Jacob’s Ladder Nine Patch Quilt Scrap Quilt #7

Remember my quest to use up all my scraps?  Well here's #6 all finished up!

Years ago I had a quilt book that included this pattern.  I no longer have that book, but I did make a quilt in 2012 from this design.  I included a photo of it here because it's interesting to see how the design look changes with your placement of value and how clearly defined your lights and darks are.

In my earlier quilt, the lights and darks are opposite locations.  Also, my earlier quilt had mainly very lights and very darks, whereas my current scrappy quilt has every value of light, medium, and dark, which gives it a softer look.

I made up a little drawing here that will hopefully help you if you want to make this design.  I just showed you how to make one block (it's a big block, like 18.5" square) so to make a nice lap size you could make 12 blocks in a 3 by 4 setting like I did here.

Now let's talk a little bit about using value.  I prefer my current use of value over my original quilt.  I love the way mixing in medium values with both the dark and light areas can blend the design and make it more interesting.  So don't overthink whether your medium values are dark or light.  You'll be amazed how the design will emerge beautifully even though you could use the same medium value fabric in both the dark and light sections.  

I also included some dark squares purposely in the lighter section.  I actually started out thinking I would do that for the whole quilt, then changed my mind and decided to stick with mostly lights in those areas.  But this adds interest and movement to the quilt!  It's really hard to mess up a design like this!  Small block quilts are so forgiving this way, although they do take a long time to piece!!

Now let's talk a bit about backing choice.  I find choosing a backing to be a hard decision sometimes.  There are times where there's an obvious best choice, but sometimes I have no idea what will compliment the quilt.  I usually carry the quilt top over to my fabric cupboard and stand there with it over my arm for awhile, holding it up to different backing fabrics.  In this case, I saw this yellow vintage sheet out of the corner of my eye, and instantly felt a physical tug towards it.  But I dismissed it subconsciously because I thought the quilt had enough yellow.  And also yellow seems like a less popular choice, less likely to appeal to most people.  (I think about this slightly when planning to sell a quilt)  So I tried a lot of different fabrics but nothing seemed right and in the end I realized that this yellow piece was the one!  I'm so glad I used it, as I think it's the perfect companion for this cheerful scrappy quilt.