A Visit to Missouri Star Quilt Company, Part 1

On Wednesday, six intrepid Brown Bag Quilters headed west for a bucket list trip--a visit to the Missouri Star Quilt Company. We are all devotees of Jenny Doan and her fabulous, quick and easy quilting tutorials using pre-cuts, plus I am addicted to her Daily Deal, as my Visa bills can attest.

We left Boston and flew into Kansas City, arriving late afternoon on Wednesday. MSQ is about an hour from the airport. We did a quick tour of the shops before they closed for the day at 5pm. Our plan was to be up and running at 9am on Thursday to spend an entire day visiting all 14 shops.

A bright mural adorns the side of the sewing center building. A 50's themed quilt retreat was in progress during our visit.

If you can read the computer screen, we traveled 1,205 miles for our visit. But we met three ladies who came from Brazil, so 1,205 miles didn't seem so far. We also chatted with ladies from Oregon, California and Minnesota during our visit. According to the media, MSQ gets up to 10,000 visitors during the summer months.

The MSQ stores are on two sides of the main street in Hamilton, MO. Below is a view of the strip that includes Primitives and Wool, Batik Boutique, Machine Shed, Man's Land, Licensed to Sew and Penney's Quilt Shop. Upstairs, you will find Sew Seasonal, Backing & Trims, Kids & Baby and Modern. They have renovated the existing buildings and revitalized the town. In addition to building quilt shop mecca, they have brought in several restaurants, because we know that quilters love to eat! The town is cute and quaint. Everyone we met was very friendly and welcoming.

This was one of my favorite shops since I'm fond of novelty prints.

Vintage machines decorate the window of the Machine Shed.

Need a break? Visit Man's Land.

Joanne and Sue stopped and rested in the comfy lounge chairs in Man's Land. There's even a pool table in the back.

Same side of the street, but photo taken from the opposite end.

Here is a picture of the other side of the street.

This is the Main Shop, or as I call it the Welcome Center to Quilter's DisneyLand... The rest of the shops on this side are Missouri Star Mercantile, Florals, and the Sewing Center, where the quilt retreats are held.

Another beautiful wall mural.

Right next door to the Main Shop is Mama Hawk's Kitchen. On Wednesday, I enjoyed a fabulous brisket sandwich for lunch here. And I also tasted my first red cream soda. Delicious! J.D.'s Burger Dive is adjacent to Mama Hawk's Kitchen.

All of us developed an addiction to Mama Hawk's divine cinnamon rolls... I wonder if she does mail order...

Here I am with my Brown Bagger quilting buddies enjoying another scrumptious lunch on Thursday at Blue Sage.
From top left, clockwise: Nancy C-T, aka PugMomQuilts!, Marion, Nancy D., Sue, Joannie and Joanne S.

Thanks for visiting. There will be a Part 2, so come back soon! Do you want to see what we bought?

Pugs and kisses,

Nancy

March Projects from the Brown Baggers

Lots of great finished quilts and tops at our March Sunday meeting of my Brown Bagger quilt group.

Joanne S. had three finished quilts to share.

Kaffe Fassett prints against an orange background. This is a birthday block quilt.

Another birthday block quilt in red, white and blue. Junior Brown Bagger Emma is an experienced quilt holder.

A stunning Double Wedding Ring in Kaffe Fassett prints with a lively polka dot background.

Joannie finished the binding on one of her t-shirt quilts (she's made four in total as a memorial for a friend's son).

Joannie's original design with lots of flying geese sashing.

Sandie had a quilt made from left over scraps deemed too large for the pet pillows as well as the rainbow quilt top that came to her in a dream.

One woman's trash is a quilt for Sandie! Sandie thinks this quilt looks like the view from an airplane and I agree!

Sandie's amazing techni-color Dream Quilt!

Marion finished a baby quilt top.

There are lots of fun novelty prints in this baby quilt.

Lynne finished this gorgeous Jewel Box quilt top. This quilt is made from Lynne's stash and has everything in it from batiks, to Kaffe Fasset prints, to animal prints to Asian fabrics. It is just stunning.

Here's a close-up.

Pat brought her finished top, her Grand Illusion Quilt, a Bonnie Hunter mystery from a few years ago. She also sent me a picture of her finished yoga bag for daughter Allison. I love the fabric!

Pat's color pallette is soft and pretty.

A new yoga bag for daughter Allison!

Kim G. made another Frieda quilt for a special 5-year old friend.

The little girl's favorite colors are purple and orange. I think that Kim nailed it!

I got my Star Quilt back from Kim P. who machine quilted it, so I should have a finished project to share with you soon...

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Tales from the Cutting Table

On Saturday I finished Ben's quilt. In celebration, on Sunday I spent a few hours in my Quilting Studio and I cut out three new projects. You can never have too many projects!

These two bundles have been living underneath the plexiglas extension table for my sewing machine so they've been taunting me while I worked on other things that had deadlines. I picked up several of the purple fat quarters at Tuesday Morning (a domestics store, kind of like a mini Marshalls) and added a few more purples from my stash to make my own fabric medley. I won the blue and green fat quarters at our holiday swap in 2015. After I cut them out, I saw that they are Horizon by Kate Spain. Marion has used Kate Spain fabrics in several of her projects. We don't see them often at our local quilt stores.

After taking this photo, I changed my mind, so I'm making the Weekender Tote with the purples, and the San Clemente bag with the blues and greens. I've made both of these patterns before. You can see my previous Weekender Tote here (you'll need to scroll down).

I write labels on sticky notes and attach them to each of my pattern pieces that I cut out from the different fabrics. This way, when I pick up my project again, I'll know what all the pieces are for.

Best of all, neither of these projects is on any kind of deadline nor are they promised to anyone, so I can work on them at my leisure.

The third project is going to be a Yellow Brick Road quilt made out of cat fabrics for my cousin Joel's little girl. Angie will turn 5 in June so she needs a big girl quilt for her birthday. Below are a few of the cat fabrics that I cut for her quilt. I decided not to stress and used a wide variety of cartoon cats and realistic cat fabrics. I figured, the more, the better.

Angie's favorite color is red. There isn't much red in any of the cat fabrics, so a few days later I decided to go back and cut some red fabrics to add to her quilt. That will help give her quilt some pop! Some of these fabrics came from my deep, dark stash, and are probably close to 20 years old. Vintage chic!

An old friend once said that "all reds go together." It will be fun to see what they look like in Angie's quilt. And these fabrics are very happy to have left the depths of my sewing room closet!

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Ben's Quilt is Done!

When I saw my nephew for his Bar Mitzvah back in June 2015, he asked if I would make him a new bed quilt because his current one wasn't long enough to cover his feet. I'm not even sure what quilt he's using, I haven't made Ben a quilt in a long time.

Initially Ben wanted me to make him a Rubik's Cube quilt. I bought fabric and sketched something out. Then I found some very cool retro-inspired stereo head phone fabric and changed my mind. Ben is always wearing head phones, so I thought it was perfect for him.

At last, Ben's quilt is done. I had to finish it before he got any taller. He is at least 5'11" and he won't even be 15 until June. He is now officially the tallest person in my family.

This is an extra, extra-long twin, finishing at 97" long.

The beautiful quilting is done by my friend Val.

Quilt holding was done by my lovely co-workers Julie, at left, and Dianne. I usually bring in quilting Show and Tell on Monday mornings.

I had plenty of the head phone fabric left over, so I used it for the back of the quilt.

I had bought this boom box fabric at the same time, but decided not to use it in the quilt, so I made Ben a pillowcase. I also bought this fabric with a white background and made Ben a pillowcase this summer.

The pattern for Ben's quilt came from McCall's Quick Quilts Magazine (August/September 2015 issue). It is called Lots of Boxes. I added another row to the pattern to make Ben's quilt extra long.

My quilt looks completely different than the one in the magazine, just by changing the colors.

Ben's quilt is wrapped and in a box, ready to mail to him in California. I hope that he sends me a picture of the quilt on his bed.

Linking up on Tuesday to Freemotion by the River and on Wednesday to Let's Bee Social. Linking up on Friday to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

A Round 2-It

Not everything I make is square. I found this adorable pug fabric at Joann Fabrics and decided to make myself some place mats. I bought some pre-cut circular fusible fleece at a local quilt shop. I used a pretty floral fabric on the back, so they are genuinely reversible. I used packaged bias tape for the trim.

This beautiful blog model is my co-worker Lauren.

My friend Audrey at work saw my pug place mats and asked if I could make her a giant round runner for her dining room table.

There are giant sunflowers on one side.

And a smaller scale sunflower print on the reverse.

Audrey liked it so much that she asked when she could go to the fabric store with me (again) to pick out fabric for her next one! She said that she'd like one for each of the four seasons. That's the kind of compliment I like to get!

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Happy Campers

Cameron has received his baby quilt! I call it Happy Campers.

Good thing the quilt is big enough for Cameron and big brother Logan to share!

This is another Warm Wishes baby quilt. Check out the Winnie the Pooh version I made last year for baby Nate. (You can download the pattern for free here.) Happy Campers uses the same colors, just the values are different. Cameron's fabrics are bright and cheery while Nate's are more of a pastel tone. I added outer borders to Cameron's quilt because I had extra focus fabric. I am excited to report that except for the main fabric, all of the other fabric came from my stash!

The focus fabric is a camping theme. My dear friend Anna (Cameron and Logan's Mom) and I chose it when I visited her in Florida last winter and she told me that she was pregnant. It has been beautifully machine quilted by my blogging friend Val, who found the most perfect camping pantograph complete with a camp fire, an owl, a dragonfly and more!

Here's a picture of the quilt minus the boys.

I also made Cameron a flannel blankie because I found this adorable flannel on sale and I couldn't leave it behind.

I embroidered his name on the other side and finished it with a wide satin blanket binding.

I also made two pillowcases for Logan. One is made from the same flannel as brother Cameron's blankie and the other has Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles on it (and of course I sent a TMN t-shirt too).

Anna said that both pillowcases had to go on the bed as soon as they came out of the box.

Linking up on Friday to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Fabric Frenzy Friday, TGIFF, Let's Make Baby Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts. Linking up on Tuesday to Freemotion by the River and on Wednesday to Let's Bee Social.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Virtual Sewing Day

I have not sewn for an entire week and I have driven myself up the wall. Yesterday, despite imminent snow warnings, I picked up Marion and we set off for our monthly Brown Baggers quilt meeting. We sat alone in the conference room, receiving emails and phone calls from the other girls saying they weren't coming, until I finally threw my hands up and cancelled the event. Marion and I consoled ourselves by heading over to Joann Fabrics and buying some fabric before I dropped her off at home.

Lori dutifully reported in yesterday with a finished project. She wrote:
First up, just finished baby quilt for a friend of mine. Her daughter was a bridesmaid a few years ago and now that bride is pregnant with a baby girl. My friend’s daughter wanted to take her bridesmaid dress and have it made into a quilt. This is the hottest pink you’ve every seen. It’s PugMom Pink, as I like to say. And the pink was polyester. I cut apart the dress (size 0 so not much fabric), backed it with interfacing and made a simple Irish Chain. The flowers at the bottom were from the top of the dress. I quilted the open white squares with heart wreaths and quilted chained hearts in the border. Then I washed it to crinkle things up.

Isn't this a lovely baby quilt? And it's definitely PugMom Pink!

Here's a close-up of Lori's quilting.

I finally made it to my Studio yesterday afternoon and spent several hours cutting fabric for our annual birthday blocks. This year's block is from Colorful Quilts, the pattern is called Club Noir. The blocks finish to 6.5"x10.5" and we are making three blocks for each recipient.

Here are some of the blocks that Marion received for her birthday last month. She chose Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

I cut and I cut, and I cut. I used my Accuquilt GO cutter to cut all the 1.5" strips for the sashing. Then I cut out the other pieces with my rotary cutter. Since 11 out of the 15 participants wanted Kaffe fabrics, I cut enough to make all the girls' blocks through the end of the year, with the idea that I'd also make an extra set for myself.

Here's my pile of finished cut and sorted fabric. Sadly, it doesn't look like much.

Although my little piles look sad, these blocks go together really quickly once you finish agonizing over your fabric choices. And they're big blocks!

We've had a mild winter, but this week we've had two snow storms in the past three days. Here are some snow pictures for you.

Elvis!

Elvis and LarryPug. Their coats are from Lands End and we've had them for years. They keep the pugs nice and warm in the snow. Larry even has his name monogrammed on his!

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy