Big Bear Cabin Quilt

The design for this quilt first appeared in my sketchbook months ago. I've always been a fan of the Bear Paw quilt block, and I thought it would be fun to do a giant version of the block and turn the center of each paw into a Log Cabin block. My husband and I spent one of our early wedding anniversaries in a cabin up at Big Bear Lake in California, so there was a little nostalgia to this for me too. I've been waiting all this time for the right fabric to appear, and when I received a package of goodies from my friends at Birch Fabrics & Fabricworm, I realized that this was exactly what I'd been waiting for. I pulled together prints from their lovely new Wild Land collection by Miriam Bos (including a few extras that I went back and purchased myself because I loved them so much!), along with the new Twinkle and Firefly Mod Basics, and paired them with some Birch solids that I've been hoarding for the last year. The result is everything I dreamed it would be.

I love the mix of textures and colors in this quilt. The rustic block designs paired with flowers and stars and those darling horses. The alternating warm and cool spectrum of colors, which actually came about because I didn't have enough of the solids to make each block into an entire rainbow spectrum on its own. And the solids -- why don't I use solids more often? I love seeing them mixed in with the prints here. Yes, I know the Bear Paw isn't technically right since I have three triangles on each side of the square instead of two, but I love it this way. And that little bit of floral print mixed in with the browns makes me so happy.

The quilt sashing and binding strips are a mix of Quilter's linen and Kona solid in shades of off white -- I can't remember the exact color names. I backed the quilt in a green Twinkle print and a pale blue arrow print from Wild Land.

We've all been trying to get over a nasty cold virus at my house lately. Miss Bear was the first one to fall ill earlier this week, and to cheer her up, I let her sew a pillow cover with me using this gorgeous print from Wild Land. She is so proud of this pillow. And I think between her pillow and my quilt, we've put together a cozy spot to read by the fireplace on this rainy winter day...