Remembering the ‘star block’ challenge

How many of you remember the star block challenge initiated by NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg back in 2013, when she was orbiting the Earth aboard the International Space Station?

News of the challenge was featured widely across the media, especially in patchwork and quilting magazines, and Karen also recorded a video, whilst inside the space station, inviting quilters to take part. The video is still available on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgJNcWncs8Y.

Screengrab from Karen’s video on YouTube

In the video she reveals that when not working on the crew’s main mission of carrying out scientific research, she has time to engage in one of her favourite pass-times – patchwork quilting!

She then shows the star-themed block she pieced during her downtime, and explains that she discovered a few challenges along the way, with cutting, piecing, sewing – all whilst working in weightlessness environment. (There are several other really cool videos out there that show how she managed these tricky challenges – simply do a search on Google to find them.)

The block she pieced looks amazing, and what’s so special is that it was pieced in space… how cool is that??

She then invites all quilters to make their own star block so that when she returns to Earth, the blocks can be pieced together with hers to form one large quilt to be exhibited at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in 2014.

As soon as I learned about the challenge I knew I had to take part, and set to work straight away. My husband is an amateur astronomer – so the combination of space and quilting is already part of our lives.

I spent some time thinking about my design. I knew I wanted to work with the colours red, white and blue to represent the USA flag as well the UK’s, which is where I live. I also wanted my block to represent NASA. What I came up with was a ‘lone star’ design, with the blue fabric featuring a scattered star print, bordered by a fabric with red and white stripes. I also decided to hand sew the block entirely as a way to honour the way Karen sews in space.

Sewing the block by hand

Detail of my finished block

The final quilt was displayed at the quilt festival as planned, and there are numerous photos out there of the finished quilts. It was fun scrolling through the photos trying to find my block, and it was a great feeling when I finally spotted it!

Finished quilt detail – can you see it??

And why am I writing about this now? Well, this year will be the 10th anniversary of this challenge, and I was recently approached by one of the organisers (www.missouriquiltmuseum.com) who is reaching out to those who took part to share their stories, so it’s given me some time to reflect on this fantastic project which I so enjoyed working on.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the organisers do for the anniversary celebration and look forward to taking part in any future challenges!

Till next time,

Mel x

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