The centers of the stars are appliqued. I tried looking up star patterns and there were two variations I found that have eight points. I didn't find anything like these with the appliques in the center. I wish I had known my husbands granny when she made these but when we met she was in a nursing home and had dementia. She was a very creative woman as I can see from these quilts. I wonder if she did make these up on her own.