Friendship Star

About this block

This is a nine-patch block, four corner squares, four half-square-triangle star points, and a solid center square, one of the simplest star designs to piece since it uses just two basic units throughout. Its name comes from a genuine social tradition: in the 1800s, as settlers moved west, friends exchanged and signed individual blocks before parting ways, often stitching heartfelt handwritten messages into the fabric to commemorate the friendship across the miles. Those signed blocks were later assembled into finished quilts, meaning a single friendship quilt could carry the names and handwriting of an entire community.