Bear Paw Placemat Finale

 Well, here we are in February. (January was rough, and it's just as well I didn't have a post to write then.) I have the last of my placemat project to show today. Let's enjoy a photo of them together, and then before we look closer, I have a question or a few to ask of people who use Blogger.

I used to get email notifications of comments which I moderated and then published. After they went up on the blogpost, I got another notification, and to respond to a comment, all I had to do was click on it and I could quickly reply to the commenter to thank them or to chat. In my December post, everyone that commented came up as "no reply," even though I had corresponded with them for years. I didn't notice until my responses were flagged as undeliverable, apparently due to new restrictions set up by Blogger. I was able to figure out a way around with alternative email addresses, but there was no indication of how my replies looked to the commenter. Was there a connection between their comment and my reply so they'd know what my reply was referring to? I spent too much time figuring out the email and then explaining that I was replying to their comment on my post. I haven't responded to the last few comments I got (yet). So here are my questions: If you received a reply back from me, was it clear what I was replying to (if I had not explained)? Did it reach you? And, is there a simpler way to do this? Also, am I showing up as no-reply, too? I don't know how to fix this. I appreciate everyone's comments and don't want to have anyone unacknowledged. So, thank you for your comments, and any advice would be so helpful. I feel like this is one more thing in a whole host of frustrations right now. In a time when communication is more important than ever to hold onto our sanity, it seems there's a drive to keep us from communicating (algorithms and all of that). I know a lot of people don't blog anymore, but with people quitting other forms of social media it might become one of the only ways to keep in touch authentically, so I'd like to keep this going even if I don't blog as much as I used to either.

Okay, enough of that. So here are each of the last seven placemats I made for Meals on Wheels from my Bear Paw blocks I made in 2020, along with a few tidbits about them. Most finished at 14 by 18 inches. I sewed them on my Featherweight and quilted them on my Singer 115 treadle. 

This placemat started with two blocks. I had enough fabric in the scrap bins to make two matching ones before adding borders. 

The back was easy--wholecloth from a piece of fabric I used in a quilt and some pillows for our family room years ago. This leftover was going to be part of a table runner that never got made.

Here is another one with two added blocks. If you look closely, you'll see that some of the fabrics are different prints but close matches. The dark paws look black, but are actually rich purples.

The back is just strips of whatever coordinating fabrics I could find that fit.

This one has fabrics from both long-ago projects and more recent ones. The three prints in the upper right Bear Paw were from back when I made miniature quilts and needed tiny prints. Hard to let go of these last bits, but why keep them stored in drawers?

The back is more leftover strips. The white print was the edge of a quilt back, I think.

I started the above three placemats at the end of 2024 but quilted and bound them this year, all with meanders.

Not much to say about this one. I chose strips to complement the blocks, trying to not go too much toward a Christmas color scheme as these will be distributed in the spring. The narrow borders at the top and the bottom are a bit wonky, but I don't think it will matter to whoever uses it.

More strips on the back. That dark green tone-on-tone print was a favorite in quilts over the years.

The Bear Paw in this one started from the multicolored print, a fat quarter I bought during a vacation trip. Why I only bought a fat quarter I don't know, but it was a challenge to use in a quilt. I ended up sprinkling it in some blocks on a quilt back for a donation quilt. This is what was left.

The back is leftovers of many quilts, both very old (the tan print is leftovers from our bed quilt that took lots of years to make and spent 20 years on our bed until it wore out) and newer (such as the teal prints from a grand nephew's baby quilt a few years ago).

The Bear Paw that started this placemat was a block with a winter snow theme. I had actually used the back side of the geode-ish print to try to show all the subtle shades of snow. The claw parts were lighter. Here is it in its original form.

I unsewed the block and made new deeper colored claws. The original fabric was a fat quarter, and I had enough to make three more blocks to complete this placemat.

The back is random strips again. I think at this point in the project, it was the easiest way to move the work along. 

This placemat started from the two Bear Paws in the upper half. I had enough of most of the prints to make two more matching blocks, but I only had some random strips of the red/green/black print.

I found another floral scrap with a different print but similar feel and coloring, fussy cut it, and laid out the strips around it to see if it would work. 

It did, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. This placemat might not be everyone's "cup of tea," but I quite like its cheerful vibe.

The back is once again random strips (the one on the right is from a baby quilt I made for my niece more than 44 years ago)--becoming my favorite placemat backing format--and I wonder why I don't just make whole placemats that way. Now that the Bear Paw supply is depleted, maybe I will! This placemat had an oops with my rotary cutter (don't ask--I didn't lose a finger), so I had to retrim it a bit narrower than the others.

I meandered two of these placemats and did organic wavy lines on the others. 

So there you have it--my placemat finale. Funny that it took the reworking of one block and nine more Bear Paws. I didn't mind. It's one of my favorite blocks to make. 

I now have 22 placemats to donate to Meals on Wheels in the spring. When I made them, I intended to simply brighten the mealtimes of whoever receives them. I never thought they would become an expression of protest. If you read my end-of-the-year post you know that my hope for the new year was to try to keep a "positive but realistic attitude of hope for peace, decency, compassion and maybe even wisdom" in a new era of uncertainty in my country. The realistic part of me was expecting some problems. But what's happening now, although along the lines of what I expected, is so much worse faster. I could give many examples (I'm sure you are aware), but here's just one. While I was finishing these placemats, there were indications of "pauses" or "freezes" of funding for many supportive programs, not only domestically, but internationally. One program that could be affected is the Meals on Wheels program for seniors in need. Last week, a judge issued a stay to stop the domestic "freeze" at least temporarily, but who knows what will happen next? The placemats have become a symbol of my protest against the small mindedness, injustice, and cruelty happening within my country's government. 

A placemat probably isn't a big statement, but it's what I have to give right now. It's my continued hope—no, plea—for peace, decency, compassion, and maybe even wisdom.  May God have mercy on us all.

I'm linking up with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap. Oh, and Cynthia, you might like to know that when I'm not sewing for my sanity right now, I've been rage cleaning. No, it's not as fun as quilting, but it does serve a purpose.

(Oh, and everyone, don't forget to give me your advice on the no-reply issue.)