The Bear-Paw Pillows

Pattern: Again self designed. I really like the Bear-Paw block, and sized it up to make a pillow. I used even more triangles in the border. These pillows are probably ~22" square.

Fabric: I wanted to use a brown color scheme and I had seen small prints used as "solid" backgrounds, so that's what I wanted to try. However, there isn't enough contrast between the white and the background. I was pleased to use some scrap (as if that were a bad word!) white sheet from a previous backing.

Batting: Thin polyester batting, with white flannel backing. The tough part about pillows is making them washable. It is so much easier if you assume they will never be washed...but it's a bad assumption.

I believe I used a muslin backing in order to do the initial hand quilting (but with no binding). Then, the pocket for the pillow was made between the quilted cover and the flannel backing. I sewed three edges to make the pocket then used the flannel to bind the edges. The fourth edge was sewed closed by hand. As you can tell, I didn't follow a pattern. I just faked it. (Actually, the back was made of two pieces. If you really must know how I did it, drop me a line.)

Notes: I gave these to my mom. Pillows are fun to make--they are little experiments in color and pattern, and they're quick. To wash them, you would remove the one edge of hand stitching, wash, and re-running stitch it.