When I first heard that NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg was bringing craft supplies to the International Space Station, I felt some serious DIY-meets-science-geek-girl pride. (Smart, creative girls rejoyce—there’s one of us in space!) I’ll also admit to having partaken in some pretty far-fetched flights of fancy wherein I attended awesome craft nights at the space station via Google Hangout. Because, how cool would that be?!
Well, this is almost as good.
See the the Texas-themed quilt block above? Karen Nyberg made that. In space. Even better: She’d like you to join her by sewing a star-themed quilt block for the Astronomical Quilts! Block Challenge. The finished quilt will be displayed at next year’s International Quilt Festival, which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The deadline for submitting a block is Aug. 1, 2014, and you can find a link to the PDF flyer that was released by Quilts, Inc. with all of the details needed to enter here.
“Now that I’ve tried my hand sewing in space, I can say one thing with certainty: It’s tricky.”
And, now that you’re all dreaming about awesome star block ideas, you’ll definitely want to check out this video from Karen Nyberg, where she’ll give you a space station studio tour (okay, a magnetic board isn’t really a studio), and you’ll see how she overcomes challenges like supply limitations and runaway tools in zero-g to piece her own quilt blocks in space!
For even more information about Karen Nyberg’s crafty persuits, you can also check out her NASA bio.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t try my hand at the Astronimical Quilts! Block Challenge. Who’s with me?
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