Celebrate National FFA Week with Forever Blue Fabric

Celebrate National FFA Week

Surrounded by emerald fields of corn and rolling pastures dotted with cattle, Hamilton, Missouri, sits in the middle of America’s heartland. As in many such communities with strong agriculture roots, there is a group of students who fully embrace what it means to live, work and support the business that is agriculture, our local FFA chapter.

If you have ever donned the blue corduroy jacket and recited the FFA creed, or know someone who has, then the FFA Forever Blue fabric by Riley Blake Designs is a wonderful tribute to the traditions that make up the National FFA Organization. The Forever Blue fabric features the timeless blue corduroy jacket, the FFA emblem and a variety of livestock and agriculture prints. You can shop all of the Forever Blue fabrics, including the Forever Blue quilt kit, HERE.

With such a wide variety of prints, we knew we wanted to create a quilt that could show off some of the larger prints and the different color schemes. A member of our sewing team, Janice, used the Slice of Life Quilt pattern, and sewed up the entire quilt! Check out the finished quilt below, and watch Jenny’s tutorial on how to create a Slice of Life Quilt

Slice of Life Quilt in Forever Blue

You can also find a fantastic panel that makes a wonderful wall hanging or a centerpiece of a quilt as part of the Forever Blue collection. We used this panel, along with some extra yardage for borders, to create a wall hanging.

Celebrate National FFA Week

After the quilt and wall hanging were completed, they needed a home, and with National FFA Week on the horizon, we knew that these creations would honor the Hamilton FFA chapter at Penney High School for all of their accomplishments and the work they do throughout our community.  

Janice, who created the quilt, was on hand to present both the quilt and the wall hanging to Mr. Burns, the FFA advisor, along with all of the Hamilton FFA officers. 

Thank you, Hamilton FFA for all you do!

 

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!

Dinner With the Doans

Did we mention laughing? So much laughing!!

Doan Family at Dinner

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!

dinner group photo

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!

birthday bash 2015 thursday

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! 🙂

Sue Big QC Winner

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!

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!

jenny raffle quilt

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!

Football In Park

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!!)

Saturday Day

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! 😀

BJ-Sarah-Meg-2015BirthdayBash

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!

Penney Look Alike

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! 😀