Machine Quilting the Tula Pink Bjorn Bear Quilt

There are times I work on a quilt and I think, “I should probably blog about this”. Then there are times that I work on a quilt and I think, “I can’t freaking wait to blog about this!!”

Today’s quilt is definitely the latter…….it’s safe to safe that it’s a bear-y adorable quilt! Sorry for the puns, I just can’t help it!

I just finished this quilt for Tula Pink, which she made using her newest fabric collection, Spirit Animal. It’s truly amazing, the colors are vivid and the prints are awesome….where does all her talent come from? To see some of the prints in the collection, click here.

She made this quilt using Elizabeth Hartman’s super popular quilt pattern, Bjorn Bear.

bjorn bear tula pink quilt

Seriously……the cuteness is too much! I am pretty sure I am going to have to make this quilt for myself…dang, there’s another project to add to my U.F.O. (unfinished object) pile.

Machine Quilting Animals

In my experience, I have learned that it can be tricky quilting blocks that are supposed to be a human face or an animal. Too much quilting detail can have a freaky looking result. But, adding just a little detail can be amazing!

bjorn the bear tula pink quilt pattern

So in the blocks, I quilted some gently wavy lines. I like how it resembles fur, without being overly complicated.

Quilting the wavy lines so that they wrap around the bottom of the “face” is an easy way to add just a little more detail…….doesn’t it look so cute?

wavy line machine quilting
It’s amazing how something as simple as a wavy line can look so impactful on a quilt! It’s a great reminder that quilting doesn’t have to be overly complex to look interesting!

Deciding to quilt the wavy lines was easy….it was figuring out how to quilt the “nose” that threw me for a loop. You would think that having machine quilted as much as I have, coming up with designs wouldn’t be difficult. But the truth of the matter is that it happens quite often.

Finally, after putting it off as long as I could, I decided to resort to my favorite techniques….echoing and Dot to Dot Quilting.

dot to dot machine quilting

Echoing the area helped fill in the space and some geometric quilting added some dimension to the face without going overboard. Well….at least that is how I rationalized the design to myself! Sometimes, you only have to convince yourself!

The funny thing is that even though it took me forever to decide how to quilt the nose, it’s probably one of my favorite areas of the quilt. Well…..besides the feathers….you do know that I love to quilt feathers, right?

Winding Feathers

I love feathering a quilt until it could fly away…..but sometimes the quilt that I am working on doesn’t have room for the big curvy feathers that I like to quilt. Do I let that deter me? Definitely not, I squeeze them in anyway! What can I say? I can be quite determined.

longarming quilting feathers

Quilting the feathers so that they wrap around and behind the blocks allows me to fit them into smaller areas. I also love how they can add a look of depth to the quilt. It’s almost like the blocks are hovering in front of the background filler. (Can you tell that I am easily amused?!?)

machine quilting feathers

To help show off the feathers even more, I quilted teeny tiny pebbles around them.

What? I can’t help it if I like to show off the quilting….just a little.

machine quilting the pebbles as a filler design

But what if I didn’t like how the feathers turned out? I definitely wouldn’t rip it out. Instead, I would have quilted a filler design that was more similar in density and shape, something like a swirl.

Thankfully, in this case, everything turned out ok so there was no need to hide it.

How about a few more pictures? I just love how quilting can really add detail and interest to a quilt….and in this case, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!

bjorn the bear quilt pattern

machine quilting tula pink bjorn bear quilt

Your Turn!

Obviously I had a blast machine quilting this quilt! It was one of those moments where everything turned out just exactly like I hoped it would. Have you had a quilt turn out better than you expected? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

I’ll be back soon with the next episode of the Midnight Quilt Show….I can’t wait to show you what antics I have been up to! Happy Quilting!