Visitors | Missouri Star Blog

October 28, 2015November 6, 2015

Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Sizzix Retreat Recap – 2015

We just loved having Victoria Findlay Wolfe here along with Linda Nitzen from Sizzix for our retreat! It was such a blast and such a wonderful learning experience for all. Jenny even sat down with the retreaters and followed along with Victoria’s class she was so enthralled in it!

Laid out on the floor is Victoria’s Large Melon Double Wedding Ring Quilt, isn’t it stunning? The colors and fabrics are marvelous together giving this scrappy quilt so much character.

Did you know you could have so much fun with a Sizzix Machine? Check out these fun little guys below… All you have to do is let your imagination run wild and adorable creations will come!

Linda, the Sizzix Quilting Manager, presented a quilt challenge to the MSQC employees to create a quilt/ quilted item 50×50 or smaller for a chance to win a Big Shot Pro and several dies! Here is our first place winning team!

It’s a sore subject with the rest of the staff, (we are a very competitive group) but these lucky winners sure were happy and are enjoying their prize and their win was well deserving! They created an Interactive Children’s Playmat! All of the pieces were cut from Sizzix Dies and can be removed and rearranged on the mat for a super fun time! How fun and clever is that? 🙂

We were so glad to have these amazing ladies here with us in Hamilton and hope they get to come again soon! Have you ever been to a quilting retreat? Find out about all of our upcoming retreats and events HERE.

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015

Missouri Star’s 7th Birthday Bash & J.C. Penney Days!

Missouri Star Quilt Co. hit a big milestone, turning 7 years old as a company this year! It’s all thanks to our fans for helping us make it this far, and that’s why we planned a big celebration for you all! A lot has changed since day one, but family and friends is still at the center of everything we do, and that’s why we were thrilled to see so many of you visit us in Hamilton this past weekend to help celebrate, not to mention all the love and support that we had online from those of you who were unable to attend. Here’s a little recap for you!

Wednesday Night: We kicked off our Birthday Bash with an intimate dinner at Blue Sage with the Doan Family and guests. It was a wonderful night of laughing, storytelling and incredible food! Check out the awesome photo booth that Ron (A.K.A. Mr. Jenny) made us!

Did we mention laughing? So much laughing!!

At the end of the night, there was a slideshow of the first 7 years of MSQC focusing on family and growth. It brought everyone to tears and was such a beautiful end to the night. Here’s a group photo of those in attendance!

Thursday is when the party really started here in town! We had tons of giveaway contests, including a “Layer Cake” walk, and the Traveling Riley Blake Quilt Show was set up in the patio are as well!

Meet Sue! She was the big winner at the Quilter’s Cash Grab Machine! (You know those machines where the wind blows the cash up everywhere and you have to grab as much as you can? Yep, we had one!) She can buy a lot of fabric with that! 🙂

All of the MSQC employees got a 7th Birthday T-Shirt to sport throughout the event. Here’s the customer service team showing it off with Josh Doan, Jenny’s son, from the Wholesale team! (Is it really work if you’re having fun?) 😉

As part of our 7th Birthday Bash we had $0.77 Fat Quarters in the local shops! It was a Fat Quarter Frenzy!

We held a quilt raffle each day of the Bash and all proceeds went to the local Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. Jenny wrapped up in one as we were drawing the winning ticket, even though it was 80 degrees outside!

Friday evening the Penney Hornets football game was projected on the big screen in the park for all to enjoy! Go Hornets! And look at the beautiful view of the patio all lit up at nighttime! Ah, we love this small town life!

The Birthday Bash continued into Saturday, and J.C. Penney Days was celebrated in the town as well with tons of fun for the whole family!There were blow ups for the kids, a flea market area for the adults and much more. The kids got to take a swing at our “7” pinata full of Auriful Thread! That’s better than candy, right? At least if you’re a quilter! 😉 (We did throw some candy out for the kids as well, so everyone was happy!!)

This celebration wouldn’t have been what it was without our amazing Local Events Cruise Director, Meg (on the right) and our excellent DJ for the event, BJ Scott (left)! Here they are with Sarah, Jenny’s daughter, after a LONG, tiring, wonderful weekend of fun! 😀

Lastly, Saturday evening a couple of live bands played for J.C. Penney Days, and there was a J.C. Penney Look-alike contest! This little cutie was the only contestant, and won a $100 Gift Card to the J.C. Penney’s Store!

We thank you all for making these past 7 years so wonderful and for celebrating our 7th Birthday with us! Here’s to many more! 😀

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015

Jenny Doan and Crafty Gemini Retreats // 2015

This past couple of weeks, we had a special visitor in Hamilton at MSQC! Vanessa Vargas Wilson, the Crafty Gemini, was here for two back to back Jenny Doan/Crafty Gemini quilting retreats and these gals seriously had a blast!

There’s always plenty of time for sewing and shopping when you’re here for a retreat, but this one was packed full of some fantastic classes as well! Jenny taught the retreaters how to make various disappearing blocks and then showed them how to turn them into a tablerunner. 🙂

These gals are sisters who all love to sew and quilt! They came with their own matching t-shirts and even their own catch phrases! It was so fun to meet them!

Vanessa taught a class on how to make this adorabe ‘Any Which Way’ quilt using paper piecing!

Jenny even tried this one out because she wanted to improve her paper piecing skills! Those arrows are looking good, Jenny! 🙂

Vanessa did something that was so fun! She brought a Polaroid camera and took a special photo with each of the retreaters and signed it for them! What a fun little souvenir to take home! 🙂

We hope you had a wonderful time, retreaters!

If you are hoping to visit Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri, check out our complete list of events and retreats here: MSQC Retreats & 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

June 18, 2014

A Visit from Scotland!

We were so excited about this pair of friends who were shopping in Hamilton today that we wanted to share their story with you!

Meet Margaret Digance from Kingseat, Scotland. She’s a retired School Assistant for special needs kids ages 11-16 years old.

She’s never quilted, though she first “bumped into” quilting 12 years ago. She and her husband were staying in a hotel in Canada and all of the rooms were full because of a quilting convention. (Easy to imagine, right?! Ha!)

According to Margaret, people don’t quilt in Scotland. They knit, crochet and embroider because of all the wool.

Margaret had never heard of Missouri Star or Jenny until her friend Julie, who lives in Kansas City, brought her up today. They sent the men to the golf course, too! Can you believe the men thought the ladies would only be here for a few hours?! Haha!

These photos are from the Penney’s Quilt Shop store (which we’ll profile in the next Hamilton Visitor’s Guide post).

Margaret said “it was like sweet shoppe” and she was “gob-smacked” at all of the color. So cool! She says she loves the pale pastels like duck egg (the American equivalent would be “robin’s egg” blue. Ha!) She fell in love with the dresden bag and the modern patterns in the shop.

We LOVED meeting you, Margaret and Julie! Until we see you again, happy stitching!