Our Missouri Star Quilt Company Visit

Wednesday, May 11 was our tour group's visit to Missouri Star Quilt Company 

(MSQC) and the town of Hamilton, Missouri. 

In my previous post HERE, I talked about the lecture/trunk show 

by Jenny Doan. After that wonderful 2 hours ended, we had a few hours to explore. 

The MSQC is a group of buildings on both sides of the main street in town. 

Each building houses different fabric departments, some downstairs and upstairs 

(or via the elevator). 

The main store was being remodeled and is scheduled to reopen in mid June. 

Some of the fabrics departments I looked at included baby and kids, florals, blenders/solids, fresh/modern, Civil War/Reproductions, 30s, licensed fabrics, seasonal and backings. I even found the batik store with the largest selection of Island Batiks I have seen. 

Each one of the shops was well lit, decorated very nicely and tidy.

There is Man's Land for a husband or tired shopper to relax. 

The Machine Shed is a store with gadgets, templates and sewing machines. 

All the staff is helpful and friendly. 

I was looking for a specific color of backing for a t-shirt quilt I am working on. 

The young lady who I asked gave me information about all the departments 

where I might find the right color. I did find one color in the blender area 

that I think will work just perfectly!

We had lunch catered by Hank and Tank's BBQ. 

The food was terrific and portions were filling. 

I enjoyed the visit and hope to return some day.

Visit their website to learn about the fabric departments HERE.

Home After Quilt Trip

I am home after 9 days. I spent the day before my departure at my daughter's apartment which is hours closer to the pick-up site than my home. Upon returning, I drove to my sister's house for an overnight visit before traveling 3+ hours home.

And in between those two stay-overs, I was on the road in a comfortable coach with 52 other quilters! We traveled from Michigan to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa. I will share bits and pieces of the excursion over the next few weeks.

I want to tell you that one of our destinations was Hamilton, Missouri. A visit to the Missouri Star Quilt Company was the highlight of this stop.

Not only were we able to shop the many fabric departments (which are located in different buildings), but our day included a 2-hour lecture and trunk show by Jenny Doan, herself! She is as charming in person as she comes across on her videos.

I got so many ideas for quilting projects with her simple, straight-forward explanations of patterns.

I took just a little time to try the Disappearing 9-Patch that Jenny talked about with some Island Batik fabrics. 

She has a video HERE.

I wanted to explore what 3 colors in a triadic color scheme would look like.
I cut 5" squares of Island Batik fabrics. The purple and green are from the Wind and Sea Collection and the red is from the Coral Reef Collection.

Here are my steps in making the blocks.

And this is the quilt top that resulted.

 And, speaking of Island Batik fabrics, there is a blog hop going on this month with the ambassadors paper piecing and using the newest fabrics. Take a look at what has been posted so far. Mine is coming near the end of the month. I will post more links when they are revealed.

Pamela Quilts

Quilting Affection Blog

Kauffman Designs

Bejeweled Quilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Moosestash Quilting

BeaQuilter

Fun Thread Designs

Chinese Quilt Exhibit

On Saturday, April 30, I visited the Michigan State University Museum to see 

the Chinese Quilt Exhibit on its last day.
I am so happy that photos were allowed. 

My daughter treated me to an early Mother's Day Brunch at The Soup Spoon Cafe where I had the North Eastern Omlette: eggs, crabmeat, onions, tomatoes and spinach with a basil sauce on top. Extremely good.

The quilts are made with layers of fabrics to use as bedcovers. The beds are small. Even though the quilts are small, they are elaborate and made by hand. Many had no identifying labels, so the makers were unknown and the dates estimated. (A lesson to label the quilts we make.)

The colors caught me as I entered the exhibit hall. The details were spectacular. 

The stitching (embroidery) in the quilt below, 

makes the quilt look like it has more colors than it does. 

Inside the glass case, a rolled quilt shows the backing and the top. 

Quite different from how I make quilts.

Most of these quilts were done by hand. 

Below is a display of the sewing kit they would have used. 

I will post some more photos of this exhibit,

with a bit more explanation, after I return from a week-long 

quilters bus trip I am taking to Iowa and Missouri. 

We do more things than visit quilt stores. I am looking forward to visiting 

The Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I will bring you loads of information about what we discover on the trip. 

I am taking one hand piecing project with me, but am not sure how much I will get done. 

What will you be quilting this week?

Tuesday Archives with Val

I am condensing a few of my blog posts into this one Tuesday Archives at Val's Quilting Studio today. The theme this week is Modern Quilts. 

Now, I subscribe to the newsletter for the Modern Quilt Guild; but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept. I look forward to the local guild meeting where we will have a speaker talking about What is Modern Quilting. But in the meantime, I am doing a few quilts that I think fit the modern look.

In December I finished my Rings Quilt. The idea came from Missouri Star Quilt Company's video. This was a very easy pattern to work up and I am so pleased with the colors. Michelle did a fantastic job on the quilting with pebbles in the centers of the rings and swirls in the blue rings and the border. It is just a bit larger than a lap size.

I would put this Quilt of Valor into the category as well. I began this a few years ago. It is finished and only needs a label. Our guild gathers the Quilts of Valor at a showing we have in July and then we send them to the organization.

And the final quilt that I will call "modern" is my 12" x 12" Urban Lights quilt.

It was made for the November 2014 challenge reveal of the Four in Art Challenge group to which I belong. You can read about the process HERE.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out all the other quilters who linked up this week for the Modern Quilt theme at Val's. 

I am always happy to read your comments. I try to respond to them as soon as I can, so feel free to leave one. 

Some Finished Quilt Projects

A few weeks ago I got quilts back from my longarmer, Michelle. I finished the bindings, took photos and meant to write a post. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas events jumped into my path. I have wrapped most of the Christmas presents and sent some off to recipients who are out of state. 

I am happy to have finished my Rings Quilt. The idea came from Missouri Star Quilt Company's video. This was a very easy pattern to work up and I am so pleased with the colors. Michelle did a fantastic job on the quilting with pebbles in the centers of the rings and swirls in the blue rings and the border. It is just a bit larger than a lap size.

 My Halloween 4-patch Kaleidoscope Quilt is done and it IS a lap size quilt. 

I like all of her quilting here, especially the curved lines in the wonky orange borders around the kaleidoscope centers. 

The Kaleidoscope Tablerunner is done. It is long, but it fits the table well. The photo is not the best but I think you get the spinning look of the hexagon blocks. Michelle quilted the top in a lime green and it is so impressive. I would not have thought of using lime. I had asked her to do a web motif and she did it in the centers of the hexagons. Outside of those blocks she used an overall curved motif.

The backing was the last bit of flying witch fabric I had, so there is a short middle seam in the backing. 

The final quilt is my QOV. I began this a few years ago. It is finished and only needs a label. Our guild gathers the Quilts of Valor at a showing we have in July and then we send them to the organization.

This week I will help my daughter with the quilting on a baby quilt she finished over Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to our sewing time together. 

May the holiday spirit keep you cheerful and smiling and free of stress.