Missouri Star Quilt Company (aka Disneyland for Quilters)
Missouri Quilt Museum
Jamesport Amish Community (about 30 miles north of MSQC)
Iowa Quilt Museum and Piece Works Quilt Shop in Winterset, Iowa (home of original Fons & Porter store)
John Wayne Birthplace and Covered Bridges in Madison County around Winterset, Iowa
Omaha Quilt Show
International Quilt Study Center & Museum

Last week, I took my sister-in-law on her quilty bucket list trip. We met in Kansas City and spent 5 days visiting parts of Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. Our favorite parts of the trip were the Missouri Quilt Museum, our day in Winterset, Iowa and the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln. She flew Southwest with a an empty suitcase inside of her main suitcase so she could take all of her “treasures” home. Both suitcases returned home filled to the brim! I flew Delta with a carry-on, but shipped the non-quilty purchases I made at the Amish store home via USPS. Helpful hint: if you spend $60 at MSQC during your visit, it will ship to your home free. Merely go to the main store and tell them you want to start a box. You can stop by and add purchases to the box throughout the day.

This was not my first trip to MSQC, but it’s always fun to see it through a first-timer’s eyes. Unless there’s a special event, a full day to explore the MSQC shops and visit the Missouri Quilt Museum is plenty of time for your visit. We stayed at one of the “recommended” hotels in Cameron. It was okay, but I’d suggest Liberty or Chillicothe if you prefer something besides very basic accommodations.

Winterset is a lovely town and the scenery was so pretty during our drive over from MSQC. There’s definitely enough to do to fill an entire day if you want! The Iowa Quilt Museum is a beautiful facility and the exhibit was well-done. Piece Works Quilt Shop is literally a block long and packed full of anything a quilter would ever need. I succumbed to the quilt in the window. It was the fabrics that pulled me in. I did a double take when the shop owner showed me the actual pattern used to make the quilt. The cover quilt was made in browns and grays. No way would I have purchased this one off the spin rack.

Omaha was crowded due to the College Baseball Championships being held this past week. The highly touted quilt show was just so-so and we’re both glad we decided to take the side trip to Winterset instead of spending the entire day at the quilt show and shop hopping Omaha as originally planned.

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum is always fabulous. Go on a weekday and not during lunchtime if you want to see all the behind the scenes action. Feedsacks and Sue Spargo were our favorite current exhibits. Of course, we visited a couple of recommended quilt shops – Cosmic Cow and Calico House.

Make out your quilty travel bucket list and get busy visiting all those places you’ve wanted to see while you still can. Life is short. You never know when a health issue will impact your ability to travel.

This is how I spent my Saturday evening – making a test run of a project inspired by a quilt one of my CraftLAB students saw at the recent quilt show. Did I have to? No. Working out details in advance makes the best use of limited sewing time and helps set stitchers up for success.

Her inspiration quilt is the middle one in the photo below. Notice it comes with a $350.00 price tag? I assured my ‘tween stitchy friend we could make something similar at a much more reasonable cost. We even shopped for some fabric at the show to put in her version of the quilt. ‘Tween buy-in and input are essential for project success.

Thanks to Google image reverse search, I was able to determine a possible pattern for her inspiration quilt – Jelly Roll Race 2 from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I watched Jenny Doan’s YouTube tutorial and got to work using a jelly roll and some white fabric from my stash. My sample will be eventually donated to my guild’s community service.

In the slideshow below, you’ll see pictures from our recent day at the Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show and my camper’s completed top from last week’s SQTM Quilt Camp. The second photo in the slideshow features the dynamic duo at the 2022 show. Notice how much they’ve grown! !

Here’s the thing: you, me and all the other sewists/quilters out there have to make the time and effort to encourage the next generation to sew. Perhaps it’s survival sewing (sewing on a button and repairing a ripped seam). Perhaps it’s visible mending and embellishing clothes. Perhaps it’s DIY fashion accessories and stuff for their bedrooms. Occasionally, it’s incorporating a little bit of technology to draw them in. Sometimes students get hooked on sewing, as these young ladies have. Yes, it can be a pain sometimes, but it is SO worth it!

Do you have any favorite projects your kiddos have especially enjoyed making?

Can you believe it’s June 1st? It’s National Nail Polish Day, National Barefoot Day and National Say Something Nice Day. For those of you on the coast, it also marks the beginning of hurricane season. We’ve had some wild weather of late here in Georgia. If you haven’t already, make sure you have non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights, water and other needed items set aside just in case. Here’s a checklist from Ready.gov to get you started.

Sadie and I will be at the Cobb County Public Library’s summer reading kick-off program later today with several other therapy dog teams. This has been a summer tradition for both of my therapy dogs. Other therapy dog visit requests have popped up on the calendar this past week; however, I will be wearing my quilt volunteer hat for the next two weeks. It’s quilt show and quilt camp time!

Speaking of reading, this is what I’m currently enjoying:

Yesterday was our monthly quilt guild meeting. Of course, everyone was abuzz going over details for the quilt show one last time. I’ll be there 3 days – two as a volunteer and one with my CraftLAB girls who submitted blocks for the kid’s display. (Psst: I’ll be the kid’s exhibit chair for the 2026 show.) Our guest speaker was Sylvia Schaefer, who is known for quilting in the negative space. Her presentation was interesting. I enjoyed the trunk show and picked up some tidbits to try on my own quilts.

June will be busy with reading, quilting, volunteering and travel. I plan to be away from my devices as much as possible. I’m definitely in need of a technology and social media fast.