find any more.
I gifted this quilt to my great-nephew (Bonnie’s grandson) at Christmas. It was a surprise for her, too, as I had not told her who was getting it. This little guy’s dad is a hunter. I think he liked it, too.
Quilt Stats:
Pattern: By Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts
Size: 47″ x 53″
Construction: Machine pieced by me.
Fabric: All 100% cotton from the stash, mine as well as some from my mom’s. The blue backing is cotton flannel.
Batting: Quilter’s Dream
Thread: Aurifil 50 wt.
Quilting: Machine quilted by me using my domestic sewing machine stitching horizontal wavy lines. They went much better after I drank a glass of wine.
What I Learned Today:
- Don’t wait so long to post about my projects as it takes longer to gather the pictures and remember the details.
- Tuesday is coming fast and I’d better finish that I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long block so it’ll be ready for it’s “birth day”. Are you quilting along with us?
- The loot posts are going to be rather embarrassing. I haven’t forgotten about them. Other things have needed to be done or written about first.
- I miss that old ironing board cover as I’ve replace it already. I can’t remember where I bought that one.
Question: Do you make quilts according to the pattern directions, or do you let creativity take over and change the pattern, or do you prefer to design your own? I make some using the pattern exactly and others I change. I haven’t done much designing yet.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
At this time, I have no affiliation with any of the shops, products, companies, or services that I mention here on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats.
Linking to:
Blogger’s Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side (Thanks Amy!)
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 
Love the bear paws across the back!!! And Emily–too funny! It looks like a lot of fun!
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The backing is really delightful, Karen! Fantastic!
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A real life model, to show how the paws would go.Backing with these is wonderful, and all the photos of work as it progressed,lovely.
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Beautiful quilt – and oh all the wonderful memories that went into making it. So much fun! Loved your post!
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Great quilts and good luck in the festival . That sounds like my sort of day, all I have to do now ispersuade my sister to take up sewing
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For the most part, I have made them according to the directions, but I may start changing it up. Love this quilt! And wonderful story behind the making of it. You have a lovely and helpful family.
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I remember liking this quilt the first time I saw it. I don’t remember the back, though. How neat! It’s still a lovely quilt!
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I enjoy posts like this that cause us to look back on a project and experience in our life and reflect on it. It looks like you have some good memories to go along with the quilt. As for me, I start out following directions, but often change things up if I feel like it…and think I can do it without messing things up too much. Happy quilting! Andrea
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I totally forgot about all that trimming and I love the backing! Well done! I agree about documenting, I pulled out a quilt to enter in a show and…yikes, no label!
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You can’t go wrong with bear claw…love it!
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Love the front and the back. Looks like you had lots of fun.
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Such a fun post to read. I’m jealous of the pizza. And of the quilt too.
Looks like so much work. You did great
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Looks like lots of little pieces but it turned out great. I especially love the paw prints on the back. What a lucky little boy!
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Lorna is such a talented designer. I like the ways you personalized this quilt to make it your own. The paw prints on the back are a delightful surprise. What a wonderful project to work on with your family. Congratulations on a beautiful finish.
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This quilt is super special because of the collaborative work that went into it. Of course homemade pizza always helps. In answer to your question, I rarely make a quilt exactly like the pattern, I change the colours, layout, borders, or something else to make it uniquely mine.
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Great quilt, I absolutely love the back with the paw prints!!
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I enjoyed your story and love that everyone had a part in the project. Also, i love grilled pizza! Chicken alfredo with a sprinkling of bacon is our favorite. Also I often make creative adaptations to a quilt pattern to make it original.
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This post gets an “F”–Fabric, Food and Family which was a great post to read and a surprise for me. I thought the quilt looked much bigger than 47″ X 53″, it definitely looked like it was a big quilt. And the pizza looked so yummy. Thanks for sharing!
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Your quilt is so fabulous! I need to get my sister to be my ironing assistant too!
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Fun quilt love the bear and the paws on the back
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I’ve always loved Bear Paw quilts. Your fabric choices make this one extra cozy!! The bear tracks on the back side gives an unexpected surprise.
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Very nice entry into the festival!
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Hi Karen,
Love the Bear’s Paw quilt and the story you shared about the family project. I think the bear tracks on the back are adorable! Great quilt!
Diane
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Lovely post and wonderful quilt. Even the back is adorable. Quilting is definitely like writing…… it can be so hard to spot our own mistakes. Glad you found it before it was too late. Pattern, smattern…… even if I have good intentions (rare!), changes usually creep in. I think its a good thing to put yourself (or several selves) into a quilt and have it reflect something of the hands that made it. 🙂 Thanks for sharing so much!
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Great post, great quilt. I love how you did the bear and the prints on the back. The colors look wonderful, nice finish!
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This is such a fun post. Really enjoyed the family in action pictures. I found myself smiling and laughing throughout. The special details such as the paws on the backing make it a very special quilt. Your daughter actually being the bear model is the best part of this post 🙂
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Beautiful quilt and I love the way you designed the backing! What precious memories you have with your family!
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Love seeing this again, and just adore that backing you did. It’s the BEST!
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