Hive 5 February Tutorial - Bear Paw block for Marie

Hello,

The winter in Maine has been non-existent until last weekend and now it won't stop.  Shoveling, ice removal and zero temps have taken over my days but it is beautiful.   I hope your winter is going well.

My block this month is a simple Bear Paw.   My sewing goal this year is to use colors that I tend to shy away from so this block has orange in it.   Here is the finished block and my fabric pull.

You will need:

(8)  3" orange squares

(8)  3" low volume squares

(4)  4 1/2" medium/ medium dark gray squares

(4)  2 1/2" low volume squares

(4)  2 1/2" x 6 1/2" low volume rectangles

(1)  2 1/2" orange squares

The low volume can have orange, gray or small amounts of black in it but should still remain mostly low volume.   The oranges can range from light peach to deep orange.   It can have red,  yellow or black in it but still read as orange.   (And please don't use Halloween novelty fabrics).  The grays should be medium to medium dark.  

To begin: 

With the orange and low volume 3" squares, make 16 half square triangles.  (HST)

To do this, draw a diagonal line on the back of the low volume squares.  Place this with a 3" orange square, right sides together and sew 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.   Cut on the line, giving you the 16 HST's.  Press toward the orange.  Then place the diagonal line of the ruler on top of the diagonal line of the square, as seen below, and trim to 2 1/2".

Following the picture below,  sew two sets of HST's together.  Place one set with a gray 4 1/2" square  and the other with a 2  1/2" low volume square and sew together as shown.   Sew top piece to bottom piece and press.  Please make four of these.  They should measure 6 1/2".   

Below is how the block will be set up to sew.

Piece this as you would a nine-patch block,  sewing one quadrant to a low volume rectangle and then another quadrant.  Repeat for the bottom segment.   Sew the center rectangles and  2  1/2" square together.  Sew rows together and press toward center.  Unfinished block should measure 14 1/2".

And here is one of my blocks put together.

Thank you for sewing for me this month.  I can't wait to see the results.