Quilt Finish – Friendship Lines

I recently finished up the binding on this quilt, which is my take on the traditional Friendship Star block. With a name like Friendship Star, this quilt block has a lot of imbedded significance that’s hard to ignore. How could I make a quilt with such an entitled block, and not begin to think about alluding to my own relationship with friendships? Certainly, I could not. While I largely designed much of this on the fly using my design wall, in my head I knew the elements I wanted to incorporate and the flourishes I wanted to achieve. Without a doubt each of the Friendship Stars represented one of those vibrant souls that fade in/out of your life for a season, a reason or a lifetime. Because of this, an alternate grid placement was required, with a swoosh of movements across the quilt. Each star is constructed from a fabric bundle I curated from my own stash, illustrative of a friend past, present or future. Some of those friends are always brighter than others, but they all cross your heart like the connected stop and starts of an intersection.

That’s where my inspiration began with the dashed grid lines flitting between the stars. I’ve always been intrigued by the way my myriad of friends intersect, and in the same way, that they don’t. As the centre axis of my own life story my Friendship Lines sometimes connect, but nearly always it’s more about adjacency. Friendships complement a part of you as they brush against you while completing their own journey. I used a pink to red ombré fabric, and then positioned each line so that they fade pink from the outer edges, to the deepest red in the middle. They are pulsing towards the centre, alluding to the heart lines of my friendship with them. They act as a reference guide for the stars, but like friendships, they often disappear, swerve out of lanes, and provide only a mid-ground appreciation of where those relationships should be.

From a distance, the background fabric reads as a solid, but when you get closer you can see that it’s a geometric navy line on white. It was one of those love-at-first-sight fabrics that I bought while shopping in Tokyo with Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. Don’t even ask me what it is, because like all good romances, there’s a bit of mystery. The selvage is as blank as a moderne quilter’s face trying to use prints! (Jokes… mostly.) I loved the pulsing movement of it so I bought yardage in blue and black! Actually, this fabric was part of the impetus for this quilt–I wanted to finally find a use for it front and centre. Although slight, it is directional, so I took advantage of that when designing. I tried to turn each 4″ block 90° so there was a subtle shift of movement even emanating from the background. Friendships are never static, right?

The backing and binding fabric is Carolyn Friedlander, Ladder Lines in yarrow from the Doe collection. I’ve had that fabric in my stash since Sunday Stash #231 from 2017, and thankfully it fit the colour story I was trying to tell! The quilting was of course done by Leanne Harvey of Mount Vincent Quilts using this echo style wave. Again, telling the story of the waving vibrancy of a friendship. (Girlfriend really gets me!) I was looking back at my photo history, and while this quilt was started quite by accident in December 2018, it’s finished up with quite a bold intent. A thunderous hurrah for any and all of those friends that wind their way across my heart for whichever season, whatever reason, or however many lifetimes it takes. I thank you.

Title: Friendship Lines
Size: 59″ x 66″
Pattern: Friendship star block, and Molli Sparkles design
Fabric: Molli Sparkles curated stash bundle
Piecing: Machine stitched on Juki TL-98P with Aurifil 50wt, 2024 White
Quilting: Long arm quilting, by Mount Vincent Quilts
Binding: hand stitched with Aurifil 50wt, 5015 Gold Yellow
Backing: Carolyn Friedlander, Ladder Lines in yarrow from the Doe collection
Timing: December 2018 – January 2021
Favourite Part: Being able to speak about friendships through fabric.

Photos taken with permission at Bunnamagoo Winery in Mudgee, NSW.