Retreats | Missouri Star Blog

August 30, 2015August 27, 2015

MSQC Featherweight Retreat

Do you remember back in the day when cars didn’t break down as often and everything was built to last? Those were the good ol’ days! The same goes for Featherweight sewing machines… They’re strong, good quality, lightweight and they get the job done right! That’s why so many people still use them, and we had a whole retreat themed around them! Some wonderful ladies and their Featherweight machines joined us for a fun time of sewing and demos in the beginning of August.

Aren’t these machines so retro and cute? While the ladies were here they were given a demo on the Quatrefoil Quilt (Click HERE to watch tutorial) along with several other tips and tricks from the wonderful Cindy! They also got to attend one of Jenny’s Trunk Shows!

Several retreaters took advantage of the Daily Deals during their stay with us, and made some beautiful quilts from it while here! Check out these two quilts that were made using the Bandana and Florals Charm Pack by Dover Hill for Benartex, although the fabric is the same, the two quilts turned out so different and spunky, each as beautiful as the other! The one pictured on the left is the Bordered Periwinkle Quilt using the Wacky Web template while the one pictured on the right is a Charm Big Star Quilt that Tina Jennings made. They’re both so cute!

If you were in attendance at our Featherweight Retreat and would like to download some of the photos that were taken during the event (for example, if you had a small group shot taken), click here: Featherweight Retreat Photos! We cannot wait for the next time we have a Featherweight Retreat, thank you all for making it such a fun one! 🙂

If you are interested in participating in one of our future retreats or events you can find more information by clicking here: Missouri Star Quilt Company Events. We hope to see you there! 🙂

August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Christmas in July MSQC Quilting Retreat!

Ho ho ho! We had such a merry time at the Christmas in July Retreat a couple of weeks ago, from July 30th to August 2nd! We had about 25 lovely ladies participate in this event here in Hamilton and it was so much fun making quilts and other Christmas projects with them. Once everyone arrived there was a meet-and-greet with Mrs. “Jenny” Claus and Mr. “Jenny” Claus, as small gifts were handed out to everyone there! (It may have been 90 degrees, but they didn’t mind dressing up one bit!)

The entire Sewing Center was decorated with a Christmas tree, lights and other decor as well to keep the retreaters in the spirit as they worked on their Christmas projects. Several Quilted Christmas Stockings were made (Click HERE to view this tutorial) as well as some Dresden Tree Wall Hangings (Click HERE to get the pattern). They’re so cute and festive, and make wonderful gifts!!

We worked on all kinds of fun Christmas decor and gift items! Aren’t these folded napkins so cute??

One of our retreaters, Dana Moore, loves to work with scraps! They were working on a quilt block as a group that created a few scraps, so Dana seized the opportunity! She was given scraps from all the other retreaters and created this beautiful quilt block from it! Isn’t it stunning?? What a gift she has!

The group had mini lessons from Cindy each day where she gave them tips on using tools and templates, how to make each project and even some quilt demos. Check out this Dresden Tree Wall Hanging made by Dawn Wilking! It’s so fun to use colorful Christmas Charm Packs to get a unique look! These bright blue and purple batiks are beautiful, aren’t they?

In our Sew Seasonal holiday quilt shop, we did demos on the Dresden Tree Pattern and one lucky participant won supplies to make their own! One little girl named Adelle got to draw the winner and present the prize! 🙂 She said, “This is what Santa feels like!”

We had such a good time with our Christmas in July Retreat and Events and can’t wait for Christmas in December, or… actual Christmas 😉 If you are interested in participating in one of our future retreats or events you can find more information by clicking here: Missouri Star Quilt Company Events

June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

Sew Glamperous: A MSQC Glamping Retreat

There is something so exciting and empowering about being around people who are just as passionate about quilting as we are! Every time we have an MSQC Retreat, we get to be a part of that and it just invigorates us! Last week, we had such an amazing group of women here for our ‘Sew Glamperous’ Glamping Retreat and we had the best time! Here’s a little recap.

First, you may be wondering what ‘glamping’ is… well it’s basically glamorous camping… a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with “traditional” camping (according to google). So while most people stayed in the retreat center, we had some people bring their ‘glampers’ and they were amazing! Here are just a couple.

You can’t have glamping without flamingoes!! 🙂 Don’t they look right at home??

This glamper lined her awning with lights that were wrapped in jelly rolls! They looked so cute at night!!

This mother and daughter duo (below) is from Paducah, Kentucky, home of the American Quilter’s Society Annual Quilt Show & Contest. Last year they wore their Missouri Star t-shirts to the quilt show and people kept stopping them, thinking they worked for Missouri Star! Eventually, so many people stopped them that when people would say how much they loved Jenny and the tutorials, they just started saying, ‘Thank you!’ and went along with it! 🙂 We loved hearing their story and were so glad to have them with us for the week! It was so great to meet you, Lisa and Laura!

Mr. Jenny did some extra special construction for this retreat… he built the most adorable glamper photo prop! Here’s Jenny and Ron having a little fun! 🙂

A photo posted by sarahmsqc (@sarahmsqc) on Jun 5, 2015 at 9:10pm PDT

This is Hope from Nebraska (below). She came across Jenny’s tutorials when she was trying to make a Jelly Roll Race Quilt as her first quilting experience ever. At the retreat she was doing her first piecing and did such an amazing job!! Look how perfectly all of her seams match up! You’re a pro already, Hope! I think it’s safe to say that you’re officially a quilter! 😀 (Hope’s son was with her for the week and was just as quiet and well-behaved as anyone could’ve hoped!)

Some of the activities included one of Jenny’s amazing trunk shows, a mystery quilt class taught by Jenny, antiquing and lots and lots of sewing!! They even had some visits from Mr. Jenny (Ron) and Rob Appell from Man Sewing, who was in town filming tutorials. Our retreaters didn’t seem to mind (see photo below)! 😉

We had such a great time and can’t wait for our next glamping retreat!! 🙂

If you hope to participate in one of our future retreats or events, you can find more info on those here: Missouri Star Quilt Company Events