NASA has several brilliant photographers on staff who regularly produce inspiring and interesting shots of the agency’s people, missions, and facilities. More than a year ago, I came across Chris Gunn’s (@thelightandthelens) gorgeous photo of the the Space Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF) at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. This massive clean room has hosted both the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, among other things, and has a giant wall full of HEPA filters.
I loved everything about Gunn’s photo — the framing, the lighting, the proportions, the organized grid, the color palette. And so I thought to myself “I wonder if I could turn that into a quilt?”
So I did. I’ve been working on this quilt on and off since August and managed to get it finished last weekend, just in time to make the QuiltCon Together submission deadline.
A big first step was figuring out how to capture the interesting variation in the filter panels on the wall of the clean room. I wasn’t sure how to pull off the look I wanted, and the quilt stayed in my head as just an idea for quite a while because of that. But when my friend Audrey started dyeing fabric earlier this year, I wondered if she could help. And boy did she!
She custom dyed both the “solid” pink and gray (which actually have some variation when you see them up close) as well as the more mottled pieces that mix pink/purple/brown/gray. I’m absolutely thrilled with the fabric she produced for this quilt!
I worked on the blocks for a couple months, making one here and there between other project. I was happy with the blocks individually, but then it was time to turn them into a finished top. That’s where my love/hate relationship with this quilt began!
I wanted to achieve a high degree of precision with this design, and in retrospect my expectations were probably unrealistic. (I recall a saying, although I can’t remember the source, that goes “If you wanted it to be perfect, you wouldn’t have made it with fabric.”) Maintaining alignment with a complex grid of 1/4″ lines was always going to be a challenge!
With the top pieced, I headed to my longarm for straight line quilting on the top half. It wasn’t the best experience — I tried to keep things as straight as possible, but the combination of my newbie longarm skills and a bit of wonkiness here and there in the piecing led to some frustrations.
I ripped some stitches and redid the lines, ripped and redid some more. I took it off the frame and finished the “floor” section on my domestic sewing machine; the hexagons evoke the hexagonal mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope. And then, for only the second time ever, I blocked a quilt!
It took more than 12 hours to dry on my sewing room floor, but I was pleasantly surprised at how I was able to correct a bit of the unevenness via blocking. It’s still far from perfect, but it’s not bad either.
(And I recognize that it looks pretty good in photos! I joked to friends that it’s the perfect quilt for a *VIRTUAL* quilt show where you aren’t able to inspect it closely. Ha!!)
I chose a gray constellation fabric for the backing and binding as a nod to NASA and the Webb telescope again.
Now that it’s finished, this quilt evokes a lot of feelings for me. I’m proud of the design, and how I was able to faithfully interpret the inspiration photograph and facility. I’m thankful for the many things I learned and the experience I gained by making a challenging piece.
I find that I can be both happy with the finished quilt AND also wish it was even better. Satisfied with the outcome but convinced I can still do better. And perhaps those are all valid things to feel as a quilter and artist…and person in this world.
The stats:
- Quilt measures ~31″ x 37″.
- Top uses 4 custom hand-dyed fabrics by Audrey Esarey, plus Kona Cotton in Blue, Blueberry, Delft, and Silver.
- Backing and binding fabric is NASA Constellations Gray by Riley Blake.
- Quilted on both my longarm and my domestic with Aurifil 50 wt thread in #2024 (White).
p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.
Loved hearing you share about this one at VQG, and reading more here in your post. AND I’ll say seeing the inspiration piece really helped me ‘see’ your vision. How nice that Audrey could help you with the fabric – they are really lovely in your quilt. Lastly, I was surprised to read how small it is – I think you did a more than admirable job with the accuracy! Very nice!
You know, it probably *would* have been easier to double the size and deal with 1/2″ pieces instead of 1/4″!! Ha! Thanks Debbie!
And you’ve shared this with Chris Gunn????
I have!
Sarah, you continually amaze and inspire with your various projects. This is a unique piece that only you could have created. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Cheryl!
I love this idea and the inspirational photo. It’s well-executed, also. If you’re not satisfied, though, it took Van Gogh a few tries to get his sunflowers just right.
Ha! I’m no Van Gogh but I’ll take it.
This is fantastic. What will you do with it now that it’s done?
Not sure! For now, it’s on my quilt ladder.
Oh, I love the story of this quilt! Beautiful and inspiring photo indeed, and the hand dye fabrics are just perfect for your purpose!
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Frederique! I don’t think the quilt would have been nearly as good without the hand dyed so I agree — they were perfect!