Tidbit of Quilting History -- Jacob's Ladder and Stepping Stones
QuiltingCoach Penny
Jacob's Ladder (above) is a pre-Revolutionary design. All Jacob's Ladder quilts are made in two tones only, with the dark patches being very dark and the lights being correspondingly light. No intermediate shades are allowed, since the fundamental idea of Jacob's Ladder is extreme contrast resulting in a series of dark "ladders" running up and down the quilt or diagonally across. Now take the same block, reverse the light and dark fabrics, and add a medium, and you get Stepping Stones (in Virginia and New England), The Tail of Benjamin's Kite (in Pennsylvania), The Trail of the Covered Wagon or Wagon Tracks in Mississippi and the prairie states, and The Underground Railroad in the Western Reserve (Connecticut and the northeastern portion of Ohio).
Each new name suggests characteristics of its locale, and creates a image in the mind's eye -- grass-embedded stepping stones set between planters in old Colonial gardens; Benjamin Franklin, pompously dignified in small-clothes, with his jacket and broad-brimmed hat flying a child's kite in a thunderstorm; the covered wagon trekking its way across the prairie carrying settlers to their new homeland.
And, isn't it amazing how changing just so few colors can make a difference in the look of the block and quilt?
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
TheQuiltingCoach
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