Bear Paw cushion

The Bear Paw quilt block is definitely one of my favourite blocks. I love the name, the striking design, and how easy it is to put together.  I know there are still so many blocks I've never made but I think it would be hard to displace the Bear Paw from my favourites.

A Bear Paw quilt block cushion

This was a birthday present for my brother.  I wanted to make him something using some of the fabric I have that belonged to our mum.  I would like to make him a quilt too but the birthday present was late enough as it is so a quilted cushion it was.  The dark blue fabric is a beautiful cashmere, made in Scotland. I can't remember where it is from but do remember my mum telling me a story of visiting the factory and coming away with this fabric. I've made myself a skirt from it and had some scraps left over. I always thought it would be nice if I could use it for something for my brother.  I decided to use the bear paw as I wanted quite a bold and simple design.   The pale blue wool is a scrap of Harris tweed which my mother-in-law brought back from Harris (she brought me a bag of scraps and I'm sure they will all be used in quilts over time!) I didn't think it would look right with a plain white fabric and wanted something with a bit of texture to complement the wools so I found this Robert Kaufman remnant I picked up in Ray Stitch a while ago though I can't remember what the exact name of it is.

Bear Paw quilt block cushion

The tutorial for the Bear Paw block is one I've used before and it's such a good tutorial. It gives you different sets of measurements for different sized blocks, the instructions are really clear and it gives you midpoint measurements which ensures you get accurate and consistent blocks.  It is also a no-waste method which I like because, well it's no waste but it also makes it very quick!

I used the 14" size block and then found a tutorial online to turn this into a cushion.  I know I should have stretched myself and gone for a zip at the back but I just stuck to the envelope opening.  The instructions in this tutorial provided too thick an envelope though so I had to reduce the size of both back pieces.

In-progress photo of basting all the quilt layers.

The colours are much more muted than I would normally go for but I really love the way it's turned out.  It feels really good to have shared this fabric with my brother by making it into something which can be used every day. I've just finished a Bear Paw baby quilt and feel I'm on a bit of a role with this block as I have another baby quilt planned and some more cushions!