“Home is Where the Quilts Are” – Behind the scenes of BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2

A Note From Jenny BLOCK Magazine

Writing to you from the comfort of home is a privilege in this fast-paced world. I often find myself between places, driving long distances or flying to far-off locations to visit quilters around the world. It can be hard to feel comfortable in such circumstances, but I’ve found out something incredible about the quilting world. No matter where I go, as long as I can find a quilt shop, I feel right at home. After all, home is where the quilts are! 

Home is such a lovely place to be. I recently dug into my sewing studio for some spring cleaning and unearthed some truly vintage finds! It’s been a pleasure to sort through my treasured fabric stash and remember what I really love about quilting…

…the feel of the fabric, the joy of selecting a stack of prints and sewing them together without a pattern. Cutting, stitching, pressing, and repeating the process over and over. There’s something very comforting about it and I look forward to spending time with these simple creative pursuits whenever I get a spare moment.

This spring, let’s dig into quilting with renewed vitality! Do what is necessary to start fresh, whether it’s a bit of light cleaning and dusting or a major fabric stash overhaul, and you’ll be amazed to find yourself itching to get back behind a sewing machine again. Celebrate the art of quilting by treating your machine, your fabrics, and your space with gratitude and you’ll be rewarded every time. 

Love,
Jenny


“Home is such a lovely place to be!” This message from Jenny is truly comforting as many of us prepare to stay indoors. As we watch the bustling world around us wind down, we notice the incredible way people have worked together to keep one another safe, educated, and inspired during these trying times.

Here at Missouri Star, community is something very close to our hearts and BLOCK Magazine is a big part of that. This “idea book” is a way for us to share with you how quilting has impacted our little part of the world. When you open an issue of BLOCK, you become apart of our community as we connect with you through authentic stories and photos and the sharing of ideas.

Missouri Star BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2 Cover

We recently redesigned BLOCK Magazine into something we feel is a better visual representation of who we are and what we value: YOU and our ability to educate and inspire you to create. We still have all the same content you love, but we’ve added more for you to truly experience and feel the joy that creativity brings to us all!

Things like…

  • The Ruby Sensation Sew-Along which comes in FIVE parts! A new sew-along block will be featured in each issue that comes out this year. (If you’re not subscribed, you’ll want to do so now so you won’t miss a step!)
  • A mix and match of patterns and prints (Unique, modern patterns meet traditional prints, and vice versa)
  • Educational articles with helpful tips and tricks and even, fun articles like celebrating local history!
  • 10 step by step quilt patterns, bonus mini projects, and gift ideas!
  • Jenny’s Journal (See what Jenny’s working on. You may see something you’d like to try!)
  • And as always, there are NO ads and your subscription ships free!

Take a look behind the scenes and get a sneak peek of
what’s inside our upcoming issue:

Missouri Star BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2 Road Trip

In the next issue, you’ll discover how to turn your adventures into a quilt filled with your favorite appliquéd states with the Road Trip pattern. Choose your own or embellish them for a customized quilt (or pillow!)

Missouri Star BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2 Road Trip

BLOCK’S photo-stylist, Jennifer Dowling, and sister, Maggie proudly display their favorite appliquéd states next to the Christopher S. Bond Bridge in Kansas City, MO.

Missouri Star BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2 Luminary

BLOCK Magazine’s creative director, Christine Ricks, stands atop the National WWI Museum and Memorial displaying patriotic colors in the Luminary quilt. This is a great spot to take a good look at Kansas City’s gorgeous architecture and Union Station!

Missouri Star BLOCK Magazine Volume 7 Issue 2 Wonder

Alongside the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Christine cozies up with the Wonder quilt, a design by Katie Larson.

This center, located in Kansas City, MO, only 60 miles from Missouri Star, is a place where people from all over come to discover culture and community through theater, art, music, and history.

Over $50 worth of information is packed into each bi-monthly issue of BLOCK Magazine for just $7.99! ($9.99 bi-monthly for Canadian subscriptions.) 

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOCK MAGAZINE TODAY

What inspires you to create? Let us know in the comments!

Road Trip Quilt

MSQC New Tutorial on the Blog!

I love Montana with her endless blue skies. Colorado with her majestic mountains peaks. The excitement of New York. The serenity of the Oregon Cost. And of course, there’s nothing like Missouri’s amber waves of grain!  From sea to shining sea, this country is made up of beautifully unique states.

This week Jenny is stitching up an adorable appliqué map quilt featuring 20 of her favorite states. Click HERE to learn how to make a Road Trip quilt of your own!

(This easy project is made using Valori Wells’ Murmur collection. Valori created these gorgeous prints by stamping fabric with blocks she carved herself!  Click HERE to learn more about process!)

Watch the Latest Tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co!

We Quilt This City!

We Quilt This City!

Every summer we host thousands of visitors from near and far in our happy little town of Hamilton. Many of these visitors come to us as their end destination or as part of a detour on their road trip. No matter how our visitors get to us, we do all we can to make sure that they have the best experience in Hamilton.

If you needed another excuse to come visit Hamilton this Summer, starting June 21st we are participating in the Row by Row Experience again this year!

The Row by Row Experience is a wonderful program started in 2011 by Janet Lutz to help quilt shops get more visitors in what might otherwise be slow summer months. All the quilt shops participating in Row by Row have their very own free pattern to help you make a quilt block, and if you are the first to complete a quilt using at least 8 different rows from 8 different 2018 participating shops, you win a stash of 25 fat quarters and you win a bonus prize if you use our block and bring it in to our store!

The theme for Row by Row this year is “Sew Musical” and we have our very own pattern called “We Quilt This City.” The pattern features a beautiful appliqué town and music notes, hopefully not bringing just your quilts, but also your community in harmony.

"We Quilt This City"

To get your free Missouri Star Row by Row pattern all you need to do is come to Penney’s Quilt Shop and ask for our Row by Row pattern! Each customer is limited to one pattern. Sorry to all of our online customers, this pattern is only available in person!

The Row by Row experience will run from June 21st to September 4th, 2018, and you will have until October 31st, 2018 to submit your quilt for a prize.

Keep on Groovin’ Fabric Feature and Giveaway with Riley Blake Designs!

Today is officially the first day of Summer Break for the kids here in Hamilton! School’s out and they’re ready for some fun. One of the best parts of summer is hitting the road for vacation! Most of us can probably agree that the best part of a road trip is getting to your vacation destination, but why shouldn’t the drive be fun too?

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We love the new Keep on Groovin’ fabric line from our friends over at Riley Blake Designs. It’s the perfect addition to your road trip, whether you’re cuddling in the back seat with your road trip quilt or pulling it out for a quick picnic at a rest stop!

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So, Riley Blake has provided us with an amazing prize package for one lucky winner! If you win, you’ll definitely be road-ready! 🙂 It includes a Keep on Groovin’ Fat Quarter Bundle, a beautiful galvanized bowl, a yellow Frizbee, a turquoise acrylic ”glass” with a straw, a black bound journal/sketch book, Crayola Twistable colored pencils, a bag of Twizzlers and a Hershey’s chocolate bar (road food!) Another lucky winner will receive $25 in MSQC Quilter’s Cash (store credit to missouriquiltco.com)!

keep on groovin giveaway

Enter below! Choose one, two or all ways to enter! We can’t wait to find out who the lucky winners are! Happy quilting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hello, Fall. Quilt Market, Road Trip, Twitter and more!

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Is this year flying by, or what!?!?  I am still not over the fact that school is back in session…..summer went by in a flash. But fall inevitably leads to winter.  (oh-my, not ready for that for sure!)  I do LOVE the seasons, however and I have decided to embrace fall.

We are gearing up for Market this weekend (holla if you’re going to be there!), and I can NOT wait to see all the new stuff!  It is going to be amazing and fun…..and I plan on keeping you all in the ‘know’ this year!

Us girls are road tripping there.  We are gonna have a crazy-wild time.  Our ride there is going to be insane!  We are leaving after we give a presentation to a Guild in Kansas City…..we will drive straight there, hopefully getting to Houston by 3 am.  Then Friday we have classes lined up from 10am-8pm then sample spree from 8pm- 10 pm!

Whew, if you didn’t think (know) we were crazy before, I am pretty sure this sums it up perfectly!  🙂  BUT, after the crazy days that are Thursday and Friday, we should have plenty of time to meet everyone, see everything and even attend a few parties!

Have I mentioned  how extremely excited I am to go!?  Seriously ALL the people….all the designers…all the FABRIC….Oh, MAN.

Just so you know….we will be blogging and tweeting (that’s right, we’re on Twitter now, follow us!) about everything.  You want answers to what ‘they’ are wearing, doing, selling!?!?!?  We will try to answer those questions and ANY others you might have!  Ask away.

Seriously…..what have you always wanted to know about Market?  About any designer, manufacturer, etc ….I will seriously be your “Geraldo Rivera” of Market.     ( Minus that hair.  I am not afraid to ask the tough questions.) 🙂

Bring it on!  Ask away….and I will LET you know.

*******UPDATE*******

This is the Young Single Good Looking Computer Guy (YSGLCG) here, and I thought you may have trouble recognizing Sarah at Quilt Market if she’s in her Geraldo Rivera mode, so I ran some calculations and came up with her approximate look she should have while there so you all can find her.  Remember, this woman is a master of disguises, and this is approximate, so use your own judgement, but this should help.

rivera