Friday 27 April 2018

Wednesday report - written on Thursday evening

There is not a lot to report on for Wednesday as most of it was spent in the bus, travelling north to Cameron, where we are for 3 nights.
It rained most of the day, so it was good we were on the bus. It was not a good day to take photos out of the window, and I had my head down most of the way, taking the chance to write blog posts. I did run out of internet about the half way mark.
We stopped for lunch at Harrisonville, which was take-away to eat on the bus.
We arrived in Cameron about 3.30pm and of course we went straight to the local patchwork shop. We have been very generous to the American economy!!


Next stop was our hotel, and we unpacked our bags, again. It has been great that we have stayed a few nights in each place, and not needed to repack each morning.

(the following information is copied from a brochure about MSQC).........

A few years ago, Hamilton was a declining rural town, and the Doans moved to Hamilton and set up a machine quilting business, and offered basic quilting supplies, all on a shoestring budget. Business picked up and they started posting videos of simplified quilting techniques. Before long Missouri Star (MSQC) became the biggest quilting channel on YouTube. They now offer the largest selection of precut fabrics in the world, and ship thousands of packages to customers across the world every day!
The town attracts quilters from near and far. What started out as a family business, has grown to include an entire community..........

We were booked in to Hamilton for a Trunk Show and supper catered by the locals.
MSQC holds retreats in one of the buildings, and these ladies joined us for the evening.
They had a lot of questions for the Aussie quilters, about how things are in our country and we shared the differences and similarities.


We enjoyed a fun evening listening to Jenny's story about how she arrived to this part of her journey and the impact that the community of quilters could have on others.


We received a goody bag and there were a few of our group fortunate to receive a lucky door prize, of fabric of course!


Jenny's husband assisted her by holding up her quilts. The MSQC now operates a machine quilting business with 16 longarm machines, all Statlers! He is in charge of all the maintenance of them. I would love to have had a glimpse of the machines, but they were not within walking distance of where we were. (Insert sad face!)



Here is another group photo, with Jenny, and note Raylene and Margaret are here too!


All too soon, it was time get back on the bus again, and another detour to Walmart for more suitcases!! I know that I slept well after having been out late for the previous 3 evenings.

Back soon with the next instalment, which will include a report on our whole day shopping in Hamilton!!

Blessings, From Jude

2 comments:

Chookyblue...... said...

Amazing the effect one business can have on a community ......

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

How lovely to meet up with other real quilters... so much to talk about I am sure! And to be able to meet Jenny and hear her story, awesome!! xx