The earliest quilts may have been made from layers of animal skin sewn around material. In colonial and pioneer times, women often fashioned the scraps of homespun fabrics into quilts. A block is the basic design unit of a quilt top. It is often square.
Many blocks have names, which are used to describe the quilt designs.
Some popular block names are Log Cabin, Irish Chain, or Wedding Ring. The rich pattern of the quilt top emerges as blocks are repeated over and over. In some ways quilts can be thought of as pictures painted in fabric pieces. Quilt designs often honor a birth or a marriage, or mark the occasion of a special community or state event, like a centennial. Quilters today approach a quilting project in much the same way a journalist researches an article, by gathering information in order to tell a story.