Chapter 10: Teaching Geometry To Kunsi—“Morning Star”

“Kunsi, how many of these quadrilaterals do I need to start the first row?” I asked, deeply contemplating the lovely shade of blue I had chosen to begin the star.

“Oh, yes. Well, we always start with eight pieces, you know. The star begins with the four directions, always. That’s how we do it. Then you add rows and add rows until you get it as big as you want it.” Kunsi was pointing to the quilt she was working on and showing me the center star, which consisted of eight quadrilaterals rotated on a central vertex at 45 degrees. The quadrilaterals actually become diamonds once the seam allowances are taken away.