Every summer we host thousands of visitors from near and far in our happy little town of Hamilton. Many of these visitors come to us as their end destination or as part of a detour on their road trip. No matter how our visitors get to us, we do all we can to make sure that they have the best experience in Hamilton.
If you needed another excuse to come visit Hamilton this Summer, starting June 21st we are participating in the Row by Row Experience again this year!
The Row by Row Experience is a wonderful program started in 2011 by Janet Lutz to help quilt shops get more visitors in what might otherwise be slow summer months. All the quilt shops participating in Row by Row have their very own free pattern to help you make a quilt block, and if you are the first to complete a quilt using at least 8 different rows from 8 different 2018 participating shops, you win a stash of 25 fat quarters and you win a bonus prize if you use our block and bring it in to our store!
The theme for Row by Row this year is “Sew Musical” and we have our very own pattern called “We Quilt This City.” The pattern features a beautiful appliqué town and music notes, hopefully not bringing just your quilts, but also your community in harmony.
To get your free Missouri Star Row by Row pattern all you need to do is come to Penney’s Quilt Shop and ask for our Row by Row pattern! Each customer is limited to one pattern. Sorry to all of our online customers, this pattern is only available in person!
The Row by Row experience will run from June 21st to September 4th, 2018, and you will have until October 31st, 2018 to submit your quilt for a prize.
Hi! My name is Lee Ann. I’m a wife and mother of four. When I was expecting my third child, I saw some rag quilts on Etsy and thought they were adorable—but expensive. I mean, $65 for a little baby blanket?
So I bought my first sewing machine and a set of fat quarters by Kaffe Fassett. I learned how to make my first rag quilt by watching a tutorial by Vanessa Vargas Wilson on YouTube. I was pretty happy with the result but my husband teased me a bit. ”Why spend $65 on a blanket when you can make it yourself for $300?”
But, I fell in love with sewing! Putting colors together. Feeling the fabric run through my fingers. And the finished project was an item that was both USEFUL and beautiful. I made several rag quilts before getting bored and wanting to learn more. That’s when I found the free video tutorials online by MSQC.
One of the first “real” quilts I made was from a pattern called Summer in the Park using a jelly roll, a line by Tula Pink, the Birds and the Bees.
Watching the videos made it easy for me to follow along—or watch a half dozen times if necessary, and sometimes it was! The finished quilt was so worth it.
But, like many quilters, I don’t ever make the same thing twice! You’ve got to change it up a bit.
Recently I came back to this pattern and changed only two things.
In the tutorial, Natalie uses a brightly colored jelly roll and combines it with a jelly roll of white strips. When sewing them together, she sews two strip sets, 1) white, print, white, and 2) print, white, print.
So to change it up, I chose a jelly roll of Carolyn Friedlander’s Carkai. Instead of white, I used a darker CHAMBRAY fabric. I also changed how I sewed my strips together. ALL of my 3 strip sets were sewed as: print, chambray, print.
The 3-strip-sets are then sewed to each other, right sides facing, into a “tube.”
Now comes the really fun part—cutting the tubes into squares. You lay your tube down and cut triangles—when you open it up, they will be perfect squares!
The best ruler for this is the Triangle Square Up Ruler, 9 1/2” by Quilt in a Day. I don’t happen to have that ruler (mine only goes up to 6 1/2”), so I had to make do with my big square up ruler for squares. I put the point of my ruler right up to the seam but did not cross it. Then, I made sure both of the 8” marks touched the bottom seam before making a cut.
Continue cutting the tube, swiveling the ruler around the opposite way to maximize the number of cuts you can make. I was able to get five finished 8” squares from each “tube.”
When sewing the squares together, I made sure to nest the seams to make perfect points.
I sent this quilt off to MSQC for machine quilting. My local lady is great but she will not back anything with fleece. MSQC does — Cuddle/minky too! This is my first quilt backed with fleece and it’s pretty much the best thing EVER.
After it came back, I had to choose binding fabric. I always “audition” a few colors first.
After letting this quilt and the different options sit on my table for a few days, I ended up going with the same chambray I used in the quilt blocks.
My favorite binding tutorial is The Ultimate Quilt Binding Tutorial by MSQC. No binding tool required! I used to have one but I don’t use it anymore. This method is the easiest! But, I must confess, I had to watch this video EVERY SINGLE TIME a quilt needed finishing for at least the first ten quilts I made.
Here’s the finished result of my “reboot”.
And now that I’ve spent a few years piecing quilts…I’ve decided a $65 rag quilt is more than fair! A bargain, really! But, I wouldn’t trade learning a new hobby for ANYTHING. Quilting has become my quiet place and saving grace in my busy life.
Thank you, MSQC for asking me to write this blog post and for teaching me how to quilt in the first place!
You can follow my quilty adventures on Instagram at leeannjperry.
With a little creativity and a touch of courage, quilting can be a real “choose-your-own-adventure” experience. What happens if I rotate half my blocks? What if I switch out the white background for a bright solid? What if I use a 10-inch square instead of a 5-inch? Before you know it, you have created a totally unique quilt. You are an artist! You are an inventor! You are AMAZING!!!
Today Jenny will guide us through the Whimsical Shoofly Quilt, a simple variation of the shoofly or churn dash. You’ll be amazed to see what a difference a small change can make – and maybe you’ll be inspired to make a few changes of your own!
This tutorial features the Magic Collection by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabrics, but it would look gorgeous in any fabric. Click on the button to watch the tutorial and get everything you need to make this quilt!
We have a new Quilt Snips Mini Tutorial for you today! It’s our Garden Party Quilt Block and you won’t believe how easy it is to make! All you need is some charm squares and some 1.5″ squares of white fabric to snowball the corners!
You can watch the Garden Party Quilt Snips video as well as the full Garden Party Quilt Tutorial HERE!
If you try out this Garden Party pattern, make sure to share a photo of your project on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) using #gardenpartyquilt and #msqcshowandtell!
There’s something so fantastic about the lifecycle of a butterfly. He starts his journey as an inconsequential little caterpillar with a huge appetite. After weeks of glorious gluttony, he takes one massive, cozy nap. And then? He wakes up magnificently elegant and graceful! Why doesn’t that work for me? Just once in my life I’d love to binge all day on a quart of rocky road, take an epic nap on the sofa, and wake up as glorious as a butterfly!
For now, I’ll settle for the super-easy Butterfly Blossom Quilt. This quilt is incredibly beautiful, and it’s a breeze to make!
This sweet pattern is made with 2 charm packs and the MSQC Periwinkle Template. Isn’t it so cute?
Click on the button below to watch the tutorial with Jenny and learn how to make your own Butterfly Blossom Quilt!
