I have always thought that the Bear’s Paw quilt pattern is a romantic one. It reminds me of the hardships faced by earlier settlers. Bears have been in the news a lot lately. Last night, I watched a TV special about Polar Bears and Grizzly Bears. It seems that because of climactic change, their territory is coinciding and in at least one documented cases, the two kinds of bears have interbred. I digress.
A few weeks ago, I was in an antiques shop when I spotted a 40 1/4″ square quilt with Bear’s Paw blocks. This is the craziest amalgamation of anything I’ve ever seen. The top is all nineteenth century fabrics and the back is twentieth century fabric with Sunbonnet ladies. Part of the quilt is hand quilted, but not consistently the same, from block to block. One block has two bright pink ties that appear to be acrylic. The binding is store bought and the batting appears to be polyester. The quilt is quite a mix of different ages of components.
One of the interesting features is that the “paw” of each block is a light print surrounded by dark prints. It is only when one looks more closely that one can even notice that the design is “Bear’s Paw.”
Bears are very “cute” and very lovable. Several years ago, one passed in front of our car, with her two little cubs. I was happy to be inside the car. As they get more used to humans, they become more bold. Someone I know had a bear on her porch, looking in through a glass door. That, to me, is a little too close for comfort. In search of food, they will even break windows to get into a house, an amazing thing to view on the television.
I like Bear’s Paw quilt blocks and while I was telling you about the unusual quilt, I thought I’d share what little I know about bears, which in actuality, is barely nothing.
Patricia Cummings
