Huckleberry Bears

Hi Quilting Friends,

We get really excited here at Ms P Designs when there’s a new baby on the way. And we were SO happy to learn that our niece in Montana was expecting a baby girl in October. Susan and I knew that baby Thea needed a special quilt, just for her. Thea’s mommy told us that the nursery theme would be “huckleberry“. Wait, what? How do you make a “huckleberry” quilt? Some of you may not be familiar with our beloved huckleberry, so lets’ start there!

The huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum) is a wild, low-growing shrub that produces a tart fruit that is used for making jam, pie, syrup, and other tasty and delicious things. Efforts at cultivating huckleberry plants have failed, so if you want huckleberries then you must go to the mountains to pick them when they ripen in August. Bears LOVE huckleberries almost as much as humans do, so it is important to be aware of other huckleberry harvesters when the berries are ripe. Hint: If there’s a bear in your huckleberry patch, then the berries ALL belong to the bear. Every. Single. One. Just back away, slowly, and let the bear enjoy his feast.

So after some thoughtful & spirited debate, along with Susan’s fortuitous fabric discovery from a little quilt shop in Whitefish, Montana, Susan and I said “I’m your huckleberry“, and we came up with this design for Thea’s special quilt:

The applique block background is a beautiful green and purple batik that features huckleberries! Susan appliqued three friendly berry-loving bears, each with a different color of fur. Note that these bears are all very friendly, because one doesn’t ever put scary bears on a baby’s quilt! We don’t wish to disrupt Thea’s sweet dreams.

I framed the finished bear blocks with deep purple and green batik strips, and then added some 9-patch and plain square blocks to complete the quilt. I used a variety of purple and green batik fabrics, ranging from very light to very dark, and arranged them asymmetrically around the appliqued bear blocks.

I quilted around the blocks and the bears “in the ditch” with clear thread. The colorful quilt has a two-tone flanged binding, made from dark purple and the green huckleberry fabric, for a perfect finish.

Susan and I had lots of fun designing and making this special quilt for Thea, but the best part of all was delivering the finished quilt, in person, during our trip to Montana in December! Isn’t Thea the sweetest little baby girl that you’ve seen in a long while, or ever? (We completely agree! She’s our Huckleberry!)

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The “Huckleberry Bears” pattern is available from Ms P’s Pattern Shop, if you’d like to make a beautiful quilt for that special new baby!

Huckleberry Bears Quilt

• Finished size = 41″ by 41″
• Includes applique layout and individual pieces for the bear applique
• Instructions and layout diagram for the pieced blocks
• Just $10 USD

Happy quilting,

Sharon