Monday, March 10, 2014

Twin Weekend & Adventures at MSQC- Missouri Star Quilt Company!

Guess what?? My sister and I had a TWIN weekend recently...well in the fall. And what do twins do when they get together? They sew of course. Katie already mentioned one of the products of our sewing marathon- the Hokie quilt, partially finished. See the beginnings of her CraZy pieced Hokie quilt here.

wanna make your own crazy pieced/improv quilt? Check out this Craftsy class Katie watched (affiliate link).

 

I'd say we sewed for at least 10 hours! It's nice to have a rotary cutting assistant, so you can just chain piece away....I also didn't have a knee high cutie begging for attention all the time (thanks for watching the baby back home, sweetie!). Katie continued with her Hokie quilt, and together we almost finished the Christmas Table runner for our parents.


In order to SEW lots, you need tons of fabric, right? The airport closest to Katie is St Louis, MO, BUT we had a grand scheme.

Where in the world could we find so much fabric??
Katie and I met in Kansas City, and from there we headed out on a 60 minute drive to the very small town of Hamilton, MO. Our destination- the famed Missouri Star Quilt Company, aka MSQC!

Here, at the Missouri Star Quilt Company!
We had planned out what projects we still needed "supplies" for, and we were ready to spend a few hours in the store looking around and fabric shopping- what better way to spend a Saturday?

So much fabric, so little time!

Observe the chevrons in ALL THE COLORS (and sizes too!). Impressive, eh? (yes, we have Canadian roots!)

'Trying' a long arm quilt


Browsing the amazing quilts on display, most of which are made from precut fabrics. Jenny Doan, the face of MSQC, has many video tutorials demonstrating how to make most of the quilts displayed in the store. We've made the Christmas tree table runner, and we aspire to make one of the precut quilts!


MONSTERS!!
sorry, random folks- we were just trying to get a shot of the pretty quilts!
 
Turndash and zig zag quilts
 

Coloring the rainbow

 


We met one of the co-owners!

one of 6 (7? alot, whatever it is!) Doan children, this dude co-owns the place. Thanks for letting us bug you!

Jenny was out of town that day, but we were happy to meet some other awesome people at MSQC. All the employees were super nice! One of the Doan sisters even helped us figure out the amount of fabric we would need for our quilt dimensions (more on that quilt later...). However, we did get to see the studio where all of Jenny's tutorials are filmed-

My Name is Julie and I Like to Sew! But my sister is really the better quilter, check out her awesome sampler!

If you do want to "meet" Jenny, check out this feature NBC Nightly news aired recently.

A skirt- for a tree, or a human....? You decide.

I rifled through many of the quilts (with permission, of course!).

Neon Dresden Plate awesome-ness (Dresden Plates are those circle thingys)
Rocket Boy quilt!
I think I embarrassed my sister- I pulled out most of the quilts, and couldn't put them back! They were HEAVY!

 

itty bitty charm pack skirt- hoping to make one for my 2 year old cutie
 

Some pretty Christmas projects- It's never too early to start preparing for Christmas 2014!

 
 
Katie liked browsing the quilts, too!

Sorry, I know that's alot of pictures of Yours Truly, I just loved all the quilts I saw! I will try to link to the tutorials that correspond with the quilts when I have time (MSQC peeps, wanna help me out??)
As for our spoils, we bought some charm packs, jelly rolls, fabric by the yard, oh just too much to list! We will post the projects we make, though :)

Missouri Star Quilt Company is definitely worth the trip out to little Hamilton, Missouri (which is a charming little town!), and their online store is so quick- Katie gave me a MSQC gift certificate for Christmas, and I am so looking forward to using it. Just gotta finish some other UFO's first! (UFO=Unfinished Objects, for the uninitiated!). They also have awesome Daily Deals- sign up for their emails!

Me with all our spoils!
 
Katie heading to MSQC's shipping department (aka the old store front) to pick up an item.


MSQC also has long arm quilting services!

This used to be a library, but now it houses MSQC's long arm quilt machines! (the chevron curtains should be a giveaway...). We picked up batting here.
 

Thanks for reading about our TWIN weekend at MSQC Review- you're a trooper for reading all this way! Come back soon! I have some unblogged items I've been meaning to post (funny how having a 2 year old and three week old limits your free time.... but oh so worth it!)

 

P.S. This will be our last TWIN weekend for awhile- Katie's moved overseas for a year....BUT perhaps we could reunite at MSQC and use their awesome retreat center next year...? We'd love it if MSQC hosted something akin to Camp Stitchalot or Sew South that two little twins could sign up for!