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Quilt Notes:
As illustrated in THE PERFECT PATCHWORK PRIMER, 1973 (#117) by Beth Gutcheon, a unique and lively variation here on the standard LEAPFROG block. "Leapfrog" is one word, according to the dictionary, and refers to the well-known children's acrobatic game which imitates the antics of frogs. "Games of this sort have been called by this name since at least the late sixteenth century" — indeed, it was played in colonial America (see Wikipedia). Here diagonal corners leap, or overlap each other, very beautifully. A similar spirit of much playfulness from the same source can be seen in CRAZY ANN.
Three variations of the design are reproduced in Jinny Beyer's QUILTER'S ALBUM (p. 209-10-12), — including Nancy Cabot's New Year's Day, 1935 illustration. The design made its debut in the Ladies Art Company Catalogue, late 19th Century (#250). Barbara Brackman's ENCYCLOPEDIA includes the Gutcheon version (#1910) in her section titled "Blocks with Unpieced Bars." The center crossbars in quilt blocks, when tiled, tend to act like sashing, creating surprising new patterns — scroll below and see — the background is a simple repeat of the illustration upper left, but the bars no longer define the center, instead they seem to hug the borders — hooray for creative non-conformity.
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<< Illustration Left — Greek, Corinthian terracotta, late 4th–3rd century BCE — Not quite the same as Leapfrog (more of a piggyback) but a delightful ceramic sculpture of two girls at play in a game known as ephedrismos (ἐφεδρισμός). Read more about the artwork and its game at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And in support of women in sports, Barbara Brackman's quilt blog has an excellent post celebrating the anniversary of Title IX.
Other traditional quilt designs at this site, inspired by children at play, include:
GIRL'S JOY
CHILDREN'S DELIGHT
HOPSCOTCH
MERRY-GO-ROUND
PUSS IN THE CORNER
CHUCK-A-LUCK
BOX-KITE
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LEAPFROG