Quilt City USA and Quilt Town USA United in Education of Textile Art

Press Release: Missouri Quilt Museum will Feature a Permanent Exhibit of Quilts from The Collection of The National Quilt Museum Rotating Exhibit will bring the quilts of the most respected modern quilters to Missouri Quilt Museum visitors.

Hamilton, MO, 5/10/19: The Missouri Quilt Museum in Hamilton, MO and The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY have finalized an agreement that will bring the most respected and well-known collection of modern quilts to visitors to Hamilton, MO all the time.

The National Quilt Museum has one of the most well-known and respected collections of modern quilts in the world. The Collection is made up of over 600 quilts representing the best-of-the-best in quilting from 1980 to present. National Quilt Museum CEO, Frank Bennett stated, “The mission of The National Quilt Museum is to promote the growth and expansion of quilting by bringing the work of today’s quilters to new audiences. We love working with other organizations that share our passion for quilting and we look forward to having an exhibit at The Missouri Quilt Museum. This is going to be an exciting venue for quilt and art enthusiasts.”

When the museum opens in Fall 2019, the Missouri Quilt Museum founders Ryan and Dakota Redford said, “We are delighted to partner with the National Quilt Museum. We share in their desires to provide a forum that increases awareness and promotes visibility to the arts throughout the country. The expertise and professionalism of The National Quilt Museum will be a highlight to The Missouri Quilt Museum experience, right here in Hamilton Missouri.”

About the National Quilt Museum 

Now in its 27th year, the National Quilt Museum promotes the growth and expansion of quilting by bringing the work of today’s quilters to new audiences through exhibits, education programs, preservation, and advocacy efforts. Their primary campus in Paducah, KY sees visitors annually from all 50 states and over 40 foreign countries. Between in facility and travelling exhibits, more than 150,000 people per year experience the art form in person through museum efforts.

The museum is committed to teaching the next generation of quilters, and its education programs annually attract more than 4,000 young people and adults. Educational opportunities include the School Block Challenge, Quilt Camp, and the museum’s acclaimed hands-on program, The Creative Stitch, in which people of all ages with no previous experience learn to make a quilt block.

The National Quilt Museum has won the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years, making it one of the top tourist attractions by visitor review. The museum made Southern Living’s “Top 15 Museums in the South” list in 2017, and it has been mentioned in Midwest Living, CNN Travel, National Geographic, USA Today, National Geographic, and many more. For more information go to www.quiltmuseum.org.

 About the Missouri Quilt Museum

The Missouri Quilt Museum will be opening in the original Hamilton High School built in 1921, located at 300 East Bird, in Hamilton, Missouri. The building will undergo extensive renovations, however, it will maintain its original character as a 100-year-old historic schoolhouse. The Missouri Quilt Museum will complement the National Quilt Museum by telling the history of Quilting through exhibits and stories. There will be hands on exhibits as well as those that bring to life the history and passion of quilting throughout the years. Not only will you find some of the best quilts ever made displayed in multiple quilt galleries, but also antique machines including featherweights and treadles and an outstanding variety of over 500 vintage toy sewing machines. With the help of quilters around the world, we are also creating the world’s largest thimble collection for display. You may have already heard about the 22 foot tall World’s Largest Spool of Thread that greets guests to the museum; our first interactive exhibit. Bring some thread and add to it!

Hamilton Missouri is home to Missouri Star Quilt Company which operates 12 quilt shops in Hamilton. They have revitalized Hamilton and turned it into Quilt Town, USA! Hamilton is the perfect venue for the Missouri Quilt Museum. Our museum has been featured in Bill on the Road, Missouri Life Magazine, and Missouri Star Quilt Company Block Magazine.

For inquiries, sponsorships, or donations, contact:
Ryan and Dakota Redford
Missouri Quilt Museum
www.MissouriQuiltMuseum.org
info@missouriquiltmuseum.com
435-849-2564

World's Largest Spool of Thread

The World's Largest Spool of Thread  

22 feet tall, 8 feet wide and contains more than 1,000,000 (ONE MILLION) YARDS OF THREAD!!

The spool is located at 300 East Bird Street in Hamilton, Missouri. The block (and building behind it) are the future home of the Missouri Quilt Museum.

Ryan and Dakota Redford         along with their 4 children         (and a few community friends) hand spooled all one million yards, donated by Aurifil Thread.       Karen Miller from Redbird Quilt Co, is an Aurifilosopher       (pictured here with the Redford Family on the day of reveal). She coordinated the donation of thread by Aurifil.

Since the unveiling of the spool on September 19, 2018 many visitors to the city of Hamilton have also contributed to the monument by adding their own thread, which is highly encouraged! We are currently awaiting the official notification from Guinness on its official designation as the World's Largest Spool of Thread. For now, we know its HUGE!!

Add this to your list of "to do's" while visiting Hamilton. Stop by for a photo op, add some thread and then brag to your friends that you know what 1,000,000 yards of thread look like!

To locate the spool in town, turn East at HyKlas grocery store and travel 2 blocks.

Lego Sewing Machine Fundraiser

Missouri Quilt Museum is the official museum for quilts in the State of Missouri. It is located at 300 East Bird Street in Hamilton, Missouri.

The building was erected in the early 1900's then taken down by fire in 1917. It was reconstructed and opened again in 1921 and was used as a school house until 2009.

Ryan and Dakota Redford purchased the building in 2018 with the intention of opening the quilt museum. In addition to 3 Quilt Galleries it will also house a SAD iron exhibit, Toy Sewing Machine exhibit, Antique Machine exhibit including treadles, a thimble exhibit-donated by RV Quilters, and other notions as well as Spinning Wheels, Looms and other textile novelties.

Also planned is a sewing themed miniature golf course, Hummingbird Garden, and already on site The World's Largest Spool of Thread sponsored by Aurifil Thread. The museum is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.

As with any other non-profit organization the museum will rely on public donations and corporate sponsorships to cover its construction and operating costs. Look for fundraising opportunities on Hamilton's Community Calendar.

There is no question that the Redford boys are entrepreneurs. They love to come up with business ideas and ways to earn extra money for their activities. When they decided to build Lego Sewing Machines to raise funds for the Missouri Quilt Museum, I have to say I was pretty proud! What a great idea!

After many prototypes and a lot of fun in the Lego bins, they designed a beautiful machine!

Each machine is roughly 2.5 x 2.5 inches in size. They are made up of  22 Lego Bricks. They can be purchased loose to build it yourself or already constructed for a DONATION of $25 or more to the Missouri Quilt Museum

To purchase a Lego Sewing Machine or for other donations to the Missouri Quilt Museum please visit www.missouriquiltmuseum.com

Everything is Bigger in TEXAS

When we heard about the World's Largest Pair of Cowboy Boots, you KNOW we had to go see them. These are on display along a busy road outside a mall. You can see them from the freeway and they just crack me up! How awesome are they!?

They were constructed really well, obviously not leather or they would've been blue. (Babe and the Big Blue Ox) The details were awesome. From the texture and colors in the paint to the exactness of the dimensions. Awesome!

We had to walk around to the backside so Jack could have his picture with these "huge aloe vera plants" LOL. Also, at one point someone bored a hole into the heal of one of the boots and was living out of it! Yup!! So we walked around back to see where they had patched the bad boys up! This was a fun stop for us, especially since we had just completed the World's Largest Spool of Thread right here in Hamilton just a six weeks earlier!

Hamilton Missouri

What would you think of a town of 1800 that attracts over 100,000 people annually to purchase fabric? I didn't think much of it, until 3 1/2 years ago when I first came to this town and immediately fell in love! No wonder so many flock to this rural community, nearly an hour north of Kansas City, of Hamilton Missouri.

Boyhood home to James Cash Penney  (JC Penney corporation) and Zack Wheat (MLB Player), Hamilton has pride much wider than it's streets or any field that can be plowed. Once a bustling railroad town, it fell on hard times until 2008, when things started looking up once more.
Missouri Star Quilt Company began with humble roots 10 years ago with a few short YouTube videos. Now, the company has over 400 employees, more than 500 YouTube videos featuring world famous Jenny Doan, and over 500,000 Facebook followers. If that isn't cool enough, they also have 13 quilt shops on Davis Street in Hamilton where thousands of quilters congregate year round to add to their "stash" of fabric and the newest sewing notion to help them with their quilts. Specifically the week of Birthday Bash and JCPenney Days, the town population more than doubles overnight with guests!
So how did I get involved in this grand adventure? As luck would have it, my bestest cousin Meg (lets be honest, she is my favorite out of 49...yes I have 49 cousins) presented the idea of a Bed & breakfast to me in this small town in 2015. I hopped on the bandwagon to fulfill my childhood dreams of owning my own B&B one day! Just over three years later my husband and I have transplanted our family to Home Inn Hamilton, opened a boutique Retreat Hotel Hamilton and Event Center, built a monument in the form of the World's Largest Spool of Thread (sponsored by Aurifil) and are currently renovating Hamilton's oldest existing school house to create the Largest and most unique quilt museum in the country, Missouri Quilt Museum. How blessed are we to be on this journey!!
Over the next few posts I will share information about these adventures, other great businesses here in town and maybe we will meet a few people along the way too. Come along for the ride!