Quilters in space!!

If you follow DMC's blog, you've likely seen the video of Karen Nyberg, an astronaut on the International Space Station, explaining how to quilt in space. If not, you have to see this video! It is one of the coolest, nerdiest things I have ever seen and it makes me want to whip out a needle here on earth.

 

Karen Nyberg is an engineer and an astronaut. She is also an avid quilter who has teamed with the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas to challenge quilters to make star-themed quilt blocks. All blocks submitted by August 1, 2014 will be used to make star-themed quilts, along with the blocks Nyberg sews in space. The quilts will be featured at the fall quilt show (October 30 - November 2, 2014). Blocks must be 9.5" square. They can be made from any fabric and in any color and must be signed on the front by the stitcher. Attendees will also hear Karen speak about sewing in space.

 

As a child I spent a lot of time at our local planetarium, so this challenge is particularly interesting to me. My Dad coordinated educational programming with the planetarium and all of the guys in the basement were "uncles." I remember the big concrete room where they all worked creating graphics and electronic music for the shows and programming the room full of computers that ran the projector (now it's all done from one desktop computer). It was always exciting to visit. My sister and I even liked the hallway, which was textured grey concrete, with black walls lit with spotlights. We'd happily jump from one lighted spot to another while Dad conducted his business.

 

We always had space stuff in the house, and that crept into our needlework. When I went to college, the laundry bag Mom made me featured signs of the zodiac. And I once tried to make a baby quilt that simulated a starry night. I don't have a photo, but it was strips of blue diamonds on a white ground, with occasional yellow diamonds for twinkling stars. I was proud of my creativity, but my quilting left a lot to be desired. I forgot to stretch the backing fabric and it turned out quite crooked.

 

For more inspiring space themed projects, check out DMC's blog and Michelle Hamill's Stichin Fingers page. She is a creative embroiderer who stitched a truly magnificent blackwork piece depicting the inner solar system, as well as beautiful chain stitch Jupiter.

 

Quilting in space is one the coolest and most unexpected hobbies I've ever heard of. For those of us who are earthbound, though, you may want to consider putting your personnel touch on the solar system by submitting a star block to the Houston International Quilt show.

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Will beg for quilts

Begging for things NEVER worked when my sister and I were little girls. We were even told that we shouldn't write a Christmas list--Santa knew what we wanted and we should be grateful for whatever we received. And we were! It turns out, however, that constant begging for new quilts in a public forum is an extremely effective way to influence my mother to sit down at her sewing machine. She just can't resist making a new quilt.

 

My mother has been inching her way through her scrap pile for the last several months, making quilts for charity. And while I don't want to deny anyone who could be comforted by a new quilt, I have been shamelessly begging on this blog for more quilts. So I was thrilled when my parents arrived for my husband's Oktoberfest birthday party with a new quilt for our house. It is a twin size, but I think it will be just perfect for the air mattress my sister and brother-in-law will use when they come visit for Thanksgiving. This means we now have a quilt for each bedroom. YAY!

 

I love this quilt. First, I am very partial to combinations of squares and triangles. I don't know why this is, but simple shapes are the most attractive for me. Plus I love scrappy quilts. This has both qualities, plus absolutely gorgeous colors.

Mom has always had what my sister and I felt was a perverse love affair with the color mustard. The kitchen in the house we grew up in was painted mustard and green and there was always mustard in every quilt she made. It is clear from this quilt though that mustard can be stunning. I love how she combined it with the springy blues, peaches, hot pinks and my favorite browns.

 

Mom has also been learning to use a long arm quilting machine. She rents time on one at her local quilt shop. I think that her machine quilting looks fantastic, and this random pattern is perfect for the homey, old fashioned feeling of the quilt.

 

Our wedding quilt, which I mentioned in an earlier post, but without a photo, has a similar feeling. It also has squares and triangles in my favorite browns and reds. Since it is made from reproduction Civil War fabrics, it is perfect for our Civil War era house.

So thank you Mom! We REALLY appreciate these quilts. They make the house a home.

 

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Confession of a bad daughter who was trying to be good

Back in July I wrote about a bath towel I had embroidered for my grandmother and how disappointed I was that she never used it. I received a lot of comments on that post, both on and off the blog. What surprised me was that most people confessed to not using homemade creations that their friends and daughters had given them because they were too special--although they also complained about their own creations not being used by the recipients.

 

I grew up hearing my mother grumble about people hanging baby and wedding quilts on the wall instead of using them. I also grew up with the example she set of always having a quilt she had made on her own bed.

 

So when I went to college and my mother gave me a quilt, I used it. Unfortunately, it was much too exquisite a quilt to give a teenager moving out into the world for the first time. It was composed of hand-pieced stars surrounded by a white ground and was hand quilted. My mother won a prize for it.

 

But, I used it. I sat on it, studied on it, washed it. And it suffered. After college I continued to use it and my pet rabbits got to it. More washing. And you can see what happened. It was loved to death. Thankfully, when mom saw it, she blamed the red fabric dye for disintegrating the borders, but I am still guilty of subjecting it to harder use than it should have received.

 

The next quilt my mother gave me was hand appliquéd and quilted. It was a wedding quilt and it survived better. But when you use a quilt, you have to wash it and between washes and the sun, it has faded, although it is still usable. It is now in the guest room and so it gets less use and is often admired. The washing has made it soft and comfy.

 

For my second wedding mom got smart. I told her exactly what I wanted for a quilt--a combination of 9 patch blocks and pinwheels all done in patchy Civil War era fabrics. This quilt is MACHINE stitched and quilted. It too is being used, but I think that it will last. For one thing, the rabbits have died. And for a second, I've learned to make my bed (which I never did as a teenager). Besides, I've learned my lesson and am much more gentle with this quilt. Even so, that won't stop me from begging for more quilts from mom. We've just bought an old house in Rhode Island and I expect that the winters will be cold!

Cats are much easier on quilts than rabbits.

 

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