Betsy Snell Miller, Aurora, Illinois 
Courthouse Steps Log Cabin Quilt, 1864 
wool and cotton , 78 by 69 inches
Illinois State Museum collection
Gift of Mrs. Elwin Sperry, Aurora, Illinois (1966.33) 

In many Log Cabin patterns, quilters sew the strips onto the sides of the center square working round and round the center. To construct Courthouse Steps, quilters sew the strips to two opposite sides of the square, then to the other opposite sides. This makes the sides even and the blocks symmetrical. The blocks will match up with their neighbors when they are assembled. 

When this order of adding strips is used, what happens to the 'log cabin' look of the pattern? Why does this happen?

The red fabric in this quilt may be handwoven and hand dyed. The print fabrics were manufactured. They are woven from a cotton warp and a wool weft. Mrs. Miller sewed the strips onto the foundation fabric with a sewing machine (invented in 1846). There is no batting layer in this quilt, a common characteristic of foundation-pieced quilts.