Astronomical Quilts Block Challenge

Did you know that Astronaut Karen Nyberg is a quilter?  I can only imagine that challenges on Earth are greatly magnified in a zero gravity environment. Even with that huge change, that hasn’t stopped Karen from taking her passion to the stars.  How cool would it be to have a quilt made in space??

 If you’re interested in learning more about her, as well as what quilting in space is like, you should definitely check out this video.

While in space, she made a star themed block, and has challenged others to join her.  She’s asking that people send her their blocks, where they will be joined together to make a quilt that will be displayed at next fall’s international quilt festival. I have a feeling she will be making more than one quilt with all of the blocks that are being sent in!

I took the plunge and bought EQ7, and I thought designing my own block would be a fun first project.  Not wanting to get too crazy, I made a few modifications to a block that was part of EQ’s block library. I then adjusted a few of the seams to make it paper piece friendly and as easy as that, I was getting started on my first EQ project.

After digging through my stash, I found a print that I thought looked perfect for a starry sky. Combining it with some orange and yellow kona solids really made the star theme obvious! I struggled getting my machine to like working through the really bulky portions where the points meet up.  I’ll have to think more about that as I dive deeper into designing!

It was a fun little project and I’m excited to mail it in.  The deadline is August 1st so if you’re wanting to participate, the time is now!

I hope you’re all having a fabulously quilty week!