I've decided that I want to make my fiance a lap quilt as a surprise for him - trying to keep it a secret as long as possible. I didn't want a girly pattern, so decided to do the Bear Paw sampler BOM from FatCat patterns (http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/bearspaw_sampler.htm)

I'm planning on making a few changes to the pattern - adding double sashing with four patch cornerstones, and having an outer border made up of single 6" bear paw blocks so it will end up as a good sized lap quilt (it needs to be big as he's pretty tall). I think it's going to take me a while to do!

I decided to start with the December block, as it was the easiest one - I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Now I just need to wait to get an evening on my own to start work on the next block!

Mishi

Your block came out fabulous. It's going to be a beautiful quilt. :D

It looks great so far...

Ditter

You did a great job on that first block. It should turn out great.

I love the Bears Paw block!

Looking GREAT! Keep it up :-D

Great looking block!!

Nice!

Thanks very much for the kind comments everyone! :)

It took me a while to do the block as I was double checking everything. I'm trying very hard to be careful, as I really want to make a good job of it for my partner, and I've not had too much practice at patchwork yet.

Very nice, bear claw is one of my favorite blocks.

Your block is stunning and my husband loves that block!

That is going to be very nice - you are off to a great start!

You have done a wonderful job! very nice

That is looking very nice

Great job. That's going to be a gorgeous quilt.

awesome

Wow. I love your first block. You really do awesome work. It looks wonderful. Great job and thanks for sharing. Keep us posted as you work on it.

Thank you :). I'll be sure to post more pictures as I have them - I'm hoping to be able to get a couple of hours tonight to work on this again

Your quilt for your significant other will be fabulous!! i love the Bear Paw's block!!

Ooh, he's going to love it!!!!

Took me a little while, but I finally got the next block of this done :)

I nearly finished it last night, but I made the mistake of working on it longer than I should have - ended up just getting tired and frustrated and eventually sewed a segment of it the wrong way round. Left it for the night and came back to it this evening - what a difference! Everything suddenly was measuring correctly and I fixed the mistake I made the night before.

Still need to do the final square-up for it, but I'll do that tomorrow.

nice block