Bear Claw Quilt
The bear’s paw block (also known as bear paw or bear claw) is a traditional motif dating back to the mid-19th century. Its inclusion among the Expo quilts may be related to the popular (but apocryphal) legend that it was part of the “quilting code” that used certain quilt blocks to communicate messages to people traveling on the Underground Railroad. Alternately, this block may have been chosen because it was a popular motif among Western pioneers. The Montana State Library’s online history portal has a very similar-looking bear paw quilt made by a settler in the late 1800s, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture has a similar quilt from around 1876.
The Expo quilters used the Expo colors of green, blue, and white, adding purple as a complementary tone. There are thirty bear paw blocks in six rows of five. The quilting between them is notably detailed and skilled. The outer edge of the quilt has a sawtooth pattern; most quilting historians believe that the bear paw block evolved from the sawtooth design. In some of the blocks, the “claws” were made in a lighter fabric or have faded, making it easier to see the four diamonds (or squares “on point”) that form the base of this design.
