Quilt Notes: See graphics and assembly instructions for BEAR'S PAW, available online at McCall's and other sites. This version of the design appeared in Ruth Finley's OLD PATCHWORK QUILTS AND THE WOMEN WHO MADE THEM, published in 1929, even then considered an antique pattern. Finley's book is still available in reprint (at amazon.com, etc.) with a new introduction by Barbara Brackman. According to the Nancy Cabot's column in the Chicago Daily Tribune, March 23, 1933, BEAR'S PAW originated as a Pennsylvania Quaker HAND OF FRIENDSHIP block. Other designs utilizing tracks or footprints as geometric figures include FANCY FOOT, CROW'S FOOT, PIGEON TOES and for polar bears, see ALASKA!!