This star quilt block has several names, as do many quilt blocks.  It is referred to as the Crown Star and as well as the Crown of Thorns.

As you can see from the picture at the left, this is a 4-patch block, which has been further subdivided into 16 units or grids.

There are several ways to make this block.  You can make a square in a square for the center, and then use flying geese units on the edges and squares in the corners.

Or you can make it using nothing but half square triangles with squares in the corners.

If you choose to make this block using the square in a square method (or Diamond in a Square), be sure that you size the center to cover 4 grids of the block.  You will find a chart on the square in a square page to help you determine the size to cut the center square for your desired block size.

Here is a visual of how this 4-patch block looks with a few other similar blocks.  This block is often used in sampler quilts.