The Bear Claw or Bear Paw quilt block is most
often done in Autumn colors. It is another favorite block for quilters.
In the above picture the 4 bear claw units are put next to each other. To
give the blocks more separation, you could sew sashing strips between them.
This is an easy block. It is nothing but squares and
half square triangles.
As you can see from the picture at the left, the core of the Bear Claw quilt
block is a 9-patch.
To make this block you start by
determining the size of your patches. Let's make them finish at 2 inches.
Make your half square triangles to finish at 2 inches, and cut your small corner
square 2 inches square. Cut the large square 4 1/2 inches.
Sew the half square triangles together in pairs, per the picture, and then
attach one set of them to the large block. Sew the small square to the end
of the other unit of half square triangles, again per the picture, and
then attach it to the large block.
When I made the bear claw quilt below, I chose to make the center square a half
square triangle, and I did not use sashing. I also put a little
more personality in the quilt by using a plaid in the half square triangle.
