Bear Paw Coleus Finish

I have another finish to share this week. It was finished last week, but the finishes were piling up, so I have to spread out the posts. This is my Bear Paw Coleus, a squirrel of a project inspired by an exercise in the Quilter's Color Quest workshop led by Rachel Hauser to dive into her book The Quilter's Field Guide to Color. That was a workshop that went on for much of this year, and you can still follow it on her site. I shared a lot about this quilt in the last part of this post here. In that post, I shared about the blocks I made, but it's time for more photos because it's all done, and I love it.

I had fun letting the blocks speak to me. They asked for dirt-brown sashes with bits of flower and leaves in them. Not all of the leaves wanted to have sashes between them. The verdigris flower pot wanted to get involved, too, so that very unlikely color showed up as the binding. Want to see some close-ups?

You need sunglasses to look at the back. This is from a big piece of Kona Limelight that I bought for a quilt for my grandson a couple of years ago. It was way brighter than I expected (despite the color name), so I keep searching for ways to use it up. This seemed just right.

I love how the quilting shows up on the back. 

  
  

For a few days, I displayed this at the bottom of my stairway. It will go back there again next summer (with a proper hanger). Now my usual autumn leaves quilt is there, but I couldn't bring myself to store away the coleus quilt just yet, so I moved it to another awkward display area at the top of the stairs for a few more days. 

Remember how the flower pot that inspired the design looked back in the spring?

Well, those plants are all grown up now.

This was a fun improv quilt. My favorite project (so far) from all the Bear Paw blocks I made during the Quilter's Color Quest. Here are the stats:

Pattern: The Bear Paw blocks were suggested by Rachel as a means of practicing color combinations during the workshop. The colors were inspired by my photo of plants in my garden. The flower block, letter blocks and sashing/layout are my own design.
Fabrics:  Scraps from my supply. Backing, as noted above is Kona Limelight. I remember that the binding was bought years ago at Yoder's Department Store in Shipshewana, Indiana when I was making Amish-inspired miniature quilts.

Batting: Umm...a scrap. Maybe Hobbs 80/20?  

Thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; King Tut in White Linen for the bobbin when quilting. A variety of colored threads to match the leaves for quilting--most of them were from a giveaway packet of Aurifil that I won several years ago. Lighter areas, as well as the border, were quilted with an old cone of King Tut in Mint Julep. I played thread chicken with it and won! Treasure in a variegated blue for handstitching on binding. 

Binding: 2 1/2 inches cut, double layer, machine sewn to front and hand stitched on back. 
Finished Size: 20 by 28 3/4 inches. Not washed. (Bear Paws are 6 inches square. and letter blocks are 3 inches square.)

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer Treadle 115 for walking foot quilting.

I'm linking up this week with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday, Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant, Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, Wendy at Wendy's Quilts and More for Peacock Party and Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

See you next week with a long-time-coming finish. In the meantime, take care of yourself and others, keep quilting, and if you are in my country, get yourself ready to vote!

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)