As Robert Shaw notes in American Quilts: The Democratic Art, Log Cabin quilts have come to symbolize American quiltmaking from the late 19th century. Their romantic association with self-reliant pioneers makes them an apt quilt to illustrate the democratic trend within the craft, due to increased access to fabric. The versatility of the pattern—quiltmakers can achieve endless variation with the arrangement of blocks—demonstrates how individual quiltmakers adapted patterns and made them their own.