Bear's Paw in the Beehive for the Marti Michell Mini Quilt Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the blog hop! Angie Wilson, the Gnome Angel blogger, organized a terrific blog hop so you could use your From Marti Michell templates to make some great new little quilts designed by a dozen of the bloggers who have been posting block tutorials for the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along. The quilts are all so cute and colorful!

There's a contest, too, with a great From Marti Michell prize pack!  On Friday, November 18, the other bloggers (listed below) and I will post a link on our blogs. To enter the contest, make a quilt using one of our patterns and submit a photo of your quilt via this linky. Alternatively you can submit your photo to the specific album in the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Facebook Group or you can post it on Instagram with the hashtag #MartiMichellMiniQuiltmania and tag Angie (@gnomeangel) and me (@MartiMichell) in the photo.

A secret panel of judges will chose their favorite entries, which will go in the running to win the prize pack. Entries can be submitted from Friday, November 18, 2016, to Friday, November 25, at 6:30 am EST (6:30 EST, 7:30 am AEST) and winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 30, at 6:30 am EST (7:30 am AEST). The judges' decision will be final.

My Design is Called Bear's Paw in a Beehive

Challenged with making a mini quilt using From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates Sets A, B, D, N or S, I decided I wanted to use some of the pieces from Set D that were not used very often or at all in the Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Sew Along.

For inspiration, I went to Volume 2 of the Encyclopedia of Patchwork Blocks (Product #8343). It has a collection of dozens of blocks that incorporate the shapes in Sets A and C or B and D.

In no time, I had selected “Spy Glass” on page 31 as a starting point. It is a variation of a block called “North Dakota.” In its standard coloration, North Dakota appears as four stars. Color it differently and we got “Spy Glass.” (Click on the image for a larger view.)

I asked Patti, who does all of our terrific graphics, to pull out a block with the light circle... make four #22 triangles in the center and then divide them horizontally... add a narrow border and then “Bear’s Paw” corners. It looked like this:

After some fabric trials, I zeroed in on the fabric group I wanted to use: Bee Creative by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics. Then laying out fabric samples made it easy to make some changes. I wanted:

    • All of the #23 background triangles to be the same color,

    • To eliminate the small B13 triangles on the light colored #24 kite shapes

    • To follow our own tip and substitute #22 for two #23 small triangles in several places.

Because the Bee Creative fabrics shared the gray, black and white colors, it was easy to substitute the gold accent for purple and create a new visual:

 

And Bear's Paw in a Beehive was born! The quilt is 22 inches (55.9 cm) square. The instructions are in PDF form, just like our Farmer's Wife 1930s Sewing Along PDFs. Keep reading for some great tips and then download the instructions, along with a photo of my quilt, using the link at the end of this article.

Tips for Easy Sewing, Efficient and Accuracy

 

1. When sewing the corner units (steps 1 and 2 in the downloadable instructions), pay attention to the orientation of the long skinny template D-23 triangles to be sure you are sewing the correct edges together. Press toward the triangle each time. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

2. For the side sections (steps 3 and 4 in the instructions), the templates' engineered corners help make matching pieces for stitching easy peasy. The corners for the two most common arrangements fit perfectly:

This less common arrangement of two #23 triangles aligns partially:

For Bear's Paw in a Beehive, I used a brand new cutting trick to make the side sections (step 4). After all these years of using these templates, they still surprise me!

After joining the first gray #23 triangles to a #24 kite, I pressed toward #23. Then I placed the D-23 template on the sewn unit as shown below and nipped the corner. This quick little trick allows for perfect alignment in the next step!

I then aligned the edges of the kite with the appropriate side of the black D-22 triangle as shown here, with the black triangle on the bottom. Chain piece 4 units, press toward #23 and then add the gray and white mirror-image units to the opposite sides of the black triangles.

Download Instructions for Bear's Paw in a Beehive

Use this link to download a 2-page PDF to make this wallhanging. You may want to refer back to this blog post when you begin sewing.

Thanks for hopping by! 

Come back again on November 25 for news about the contest winner!  And be sure to visit all the blogs to collect all the free patterns for fun quilts to make using your From Marti Michell templates!

August 12, 2016  
Angie Wilson    http://www.gnomeangel.com

August 19, 2016   
Tonya Grant    http://thecraftymummy.com

August 26, 2016  
Lucy Brennan    http://www.charmaboutyou.com

September 2, 2016   
Kirsty    http://www.bonjourquilts.com

September 9, 2016   
Catherine Demack    http://catandvee.blogspot.com

September 16, 2016   
Nathalie    http://ouvragesdenat.com

September 23, 2016   
Alyce Blyth    http://www.blossomheartquilts.com

September 30, 2016  
Peta Peace    http://shequiltsalot.com

October 7, 2016  
Lisa    http://www.sweetlittlepretties.com

October 14, 2016   
Rachel M    http://woodenspoonquilts.blogspot.com.au

October 21, 2016   
Raylee Bielenberg    http://www.sunflowerquilting.com.au/sunflower-quilting-blog/

October 28, 2016
Lisa Johnson    http://intheboondocks.blogspot.com.au

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