Scrappy Bear Paw blocks

Hiya! Welcome to a new week. I honestly love Mondays. I know I’m so lucky to love my job! I hope you had a good weekend. Did you have a chance to create something?

I decided to focus on my do. Good Stitches blocks for February. That means I got to have some quality time with my scraps. Always a pleasure!

Comfort circle is using the free tutorial at Red Pepper Quilts to make scrappy bear paw blocks alternating with simple squares. This is the same block I use in my book, The Quilter’s Field Guide to Color, but in a slightly smaller size. I’m happy to return to this simple little block. With just three main elements: paw, claws and background, it’s a nice one for playing with color combinations.

Sometimes it’s hard to select fabrics when the parameters are so wide open. We were allowed to use any “fresh colors”, so I just let my scraps guide me. I started by choosing a few multi-colored scraps that I thought would be fun to use and then added in some simpler fabrics to calm things down. You can see that two of my bear paws are actually temperature-themed. The brown paw with pink claws is a warm-toned block. The blue paw with purple claws is a cool -oned block. Creating some harmonious color combinations helps scrappy go well!

Here are my finished blocks, ready to put in the mail. Wishing everyone a fabulous week!