(4-patch, grid = 8 x 8, scroll down to tile) (see ANIMATION)
ANTIQUE GEOMETRIC QUILT DESIGNS CHRISTMAS STAR
< INDEX | BOOKS | NEXT > Quilt Notes: For full-size pattern templates for this version of CHRISTMAS STAR, see 500 FULL SIZE PATCHWORK PATTERNS (#355) by Maggie Malone, Stirling Publishing, 1985. A variation drafted on an octagon of the same basic design was illustrated in the Kansas City Star in 1931, according to Barbara Brackman's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PIECED QUILT DESIGNS (#3789). The historical "Bethlehem Star" may have been a double eclipse of Jupiter. A fascinating article at CNN says that "the Mathesis, a book written in 334 A.D. by Firmicus Maternus, an astrologer of Constantine the Great, described an astrological event involving an eclipse of Jupiter by the moon in Aries, and said that it signified the birth of a divine king." For more autumn/winter holiday designs, see ALL HALLOWS and CAPS FOR WITCHES AND DUNCES.