Star Quilt from Alabama

"I've just been given several quilts from a family I did a restoration for last year and one of the quilts is quite remarkable. I've made an exhaustive search of your Encyclopedia and haven't found a block like it. "

"The quilt was made in Alabama by the current owner's great grandmother who was born in 1848. She said that her great-grandfather may have taken it off to war with him during the Civil War. The quilt is in remarkable shape, but it was so dirty that it looked overall like a dark brown quilt. I've spent considerable time cleaning the quilt and am flabbergasted at the large number of beautiful fabrics in it." 

 The fabrics do look Civil-War-era. Lots of madders and some Prussian blue and buff prints.

It's more difficult to figure out the repeat.

But I tried drawing it in EQ7 and this is how I'd construct it.

A star with a star in the center and star points in the corners.

It's not in my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns or BlockBase. The closest I can come is BlockBase #3592 "Star of Texas," printed in the Ladies' Home Journal in 1912.

I imported it into Electric Quilt 7 and recolored it in my Baltimore Blues line.

If you go to the Moda page called Future Groups this week you'll see a preview of the fall fabric collection.

http://storefront.unitednotions.com/storefrontCommerce/subcategorybrowse.do?subcategory-name=Future+Groups&path=Guest%2f%2f%2f%2fFabrics&currentPage=1&numResults=100#

BlockBase #3592 "Star of Texas"

It's the same sort of star with an octagon in the center.

The Alabama quilt is a lot more complicated: A star in the center with the same sized star in the corners. I couldn't get it drawn right. At least to the correct proportions.

But here's how my drawing would repeat.

A very interesting quilt.

"Unknown Star from Alabama."

Thanks for the pictures, Donna.