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Quilt Notes:
Overall patterns can be set off-center by half the length of one block (see also at MONKEY PUZZLE), and as shown in the illustration upper right, a beautiful tiling variation for ROAD TO OKLAHOMA from Beth Gutcheon's THE PERFECT PATCHWORK PRIMER (#288, p.121). In fact, the block's very bumpy, uniquely lopsided design ride, achieved by the off-centering, helps to resolve some of the frustration with the title of the original pattern, as suggested by Nancy Cabot in her column in the Chicago Tribune, November, 1933:
"When the pioneer woman who created this quilt pattern lived, the road to Oklahoma was rough and rocky and tortuous; the qullt hardly represents it. But perhaps the clever quilter foresaw our smooth roads, or perhaps the design got its name because it was created on a journey to that state. At any rate, it's an attractive and popular pattern."
The basic design was included in the the Ladies Art Company Catalogue (#239) in the late nineteenth century.
Rhoda Ochser Goldberg's QUILTING & PATCHWORK DICTIONARY has three amazingly different examples, simply according to their light and dark arrangements, for ROAD TO OKLAHOMA (p.207), and therefore providing real options for the distribution of colors and fabrics. Cabot's version is #2, all are four-patch patterns. See also the Dover reprint of Ruby McKim's 101 PATCHWORK PATTERNS (p. 109 with templates), originally published in 1931 (Brackman #1123b).
Compare with various journey designs and traveling themes:
ROAD TO OZ
OH! SUSANNAH
ROAD TO TENNESSEE
RAILROAD CROSSING
BOSTON STREETS
LABYRINTH
MYSTIC MAZE / SPiDER'S WEB
SNAIL'S TRAIL
(A) WINDING TRAIL
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(Right to left = 4 x 4)
ROAD TO OKLAHOMA
