Sunbeam

Here's a terrific mid-20th-century quilt top

The pattern: Sunbeam from Ruby Short McKim

McKim published this design twice.

It's #2620 in BlockBase

She suggested a pillow or a quilt with alternate plain white

blocks in the Kansas City Star in 1929

And included it in her sampler called the Patchwork Quilt

in the Denver Post in 1931

The McKim sampler was a popular design; here's one from

Cindy's Antique Quilts.

And I've got pictures of  a few repeat block quilts and tops in the

 pattern from online auctions.

This beautifully pieced block is in the colors McKim suggested.

A sampler of color combinations

This block caught my eye. It's a two-color version and the

alternate white spokes fade into the corner pieces.

An asterisk.

I erased some seam lines.

Hmmmm.

The Chicago Tribune's Nancy Cabot column published a slightly different

 version in 1933 with the center square a little smaller. You can find a pattern here:

http://nancycabotsewalong.blogspot.com/2013/12/sunbeam-quilt-block.html

Nancy Cabot also called it Whippoorwill.

And read more about the Ruby McKim sampler at this post:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2013/02/ruby-mckim-in-denver-post.html