Paddington Counts

A quilting friend of mine went to my guild's fabric sale last September which I did not attend. She thought of me though, and picked up a cute tiny suitcase containing the fabrics and instruction sheet to make up a Paddington Bear themed quilt. It was a kit where the focus fabric for the center was the panel for a cloth book titled Paddington Counts.

I cut out each numeral ¼" beyond the blue border. I had to stretch a few numerals along the bias to square them up. Per the pattern I did not use numeral 10. I will have to figure out what to do with it later. Surely I cannot discard it!

Then I sewed the vertical sashings at the very outer edge of the blue line and made rows. A time saver for me is that the numeral positions were preordained when I formed the rows. I did not fret over which block to place where, as I normally micromanage when I assemble blocks.

After adding the turquoise horizontal sashings, I added the narrow, orange, bear-cameos print border, followed by the wider pin-striped border and number print cornerstones.

The final widest border had circles with a number and bear inside each. I quilted around each large circle and added smaller circles as connecters between them. This quilt pattern extended into the striped side bands on the back where there is a sneak peek of the backing number fabric. The backing fabric is from my stash and did not come with the kit.

Within each of the nine central squares I outlined the numeral with the bear and whatever he was holding. I used a pale yellow thread rather than stark white. I remember Angela Walters recommending use of a pale thread rather than plain white. It does make the quilting visible without distracting.

In the pin-striped border I did piano keyboard style in every other yellow stripe. In the orange border I merely meandered around each image, be it a cameo bear or yummy food item.

Along the diagonal cornerstones I put my go-to four-lobed square filler. I machine embroidered my two labels and hand stitched them to the backing before attaching the binding. The stripes of the binding fabric change color on their own with no need for me to fussy cut and seam. I was fortunate the yellow, orange, and charcoal were all colors in the fabric from the kit. I named this quilt COUNTING STUFF. I chose stuff instead of things because this bear is indeed stuffed, after all.

Here is about one-fourth of the back showing the texture of the FMQ. I think the word my daughter used was that the fabric tones were a bit "intense". True, it does not have the pastel coloration of the front, but how could I pass up that perfect thematic match?

Here is COUNTING STUFF in its entirely, front, back (included my husband's fingers), and an effort at an artistically draped presentation. Completed it measures 48" x 48".

What to do with the leftover number 10 square and the front and back cover squares? Pillow...? Pocket on quilt back...? Drawstring sack...? Hmmm... I will think of something. For now those leftovers are neatly folded in that cute little suitcase awaiting inspiration.