MSQC Christmas in July

I finally made it to Hamilton to visit Missouri Star Quilt Company!  I had an incredible time at their Christmas in July retreat this past weekend. Hamilton is quite an experience and MSQC definitely knows how to show quilters a good time!  Our hostesses Cindy and Susan were fantastic (and quite the comedic team) and we had a great group of people.

Jenny Doan treated us to a trunk show on the first day. We learned a lot about the family, the business and the quilts. Jenny is an excellent speaker and it was really interesting to see how the designs evolve.  Here are just a few of the quilts we saw.

 

   

This one doesn't show up well in the picture but it is one of my favorites. I've been wanting to make it since I saw it in Block magazine. I am thinking it might be interesting in red and cream...

The MSQC folks went all out on the Christmas in July theme. The retreat center and shops were all decked out for Christmas. Santa and Mrs, Claus visited the shops and handed out presents in the afternoon. Mrs. Claus had ditched her costume by the time of the trunk show but Santa made an appearance at the end.

The agenda for the retreat was a bit chaotic, with demonstrations going on both at the retreat and in the stores throughout the weekend. We saw a demo of the Dresden Tree pattern at the Seasonal Shop.

And Cindy demonstrated all kinds of different projects, including the Orange Peel and a tree skirt.

I  had planned to do the Orange Peel and cut my own charm squares from some batiks I have had around for a very long time as part of a stash saved for a New York Beauty I have never gotten back to.  Sadly I didn't make much of a dent in the stash!  I played around with a few blocks but didn't get very far.  I'm not in love with turning those things inside out - they are really hard to get smoothed out. I had also planned to do the tree skirt but didn't get a chance to start it. I spent the bulk of the weekend putting together my stars.

I didn't have enough room to lay the blocks out and leave them so keeping things in order was extremely challenging. I managed to get things all screwed up and had to make a few adjustments to get everything in the right place. I still managed to end up with too much of the same fabric in one spot so I still need to make a couple of adjustments.

I did finally get started on my leader & ender project. I took along one of my Kansas Troubles jelly rolls and cut the first set of pieces for my tumblers.

I had a lot of opportunity to sew my tumblers in between squares and rows.  I managed to finish the first two rows and get a solid start on a third one.  

One of the many highlights from the weekend were the Amish fried pies from the farmer's market. They were incredible!  Hamilton is such a neat little town. I can't wait to go back!