In January, Dana started a scrappy bear paw quilt-along on Instagram.  I love making bear paws blocks and had a stack of fabric that I had set aside for myself ages ago.  It was a mix of old fabrics that I had been saving just for me, along with new prints that caught my eye.  Once I saw Dana's quilt a-long, I knew I had to get started right away.

I gave one paw in each block an accent paw.  In the end, it turned out to be a sampler quilt hidden in a bear paw quilt and I absolutely love it.  As soon as it was finished I had it on the bed.

The border is the Paris map print by three sisters for Moda.  It's from years ago but I squirreled away yards of it because it is one of my most favorite prints.  It was my jumping off point for the prints for the rest of the quilt.  Basically, all my favorite colors, which are mostly sort of non-colors.

One of my favorite bits is the binding.  In with one of my favorite text prints, I added sections of a black print from the first fat quarter bundle I ever purchased back in 1997.  It is a Moda print and I still love it today as much as I did back then.

The back of the quilt is a lovely black print on double wide fabric with some grey around the edges.

A friend quilted it for me on her long arm.  The quilting pattern was called bayside.  I'm sure they were going for waves, but to me it looked like thick curly bear fur so I had to try it.

She did an amazing job and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

It's looking more like January at the cottage today.

Schools are closed and the spouse is working from home so it's a full house. In between knocking down icicles and sledding I caught a few shots of the quilt I finished last night.

It's been a year in the making. It's made from the Half Square Triangle Block of the Month that Jeni shared on her blog last year.

Most of the fabrics I used are from Moda's etchings line by 3 sisters.

There is also good selection from Bunny Hill's Putting on the Ritz along with some bits from my stash including some French General and some repro prints. It's bound with a cursive print from etchings.

The back is a mix of grey prints.

Thankfully the wind didn't blow the quilt away, but it tried.

I just love this Freebird line from MoMo.  I also used it for the spots quilt that now lives with my mom.  The colors are rich, the patterns are bold, and what's not to love about all of those different polka dots? I based the block design on a traditional rail fence pattern, although those are usually more unified in color and made of staight lines.  That's why I decided this is more of a "broken" fence for me.

The back has some more of the pieced blocks along the right side.  These block are next to a band of print that is one of my favorite pieces of fabric around.  I just love those big blue trees.

Inspired by the some the sashiko embroidery that's been popping up around the interweb, I quilted it with chocolate brown thread in a ripple pattern, wider ripples at the top that get closer together as they spread out across the quilt.  I'm really pleased with the how well the wave effect turned out.

It's listed at etsy and big cartel.

If you would like it to come live with you, just let me know.

Lulu is in first grade and it seems they do a lot of fun work with different patterns.  She was playing around with blocks at home and came up with this.

We thought it would be a great pattern for a quilt.

I decided to go with Hunky Dory by Chez Moi for Moda.  Along with some solid ivory squares from a charm pack.

I love the way it turned out.

I did outline quilting to accentuate the blocks.

I'm especially pleased with the back.  I love those deep blues and bright pinks together.

It will be posted in shop by the end of the day.

Put Me In The Zoo has always been one of my favorite books.

I loved the illustrations as a kid and still love them today.  Luckily, both the kids love the story so we read it on a fairly regular basis.

When I saw the polka dots fabrics in the freebird line by MoMo fabrics for Moda, my first thought was of those polka dots flying across the sky.

I couldn't resist making a quilt top with all those great big polka dots.

It's quilted with a horizontal stripes with a chocolate brown thread.  Turns out, it's going to go live at my mom's house.

Here's the back -

It's a birthday gift for a friend. The fabric is from the Rouenneries line by French General for Moda.  It's a linen/cotton blend and drapes beautifully.

I added a few patches and played a bit with decorative stitches.

Here's the part I'm most excited about.

The waist band was made using french seams.  That means all the exposed edges on the wrong side are enclosed and extra pretty.  (Thanks to this explanation on french seams from oliver + s.)

I didn't have a plan with this.  I started with 3 charm packs and 6 yards of fabrics (Verna by Kate Spain for Moda) and made it up as I went along.  I used malabrigo yarn in pollen for the ties. Here's the back.

Close up of the ties