$915.00
Measures 112″ x 117″ long.
The Tumbling Blocks quilt is one of the earliest quilt patterns, featuring geometric forms of light and dark that tumble across the quilt. This homemade king-size quilt is hand-quilted with 292 yards of thread by a local Amish or Mennonite woman. It is homemade, hand-quilted, initialed, and signed. On a king-size bed, this quilt will have approximately 17 inches of drop per side.
Homemade quilts combine the warmth of a bed cover with a unique story told by the quilters from Lancaster County, PA. Every homemade quilt is as unique as the family, busy mother or Amish ladies group who uses a needle and thimble to thread stitch on the quilt. Some quilts involve hundreds of hours and thousands of stitches to create a unique patchwork quilt that will last for generations.
When you peruse our HOMEMADE QUILTS you are shopping for an item that tells a story and adds meaning to your bedroom! Discover more about our unique patchwork quilts and the stories behind them…
We have a lot of quilts! Want to see a gallery of the major patterns? Checkout our Common Amish Quilt Patterns.
The optical illusion of the tumbling blocks pattern has been used as far back as ancient Greece and Renaissance Europe in tiling floors or weaving fabric. Quilters at least as far back as the 19th century picked up the template and learned how to incorporate it into lovely bedspreads. It has been popular in America since the 1850s.
Oral history about the tumbling blocks quilts suggest the pattern may have been used on the Underground Railroad, Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard found. They write that this pattern, also known as the tumbling boxes pattern, may have signaled to slaves when it was time to pack up their boxes and move on. While historians debate the claim, it’s intriguing to think this homespun art may have been part of bringing freedom.
We also know that at least two American presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower, sewed tumbling blocks quilts when they were young boys. While they may not have counted these among their finest deeds, the discipline they developed in stitching this demanding pattern no doubt served them well later!