Barbara Frietchie Star quilt block

Barbara Frietchie Star

March 18, 1933- Nancy Cabot said there is no proof that Barbara Frietchie designed the Barbara Frietchie Star block that is named for her. And there is no other trace of this pattern in quilt lore beyond the quilt that was found in her home in Frederick, MD which is why it is named for her.  I wonder who made it?

It was a two color quilt but Nancy suggested "the colored pieces of the block, however, might be cut from three different tones of the same color, shading from the more intense center to a pastel tint at the extreme corners."

I did this when making my block.  It isn't as apparent as I would have liked.  The lightest fabric has more contrast when looking at a bigger piece of fabric than what is used in the small patches of the block.





This is an easy block to make.  It's made from half-square triangles and flying geese units.  The half square triangles are 2" unfinished and 1 1/2" finished when sewn into the block.  The flying geese units are 2"X3 1/2" unfinished and 1 1/2"X3" finished.

I put the parts together in rows as shown at the right.

You need to make 4 flying geese units, 4 half square triangles for the center and four half square triangles for the corners.

This block can be found in Electric Quilt's BlockBase program as #2146.

Tomorrow-Tea Leaf