This quilt
is proof that lightning can indeed strike twice in the same place.
In 2017 I completed Polar Bear Dip, a Row by Row Experience block designed by Christina Doucette (Needleworks Studio, Cochrane, Ontario). The pattern for that quilt block was a gift from a friend who decided to pursue other projects. (You can read more about Polar Bear Dip and Row by Row here.)
In 2022 one of our older guild members felt it was time to pass her stash on to other quilters. Two members helped out, fearlessly taking on the challenge of how to share this great gift. They came up with a brilliant plan, placing patterns and projects that were in various states of completion into brown paper bags. These were then randomly distributed at the guild. No peeking into the bag was allowed.
When I opened my bag, I could see that the karma of the quilting universe had struck. I had received the pattern for the block Polar Bear Express, a companion piece to the Polar Bear Dip quilt I’d finished in 2017. Not only was it from the same designer and shop, it had some fabrics that matched those I’d used in my previous quilt. Karma? Lightning? Quilt Gods? Since the block had travelled though many hands to reach me, I set aside all other projects and made this block into a small quilt that can now hang with its companion.
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| Top: Polar Bear Dip Bottom: Polar Bear Express |
The town of Cochrane, possibly the only location with a world class live polar bear habitat, is steeped in polar bear motifs. To that end, they even have a polar bear painted on their water tower, so I’ve added a very tiny one to the water tower in this quilt. It’s my belief that you can never have too many polar bears, even if they’re cloth ones.
