Stargazer Quilt

Stargazer Quilt by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

The ancient peoples of the earth knew a lot about stars. 

Egyptians watched for Sirius’ predawn appearance to signal the annual flooding of the Nile. Polynesian navigators traversed the vast Pacific Ocean with nothing but the stars to guide them.  And the Maya used the movement of the heavens to create the most accurate calendar in the world. 

Stargazer Quilt by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I, on the other hand, struggle to spot the Big Dipper. (But I sure can stitch up a pretty star quilt!)

This week, Jenny has created a celestial wonder of her own with jelly roll strips and a bit of yardage. The Stargazer quilt comes together like a simple log cabin with snowballed corners. It’s quick, easy, and so fun to make! 

Watch the Latest Tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co!

My First Quilt: Jenny Doan

Celebrate National Quilting Month

It’s March, and we all know what that means, it’s National Quilting Month, an entire 31 days dedicated to cutting, sewing, basting, and all kinds of creativity in between! This month, we want to share with you some inspiring stories from our Missouri Star team, and the reasons why they sat down at a machine and started quilting! The first story up is from Jenny! Read on as she shares how her quilting career began.

When did you make your first quilt?

I was actually quilting before I knew I was quilting. As a girl, I often sewed quilt squares together for my grandmother, but I took my first honest-to-goodness quilting class in 1995 shortly after we moved to Missouri. It was a quilt in a day class about the Log Cabin pattern. It was held in Chillicothe at the Vo-tech school. And I haven’t stopped quilting ever since!

Why did you make it?

I made my first quilt because I have to sew! It is my creative outlet. I sew, and when sewing is your “thing” and you don’t need any more clothing, and your children won’t wear matching clothing, and no one needs a costumer, you jump at the chance to quilt!

Who did you make it for?

I made it for my son Alan. He still has it.

My First Quilt: Jenny Doan
This log cabin quilt is one of the very first quilts Jenny ever created. She sewed this one for her son Jake, who requested the purple and orange fabric, more than 20 years ago.

Is it the kind of quilt you would make today? Why or why not?

It IS the kind of quilt I make today! I gravitate toward quick and easy projects, so that was a great one for me to start on.

What has changed since that first quilt?

For me, the main change was the onset of precut fabrics. They make quilting so much easier for me. Also, the Internet has changed everything! You can learn all kinds of neat things from the Internet.  

After reading Jenny’s story, are you ready to make a Log Cabin Quilt of your very own? Here are some of our favorite log cabin quilt tutorials to help you get started:

Log Cabin Quilt Snips

Curved Log Cabin Quilt 

Summer Camp Quilt

Check back throughout National Quilting Month for more quilty stories! And be sure to share your creations and your first quilt stories with us on social media using #makesomethingtoday and #msqcshowandtell!

Quilt Snips Mini Tutorial – Curved Log Cabin

Quilt Snips Mini Quilting Tutorials

Check out this fun spin on the Log Cabin Quilt Block!

Here at Missouri Star Quilt Co we love to put unique spins on classic quilt blocks. Much like this Curved Log Cabin Quilt block. Instead of using all 2.5″ strips to create this block, we have added in some 1.5″ strips to add a fun curved flare to the quilt top!

Click HERE to watch the full tutorial and get your supplies!

Flying Geese Log Cabin Tutorial Reboot: Featuring Guest Quilter Jen Van Orman

Hello! I am Jen, and am a wife and mother first and foremost. My mother is a quilter and I learned so many things from her when I started showing interest as a teenager. Quilting is my heritage and I hope it will also become the heritage of my children and grandchildren. That is where my name comes from, Heritage Threads. Quilting binds generations together with threads of love. 

jen tutorial reboot

I am very excited to have the opportunity to share the Flying Geese Log Cabin tutorial reboot with you today. When I saw this tutorial, I could not get the thought of solids out of my head and I knew this quilt would look amazing in this Kona Cotton Lush Lagoon color way.For the gray accents I used Kona Cotton Coal. It turned out to be a wonderfully modern quilt that fits my personal quilting style so well.

I first started by separating my strips into 4 groups, ranging from lightest to darkest.

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I knew I wanted the center “log” of each block to be made out of the lightest fabric. Gather 48 of your 2.5” gray squares and 4 of the lightest strips. As you start off making this quilt, Jenny provides a great way to mark the center of the 2.5” squares. That is by ironing it in half. I love this method, but if you want to streamline your process a bit more, I really like marking a temporary line on my sewing machine with a long piece of washi or painter’s tape. Place the tape edge in line with the needle; keep the corners of the top square in line as you sew, and you’ll have a handy center line ready to go!

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I decided to line 48 of my gray 2.5” squares on top of 4 of the lightest strips as I was sewing my center logs. I ended up with a line of logs like this.

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I used a similar process for all of the logs, using up all of the lighter strips and continued through to the darkest hues in the color way.

One thing I always appreciate about Jenny in the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorials is that she’s hilarious and knows how much I need repetition. Hopefully I’m not alone in the need for her to hammer the most important point home. Jenny says several times to make sure to put the dark goose in the top corner and sew down the side. I cannot tell you how many times I repeated this to myself as I made this quilt.

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After you finish making all 48 blocks, be sure experiment with different layouts. I attempted the layout in the tutorial and it just didn’t work. I tried a few others before I settled on my final layout.

JEN flying geese log cabin pinnable

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I picked this fun, bright Rhoda Ruth 108” wide backing for an added pop of color. I really like choosing an unexpected backing that doesn’t necessarily come from the same line of fabric as the front. The back can and should be just as exciting as the front of a quilt, in my opinion. Missouri Star has a huge selection of 108” wide backing and I am thrilled to know where to get more in the future!

Thanks for having me today to share this tutorial reboot. I cannot wait to see what you create! Share your projects on the Quilting Deals – Missouri Star Quilt Co. Facebook page or on Instagram/Twitter using #tutorialreboot!

Instagram.com/heritage-threads

Heritage-threads.com

The Winners of our Small Town Quilt Show

Yes, Yes…we had two winners!  We had such a fun time hosting the JC Penney Days Quilt Show.  (yes, we live in Mr. JC Penney’s hometown)  Pretty exciting!  🙂  The turn out was great, and it was a wonderful variety of new quilts and old quilts.

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Just look at that cute squirrel. And the colors are so gorgeous!

This is our 1st prize winner, Velva from Hamilton.  She does amazing appliqué work and we were wowed by the quilts she brought.  This was her first time ever entering a quilt.  She actually took first and second place.

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I am just in love with this log cabin…so fresh, SEW fun.

And here is Miss Maxine, from Polo with her swirly log cabin finished! She got 3rd place!   (I showed this one a few weeks back, from our Friday night sew-show and tell)  I love how she finished it with those borders and the scallop edge!  Cute!  (she used the RJR twice the charm)

Thanks to all the ladies that participated.  We sure enjoy seeing all that you create….each one of the quilts (and projects) you make are wonderful!