Missouri Star Cool Stuff | Missouri Star Blog

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Share Your Story With Us for National Quilting Month!

It’s National Quilt Month, and we are ready to par-tay (And give away lots of Quilter’s Cash)!!!! Here’s how you can join in on the fun:

Create: We encourage you to join quilters across the globe as we accept the challenge to #makesomethingtoday! Whatever you choose to make, enjoy it!

Share: We’re continuing the MSQC tradition of holding a “Stitched Together” story contest, and we want YOU to enter! Share your story with us: Has quilting made your life better? Has it changed you or touched your heart? Tell us how in 500 words or less and you could be one of three entrants chosen to have your story featured on our Daily Deal page and Daily Deal email!

1st place will be featured on National Quilting Day (Saturday, March 19th) and will receive $250 in Quilter’s Cash
2nd Place will receive $100 in Quilter’s Cash and will be featured Sunday.
3rd Place will receive $50 in QC and will be featured Monday.

A few details to remember:

Entries must be emailed to stories@missouriquiltco.com by noon (CST)on Saturday, March 12th.
If you would like to remain anonymous, please let us know. (Or, come up with a fabulous pen name!)
Even if your story isn’t chosen as one of the three winners, we might still share it in future Daily Deal stories, blog posts, or magazine articles. By submitting your story, you acknowledge that Missouri Star may use it at some future date for commercial purposes.

We are so excited to read your stories! We want to be inspired! We want to laugh! We want to cry! Just be sure to send your entry to stories@missouriquiltco.com by noon (CST) on Saturday, March 12th, 2016! 🙂

Haven’t read the touching stories in Stitched Together Volumes 1 & 2 yet? Get them HERE! You’ll love them!

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016

Motivational Monday Free Printable: Part 1

For the month of March we’re celebrating National Quilting Month! And how can we make the most of our celebration? By making something every single day! That’s why our focus for the month is #makesomethingtoday. You don’t have to make an entire quilt every single day (unless you want to), but you can make SOMETHING each day. Even if it’s one step of a block or one finished quilt block each day, we believe in doing something small every day.

That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Yet, if it was super easy, we would have been doing it all along! There are so many different things that might be keeping you from making something today, whether it’s organization, not having a specific space where you can always go to sew… or maybe you need a little bit of motivation! Today and every Monday in the month of March, we hope we can provide you with a little bit of motivation to #makesomethingtoday. We’re going to be offering a new art printable every Monday, so you can take it to your local printer or even just print it at home. Surround yourself with motivational words and art and maybe you’ll remember to take the time to make something small each day.

Quilting is Cheaper than Therapy Free Art Printable Download — Click on the Image to Download your Free Printable

Okay, so maybe quilting isn’t the most frugal choice of pastime, but with our daily deals and awesome specials, you can totally make a quilt for cheaper than a regular visit to a therapist (Quilting should not be used as a replacement for actual therapy). We hope you can display this printable somewhere that will help you remember how good life is when you make time for quilting! Happy Motivational Monday! #makesomethingtoday

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016

Fabric Feature: KONA Color of the Year 2016 // HIGHLIGHT

Robert Kaufman Fabrics has launched a brand new KONA Color of the Year series and their first ever, limited edition color is the happiest, most vibrant shade of yellow called Highlight. This cheerful color can be a delicate addition, a bold accent, or a complete showstopper!

We have the privilege of hosting the completely stunning Kona Color of the Year Trunk Show here in Hamilton in our Penney’s Shop, the Missouri Star Quilt Co shop devoted to solids, basics and specialty fabrics. The show features masterpiece quilts from some wonderful quilters, including Heather Jones, Elizabeth Hartman, Darlene Zimmerman, Valori Wells, and Carolyn Friedlander. These quilts are so inspiring! I love seeing so many interpretations and ideas sprung from one new shade of color!

Robert Kaufman has created a beautiful Lookbook for you to see all of the gorgeous quilts that feature the Kona Highlight, which you can find HERE.

There are so many different choices for color combinations that would work perfectly with this happy color, so we wanted to showcase a few. Don’t you love these citrusy shades of yellow and green?

You can also never go wrong with yellow and gray!

Here are some of the shades of gray featured in the displayed quilts.

1. Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Flax

2. Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Olive

3. Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Indigo

4. Kona Cotton Solids – Smoke

5. Kona Cotton Solids – Pewter

6. Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Black

What colors would you pair with Highlight? Take a look and let us know in the comments of this post!

February 29, 2016March 11, 2016

Slumber Party Quilting Retreat Recap February 2016

Here in Hamilton, MO, where you can find 12 Missouri Star Quilt Shops, we host at least one themed Quilting Retreat each month! February brought us the “Slumber Party” Retreat.

Jenny gave one of her famous Trunk Shows that had the audience laughing, crying, Ooo-ing and Aah-ing. Mr. Jenny (Ron) has the strongest arms in the quilting industry, as he serves as Jenny’s quilt holder and assistant in each of her trunk shows! Talk about a loving husband! 🙂

This particular retreat is a favorite because those who attend don elastic waists and slippers for the entire weekend (and don’t we all like to be comfy when we’re engrossed in a new quilting project??). Even some of our shop gals and guys dressed in their PJs so that our retreaters could feel comfortable shopping in their favorite PJs. And of course, we quilt.

We had some organized quilting projects as well as some impromptu little projects, which everyone loved.

We had a great group from around the states, from New York to California and many states in between! It is so much fun to meet ladies from all over the United States and sometimes the world. Quilting is what stitches us all tighter and no matter where we are from we all speak the same language, “Quilt”.

If you would like to attend a future retreat, you can find them here: Missouri Star Quilt Company Retreats and Events Page.

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

FREE Sewing & Quilting Valentine Printables!

Sometimes it seems like exchanging valentines is just a gimmick created by greeting card companies to make us spend money, but I just can’t help getting swept up in the idea of love uncontrollably flowing from every direction. If you love love, then forget those greeting card companies and allow yourself to show love for others in simple ways. With these darling Valentine’s Day cards, you can show you care in your own language of quilting!

We just couldn’t resist thinking of “punny” phrases about quilting and sewing and decided to turn them into these super cute printable Valentines for you to give to all your quilty friends! Maybe it’ll spark a new tradition in your quilt guild! How about a “Galentine’s” Day quilt gathering for your gal-pals, complete with quilt-related treats like jelly rolls, turnovers, and layer cakes, just to name a few!

Click on the banner to download your printables, cut them out and give them to all your dearest friends! We’d love to hear about your Valentine’s Day plans so leave us a little comment at the end of this post and let us know how you’re going to use them. Happy Quilting!

For those of you with slower internet, you can download this smaller version of the printables:

Smaller Download File