As soon as the International Quilt Festival announced its star block challenge last fall (inspired by astronaut and quilter Karen Nyberg, who was living on the space station), I knew I had to participate. The deadline isn’t until August, so I sat on it for many months occasionally thinking of different cool designs I could attempt. I had originally planned to design my own, but eventually decided to just chill out a bit and just have fun.
I used the pattern from the June 2013 Lucky Stars Block of the Month club, although I had to recreate it since the pattern included 6″ and 12″ blocks — but I needed a 9″ block for this challenge. Thankfully I’m pretty handy with Illustrator, so resizing to 9″ wasn’t a problem.
I pieced it together using scraps leftover from my Out to Sea quilt. I tried to pay close attention to maintaining a 1/4-inch seam and lining up the points and for the most part, I was successful. There’s a bit of wonkiness in the middle, but overall this is some of the better paper piecing I’ve done so I’m satisfied.
I really like how it turned out! I’m supposed to sign it with my name and location before mailing it in, but I’m not really sure how to do that — the fabrics are all dark so a sharpie won’t really show up. I’ve read that gel pens work also, so I’m hoping a white gel pen will work.
Jen de Jong says
I’m so excited to find your blog! My 5 year-old-son is deep into his space obsession. He has no interest in cartoons but will watch any space or science documentary…as well as the NASA channel! He already knows more about science than I did in high school! We had fun watching Karen Nyberg in the ISS because it was fun way to combine his passion with mine–quilting. I just finished my block for the block challenge (you can see it on my blog) and we can’t wait to see the finished quilt when we make it down to Houston. (By the way, did the gel pen work?)
saroy says
The gel pen did indeed work! And I like your son already — anybody who loves space is a winner in my book.
Jen de Jong says
Cool! I usually print my labels on printable fabric (like I did for my NASA block), but I’m doing a block exchange now where I need to sign my blocks. Do you have a link to the pens you bought?
saroy says
I think this is the one I ended up getting: http://www.michaels.com/gelly-roll-medium-pen/M10255129.html?dwvar_M10255129_color=White
Carmen says
Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see the completed quilt!