bear claws and doves in the window

I think the Summer 2005 issue of "Interweave Knits" is on the stands now, but there's a "Little House"-related item in the Spring issue, beginning on page 40. It's the "Bear Claw Blanket" designed by Veronik Avery, and yes, it's knitted. I like the idea of knitting a quilt pattern; it's something I haven't done before. This would make a great baby blanket, as the pattern is for a two-color nine block blanket joined with white or cream, 40 inches square.

No, that's not an image above. That's a bit of a Dove-in-the-Window quilt. The Bear Claw square and the Dove-in-the-Window square are quite similar. Basically, if you turn the four dark triangles so that the "other" short side of the triangle is against the large square - and change the small red square to the neutral color - you've got a dove, not a claw.

Laura Ingalls Wilder supposedly pieced a Bear Claw (or Bear Track) quilt as a child: "Mary was still sewing nine-patch blocks. Now Laura started a bear’s-track quilt. It was harder than a nine-patch because there were bias seams, very hard to make exactly right before Ma would let her make another, and often Laura worked several days on one short seam." (On the Banks of Plum Creek, Chapter 36, "Prairie Winter"). But when she is packing her trunk before marrying Almanzo and moving to the tree claim, it's a Dove-in-the-Window quilt that's packed: "Laura brought her Dove-in-the-Window quilt that she had pieced as a little girl while Mary pieced a nine-patch. It had been kept carefully all the years since then." (These Happy Golden Years, Chapter 32, "Haste to the Wedding").

It's not known what happened to Laura's quilt, but there is a nine-patch quilt made by Mary on display at the LIW-RWL Home and Museum in Mansfield.

I think it was Joanna Wilson who first published the idea - in her Bear Tracks in the Berry Patch quilt book published by Plum Creek Patchwork - that Laura Ingalls probably only made one quilt, as the two patterns are similar. You can also "see" a dove in the bear claw design if you want to.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:59 AM