The lady members of the Wilkinson family had made a simple patchwork
quilt, as a small Christmas present, all composed of square pieces of
the same size, as shown in the illustration. It only lacked the four
corner pieces to make it complete. Somebody pointed out to them that if
you unpicked the Greek cross in the middle and then cut the stitches
along the dark joins, the four pieces all of the same size and shape
would fit together and form a square. This the reader knows, from the
solution in Fig. 39, is quite easily done. But George Wilkinson suddenly
suggested to them this poser. He said, "Instead of picking out the cross
entire, and forming the square from four equal pieces, can you cut out a
square entire and four equal pieces that will form a perfect Greek
cross?" The puzzle is, of course, now quite easy.