5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Doors Are Locked, Engines On.

Nov 8

Nov 8 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Doors Are Locked, Engines On.

Here's the great thing about having kids: when they get into something, you do too. I was not a space kid. I liked horses, dogs, dolls that wore clothes, and picking elmer's glue off my hands. But j is into space. She corrects me when I try to list the planets in order. She tells me Pluto's a dwarf planet because it "can't clear the neighborhood."

So for the last year everything we've made has been on the space theme:

Space birthdays:

Space clothing:

Space Halloween costumes

I like the way this post is turning into a dump of all the stuff I've made this year but neglected to write about. Anyway, last spring we visited Kennedy Space Center. They've got the first space shuttle (Atlantis) on display. I'd been a little ho-hum about the space stuff at this point - like, "Yes, that's really cool that you like space, and I'm going to support you in that. While I scroll through my Instagram feed." But the drive/bravery/brilliance of the people involved finally got to me at the Atlantis exhibit. They start you off with a movie about the making of the first space shuttle - an orbiter that could take off like a rocket and land like an airplane. I'm totally linking to this crappy bootleg video of it, just so you can spend twelve minutes of your life getting inspired too. The video ends with the balsa wood model on the screen turning into a picture of the real space shuttle and then the screen goes up, and you realize the screen was see through and it's THE REAL SPACE SHUTTLE HANGING FROM THE CEILING. I wiped away the tears and stopped checking my phone.

The Atlantis doesn't have the smooth shell of an airplane - the whole thing is covered in quilts! Check this out:

Sorry, but that's not a blanket, it's an old patchwork quilt! The freaking fabric is yellowing!

That was the inspiration for this shuttle wing quilt. I used a variety of cream/off white patterns that read as solids. I wanted the patterns to be a little on the modern side, so no flowers.

To make the logo, I printed it out on huge paper and cut out the parts, traced them onto double sided fusible, and machine appliqued them.

The white stars in the logo are embroidered. I quilted the wing in straight lines, going in both directions, same as it appeared on the Atlantis, I hand quilted the NASA logo with blue stars.