AQ editor participates in the Dream Rocket project

[This article was written by American Quilter contributing editor Iris Frank of Santa Cruz, California.]

Jennifer Marsh’s dreams are never small…actually, they are gargantuan in my book. When I heard about her current “dream” project of wrapping the 37-story tall Saturn V Rocket replica standing at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with fabric art, I immediately reserved a panel! This amazing endeavor is called The Dream Rocket, and more information is available at http://www.thedreamrocket.com/.

One category was Peace, and for as long as I could remember, my husband David (an aerospace engineer) had a quote by President Eisenhower displayed in his office: “Military power…serves the cause of peace by holding up a shield behind which the patient, constructive work of peace can go on.” The quote was illustrated with a beautiful pen and ink drawing of an eagle protecting a dove.

Our family's Dream Rocket panel is divided into fourths with the quote in one. For two of the others, my grandsons in the photo below (Ethan, age 7 and Alexander, age 8) drew pictures about their recently deceased grandfather. Ethan’s airplane was probably inspired by a memory of eating at a restaurant adjacent to San Francisco International Airport. He and Pops had a contest to see who could identify in and outbound planes first. (It was pretty much a tie!) Alexander’s rocket in space could be attributed to their trips to the schoolyard to launch stomp rockets! The remaining fourth is an “In Memory of” panel.

The rocket is to be wrapped in fabric to coincide with the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s announcement to “land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth”—May 25, 2011. I can’t wait to see the completion of this amazing endeavor or what’s coming next. Dream on, Jennifer! For a prior Jennifer Marsh project, read the Amazing Endeavors: Independence Tree article on page 18 in the March 2010 issue of American Quilter magazine.

Where in the world...

Is it Shanghai? Singapore? Beijing? Yokohama? No, this lovely Asian garden is on the east bank of the Des Moines River! It’s just a short walk across a pedestrian bridge from the Iowa Events Center, where the third annual AQS Des Moines Quilt Show & Contest wraps up today, and it’s just one of the many pleasant surprises an out-of-towner can experience in Iowa’s largest city.

The Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens and Character Garden were opened last year on a site provided by the city of Des Moines. The gardens are the first phase of the Chinese Cultural Center of America Riverfront Project, designed to highlight the importance of diversity and acknowledge the significant contributions that Asian Americans have made to Iowa. The picturesque Asian pavilion sits atop an undulating bridge, spanning a pond that cascades into the Des Moines River with a series of waterfalls. Strolling by the stone pagodas, lanterns, and sculptural rock formations, you are spiritually and visually transported to a Far Eastern paradise.

The Character Garden features six large granite boulders arranged in a circle, each carved with Chinese characters representing responsibility, citizenship, fairness, respect, caring, and trustworthiness. The boulders symbolize and celebrate the six enduring moral values that transcend time, nationality, and culture.

Back to quilts: The AQS Des Moines Quilt Show & Contest closes today at 5 P.M. Congratulations to best-of-show winner Lisa Calle of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, for her quilt Hula Hibiscus. You can see photos of this beauty and all the other award-winning quilts at http://americanquilter.com/. If you couldn’t make it to Des Moines this year, it’s not too early to plan ahead. Next year’s AQS show will take place Sept. 28 – Oct. 1, 2011.