Year of Doubles BOM: March 2022
From the Block of the Month committee: Shannon Mitchell, Emily Keller, & Bonnie Mitchell
Bear Paw block:
This traditional block (pattern here) opens the door to a lot of re-interpretation!
| Welcome to Block #2 of our Year of Doubles Block of the Month. This month we are making a block that is dear to my heart, the Bear Paw Block. This was the first “complicated” block I ever made. It was the base to the quilt I made for my son when he transitioned to his own room, 7 years ago. |
There are some variations out there but for this month we will be making our block based on this pattern and step-by-step tutorial by Adventures of DIY Mom. This is also called a “flower pod” consisting of four identical bear paws with a small contrast square in the center. |
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Let's start looking at the traditional block, and a couple ideas for re-interpretation, by each of the BOM committee members:
- Emily pieced a traditional block with Christmas colors, and then experimented with strip-piecing the paws with a variety of widths, and improv triangles for her second block:
Traditional block (1st block)
| Re-interpreted block (2nd block)
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- Shannon's traditional block includes improv striped centers of the paws but still is very exact, whereas her 2nd block is starting off totally improv based.
Traditional block (1st block)
| Re-interpreted block (2nd block)
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- Bonnie pieced her traditional block with HSTs for the paws, and then went totally improv for the second one, echoing the same colors.
Traditional block (1st block)
| Re-interpreted block (2nd block)
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Bear Paw block inspiration ideas:
- Check out the Seattle MQG's "Year of Doubles BOM" Pinterest board for loads of ideas!
- Suzy Quilts has a post "The Bear Paw Quilt Pattern: Let’s get Super Scrappy"
- Hyacinth Quilt Designs had a post called "Bear Paw Log Cabin Quilt + Some Changes" that shows some lovely bear paw petal blocks on point.
- Fabric 406 Fabulous Florals & More has a post "Tangled Briars Quilt Block Tutorial - A Variation of the Bear Paws Block" that shows some flipping of the petals in the petal layout.
- Stitched in Color has a post about "Bear Tracks Quilt by Juliane" which repeats her bear paw blocks with some unexpected background colors
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The book The Quilter's Field Guide to Color: A Hands-On Workbook for Mastering Fabric Selection by Rachel Hauser
Other Sizes:
Want your blocks larger or smaller than 12”? Here are some other size options:
- Generations Quilt Patterns offers quilt block patterns for 7", 10.5", and 14" blocks (using 8-at-a-time Half Square Triangles (HSTs) method)
- Tara Reed offers a free quilt block tutorial that results in 6", 12", or 14" blocks (using individual HSTs)
Join the BOM Sew-in:
- There is a sew-in specifically for BOM participants on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, from 7-9pm.
- If you're not already registered, you can find the BOM Sew-in on the Calendar of Everything, and register to attend!
- March's BOM Sew-In is March 16 and you can register here
BOM 2022 schedule:
| Share your progress!Tag on Instagram to share your BOM progress:
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