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Quilt Notes: On March 7, 1934, ENDLESS STAIR(S) appeared in Nancy Cabot's Chicago Tribune quilt column, and in the same year in the Farm Journal, and also in the Kansas City Star, according to Barbara Brackman's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PIECED QUILT PATTERNS (#1110), where it is listed in her section devoted to "Squares and Rectangles Only." Jinny Beyer, in her QUILTER'S ALBUM (p. 426-3), ingeniously sets it next to a POSTAGE STAMP quilt, which it is, except that here the patches alternately swap vertical and horizontal.
If various striped fabrics are used for the piecing, some truly magnificent color combinations can be produced in seeming endless variety, as illustrated upper right. The number of steps for each block is optional, since ENDLESS STAIR is obviously a continuous pattern.
Cabot called ENDLESS STAIRS the "Pet of Veteran Quilters," because it is so easy to piece (see left) and can be used as a vehicle for scraps (aka SCRAPPY ENDLESS STAIR). The design is also called WINDING STAIRWAY. Compare at this site with ATTIC STAIRS and GOLDEN STAIRS — interesting how all three achieve the same climbing effect in uniquely different ways, this one the most self-evident, and somehow the most mysterious.
For more designs employing only squares and/or rectangles at this site see the following (note a number of these as listed include comparative artworks by famous, historical women artists).
ODDS AND ENDS
CITY STREETS (with Georgia O'Keeffe)
ON THE SQUARE (with Sonia Delaunay)
ALBUM QUILT (with Gunta Stölzl)
LOG CABIN
PUSS IN THE CORNER
FRAME BLOCK
HANDCRAFT
OP ART DESIGN (with Bridget Riley)
QUILTER'S DELIGHT
CENTURY OF PROGRESS
GREEN RIVER (with Georgia O'Keeffe)
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ENDLESS STAIR(S)
