Jenny Reminisces on the History of Missouri Star Quilt Co.

What comes to mind when you hear the word “home”? To me, home is family. I can always be myself with them. Home is comfortable, it’s welcoming, it’s my happy place. Over the past year, we’ve all spent a lot more time at home, but the time is soon coming when we’ll be able to venture out again and I hope to see you before too long in my hometown. You’re always welcome in Quilt Town, USA. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to celebrate during National Quilting Month! We want you to know that wherever you are, you can always come home to quilting at Missouri Star. 

Looking back on that first quilting tutorial, it’s incredible to see how far Missouri Star has come. There I was, stitching with my home sewing machine and the iron I’d used for years, sitting down (because I’d broken my foot!), and teaching a simple 4-patch block using a jelly roll. I had no idea what the future held for our tiny company. Twelve short years later, many wonderful milestones have been reached thanks to your support and love of quilting. Let’s take a look back at all the steps that have led us to where we are today (click on the links to learn more or for some major throwback nostalgia!):

November 2008-Missouri Star Quilt Co. Founded
November 2008-First Longarm Quilting Machine
February 2009First Video Uploaded to YouTube
February 2009-First Purchase Made at Missouri Star
April 2011First Building Renovated
July 2012-Grand Opening of Missouri Star Main Shop
January 2013-Missouri Star Website Launched
August 2013-First 100,000 Subscribers on YouTube
October 2013Sewing Center Opens for Retreats
December 2013Sew Seasonal Opens
February 2014-First Issue of BLOCK Magazine Published
April 2014Penney’s Quilt Shop Opens
May 2014Missouri Star Mercantile Opens
July 2014First Shipping Warehouse Opens
November 2014Batik Boutique Opens
May 2015-Missouri Star Owners Awarded Small Business Persons of the Year Award
March 2015Licensed to Sew Opens
September 2015First Birthday Bash Celebration (Our 7th Birthday!)
October 2015Backing & Trims Shop Opens
November 2015Machine Shed Opens
December 2015Modern Shop & Kids & Baby Shop Opens
February 2016Man’s Land and Floral Shop Opens
June 2016Main Shop Grand Reopening 
April 2017First Missouri Star Live Facebook Video
May 2017-First Missouri Star Academy
June 2017-New Shipping Warehouse Finished
May 2018Missouri Star Named One of Forbes’ Best Small Businesses of the Year
May 2018-First Jenny on the Road Tour
August 2018-First 500,000 Subscribers on YouTube
July 2019-Missouri Star & NCMC Apprenticeship Graduation
August 2019-Missouri Star Theater & Education Center Opened
October 2019-Missouri Star Cares Charity Founded
Coming Soon! Spring 2021-Missouri Star’s Grand Reopening!

Now, our hometown has been revitalized. Strolling down the streets is a joy as I walk past thoughtfully restored quilt shops filled with beautiful fabrics, bursting with inspiration for quilters of all kinds. It was not what I originally had in mind. It’s so much better. 

The quilt shops came about in an interesting way. Over a decade ago, we had just one little brick shop, but then we started selling many different types of fabric and we thought it would be a good idea to group them by style. So, the individual quilt shops came about naturally. The main street in town had many empty storefronts and we have fixed them up one by one to house each different fabric collection. All our lives, we never had the money for a brand new house, but we had plenty of fixer uppers. My kids took on this project with enthusiasm because they weren’t afraid of these old buildings. And look at what they’ve become!

Thank you for your loving support over the years. We are constantly amazed at what our little hometown has become, a literal Quilt Town, USA! And it’s all possible because of you. We hope to welcome you back very soon. 

Love,

Jenny

Quilting Craziness 2020

Join the Missouri Star Quilt Co Quilting Deals Facebook Page every day beginning March 2nd to participate in Quilting Craziness 2020 for National Quilting Month!

In honor of National Quilting Month, we’re celebrating quilting by bringing you the Second Annual “Quilting Craziness” Tournament! Everyone is welcome to participate every single day by voting for your favorite quilt tutorial of 2019!

The tournament features the 32 most watched tutorials from 2019 and places two different quilts against each other everyday until there is a champion! The winner will be decided by a popular vote that is hosted on our Facebook page everyday at 7:00 pm central time! Click HERE to like the Facebook page and not miss a moment of the fun!

Our Quilting Craziness bracket will be updated here with the winners everyday to help you watch the competition.

Who do you think will take the title of Fan Favorite for 2019? Will it be the front runner, The Turnabout Granny Squares Quilt, or the ever so cute Happy Trails Quilt? We are SEW excited to find out! Make sure to vote on Facebook everyday at 7 to help your favorite win!

Let us know, what is your choice to win the Quilting Craziness Tournament?

My First Quilt: Rob Appell

Celebrate National Quilting Month

Today we welcome Rob Appell from Man Sewing as our final “My First Quilt” story for National Quilting Month. Take it away, Rob!

Rob Appell

My first quilt was made from the remnants of a sewing project that didn’t go exactly as planned. I had wanted to make a beach scene aloha shirt, but things had gone south, so I made the best of the situation and created a quilt. It was a patchwork top, mostly squares and rectangles of batik and a fabric line called Fossil Fern. It also included some richly textured Osnaburg fabrics as well. I had a desire to try free motion, so I made a basic patchwork top from all those cool tropical fabrics, tried some appliqué, and began free motion quilting. From this first attempt, not too many things have really changed in my approach to quilting, although I’ve improved a lot.

It was my second quilt that was the big deal for me. It was the quilt, The Dolphin Dance, that spurred me on to designing quilts for a living. Eventually, this pattern was featured in a refresh tutorial called Simple Strip Scramble through the Man Sewing YouTube channel. This is the quilt I always begin my trunk shows with. It’s also the quilt that gave me enough of a boost of confidence to choose quilting as a lifestyle.

Rob Strip Scramble Quilt

 

Strip Scramble Quilt
Back in 2001, when I began creating The Dolphin Dance, I was in a big rush to make the quilt top, I had about three hours to spare. You know how you get one of those ideas that just comes out all at once? I wanted to try to learn how to free motion quilt, but I only had one night to construct a top. I was stitching patchwork rows and I began running low on time. I was initially going to use larger panel style pieces for appliqué, but then I decided to patchwork in the 10” x 10” panels to save time. And that was the ticket. It became a teachable technique, and helped launch my career as an “edutainer.”

With this project, I taught myself to free motion quilt and today I show it as my first real work, then at the end of my shows I display more current quilts from Man Sewing tutorials, and, of course, the free motion quilting is much better on those quilts. Since 2001, I have made over 200 quilts from start to finish and I do feel that my work has greatly improved. It is not perfect, nor will it ever be, but I love to make quilt tops, and I love to finish them with free motion machine quilting in the end.


Quilts are such a fun way to express ourselves through color and movement. I think it is amazing how many different things I still want to learn and to share. I love to take work that I have created and build on the ideas and techniques that I’ve gained over the years. I use a ton of strip set building for base work in my quilting. I love to make strips, then cut them, scramble them, and rebuild. I have learned to use these methods to create interesting layers for appliqué as well as fun patchwork quilts that make you wonder, “How was that pieced?”

We all improve with the time we spend in our craft, whether it is by stretching our imaginations, or simply sewing a straighter seam. I encourage everyone to try something new every day, look for the adventure in life, and pursue happiness with every stitch.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the My First Quilt series throughout National Quilting Month, which, if we’re being honest, if every month for us! Be sure to share all of your quilts, sewing projects and stories with us using #msqcshowandtell and #makesomethingtoday. Happy quilting, friends! 

 

My First Quilt: Nichole Spravzoff

Celebrate National Quilting Month

The next installment of our “My First Quilt” series for National Quilting Month comes from one of our wonderful Missouri Star Quilt Co. team members. Nichole is our fearless senior copywriter, who spends her workdays crafting quilty stories and quips for all of us to enjoy! Read on to learn all about Nichole’s first quilt and why she made it.

My First Quilt: Nichole Spravzoff

Back in 1999, I was a moody teenager, more interested in tattooed boys than my school work. Most Friday nights I hung out at all-ages clubs full of spiky-headed youth, but occasionally I would spend my time pursuing milder hobbies. It was a few months before graduation that my cousin, Joy, suggested we make quilts together. I wasn’t against it, but I had no idea where to start. My generous aunt helped us procure all the necessary tools and showed us how the sewing machine worked. It seemed kind of cheeky to take a quilt, something associated with our grandmothers’ generation, and make it our own.

We planned out our patterns on graph paper. Mine was an ambitious design featuring my favorite mopeds appliqued around the edge with the Vespa logo in the center. I had no idea what I’d taken on. I didn’t even own a scooter, but I loved the idea of hopping on a cute, mint green Vespa and jetting around town. It seemed like a simple enough design in pink and black squares, but reality hit me when I began ironing on all those little scooter pieces and satin-stitching around the edges. It definitely tested my patience! The result wasn’t perfect by any means, but it is a tribute to the ingenuity of ignorance and, of course, scooters.

My First Quilt: Nichole Spravzoff

Now I look back on my first quilt, 19 years later, and I realize how much I’ve learned about myself. I don’t long to own a scooter anymore, and I never did ride on one. As I finished college, I abandoned quilting for a time, but my interest in quilting resurfaced again in a big way about ten years ago when I stepped into the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon. The walls were lined with gorgeous quilts and I couldn’t stop myself from purchasing a bundle of fabric and planning to begin another project right then and there.

Once again, it was a pattern that I might not take on today, and in fabrics that I wouldn’t necessarily choose again, but I stuck with it, and 11 months later, I had hand-quilted my second, real quilt. The blocks were a variation on the Schoolhouse pattern, but made to my own specifications in 1800s reproduction fabrics. It was a doozy!

My First Quilt: Nichole Spravzoff

These days, I prefer to work in an eclectic modern palette with brighter colors and playful fabrics. I love Japanese prints and using the entire spectrum of solids. Sometimes I even sneak in a vintage print for fun. And I’m sure my tastes will shift again as I grow older. That’s the beauty of quilting. It grows with you. It changes as you do. It can be as easy or as complex as you wish it to be. However you choose to quilt, make it your own and, most of all, enjoy the process!

If you want to jump into quilting, Nichole recommends Couch to Quilt! This all-inclusive box of quilting supplies includes everything (minus the sewing machine) you need to make a crib-size quilt. Click HERE to shop now! 

 

 

Four Leaf Clover Block

Celebrate National Quilting Month

Four Leaf Clover Block

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and before we start enjoying corned beef and cabbage, let’s make a Four Leaf Clover quilt block that is sure to bring us luck throughout the year!

Watch Misty and Jenny Fish explain how to create a lucky four leaf clover block in our March 6 Live Video below.

Download the instructions HERE!

This festive block is inspired by the Garden Party Quilt. Watch the tutorial below:

Be sure to share all of your creations with us on social media using #msqcshowandtell and #makesomethingtoday!