So honestly, Jacob’s Ladder is a quilt block that has never really appealed to me. It feels very contained and a bit too safe, perhaps? But then that’s the good thing about taking part in a quilting bee. The assignments push me out of my comfort zone from time to time. And trying new things is always good.

This month for do. Good Stitches we tasked to sew four Jacob’s Ladder blocks. Each should be a strong, medium/dark color combined with white. I take it that the queen bee is going for lots of contrast. I started by pulling the above fabrics from my scraps, plus the plain white from my stash.

Jacob’s Ladder has a few variations, but this one is made up of 4-patch blocks and HST blocks. Fortunately we were tipped to start the 4-patch blocks by sewing two long strips together. Then we subcut the already-sewn strips to quickly create pairs of squares. Two pairs are then sewn together to yield a 4-patch block. This deliciously efficient technique is called strip piecing. It’s obvious, but I forget to do it when left to my own devices.

We were also asked to spin the seams when pressing the 4-patch blocks, and the queen bee even provided a tutorial. But, oops, I totally forgot! I always press my seams open. I do think that pressing open has the same effect as spinning seams, as far as block flatness? What do you think? All you seam-spinners, is there a reason that you prefer it to pressing seams open?

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So, here are my finished Jacob’s Ladder blocks! There are two with white ladders and two with colored ladders. One cool thing about this block is that both types of ladders take the exact same ingredients. The two types emerge based on how you arrange the block elements. Thus, you can cut and sew without any fuss, deciding later on which layout you like best.

OK, that’s a wrap for March bee blocks. Next I need to finish by Drummer Boy Dresden’s bee quilt! It’s coming - - -