No Put on with Jenny Doan

I've tagged along with friends who have a membership in a guild group to hear a guru (gura?) on quilting or other hobbies.  It's always interesting to watch people and who have achieve a certain level of fame and how the person handles it.  I had the privilege to meet and have dinner with such a leader in a quilting movement.  I left the dinner thinking what a diva she is....granted she's done far more than I ever would do,but what an ego!  While her designs and products are leaders in the craft, she neglected to put on her game face.  Well, Jenny Doan, the face of Missosuri Star Quilt Company is quite the opposite.  You just want to hug her and bring her home to dinner, meet the family and pet the dogs.  The "game face" is an important belief of Jenny's.  They have several young people employed at a their now mega enterprise.  She teaches them no matter what is happening in your personal life, put on a game face not only for our customers, but just do it anyway.  What a great philosophy and life lesson for all of us!

The  Lighthouse Quilt Guild in Grand Haven, MI sponsored Ms. Doan's visit to West Michigan....they hit a grand slam as far as I'm concerned.  While I opted to not take classes either of the two days offered, I'd seriously reconsider classes again if Ms Doan were to visit anywhere nearby.  She started her presentation to the nearly filled auditorium of Lakeside Middle School (quite large for a middle school) at 6:30 after about 10 minutes of giving away gifts.  Jeny's formal presentation stopped at 9 pm.  Then she took questions from the audience for at least another 15 minutes.  If that wasn't enough she promised to stay on stage to answer questions personally and sign books "until the last person leaves".

Oh my goodness!  What a story of a company forming and GROWING from the ashes of the Great Recession to being named the Best Small Business in America.  She referred to the company, started by her children, to keep mom and dad out of their basements - since they had been literally wiped out in 2008!  Six of her seven children own and operate the Missouri Star Quilt Company.....all from a simple comment from her techie son:  Hey Mom, you should do a tutorial on quilting for You Tube" seven years ago.  Apparently, You Tube is about 8 years old! Below, I've referenced a couple articles explaining the company's story

Jenny Doan's You Tube tutorials are absolutely the best!  From the tutorials came The Block, their quarterly magazine (sans subscription cards flying out and advertisements), then came the connection that any quilt can be made form pre-cuts, to having five quilt stores in western Missouri with five more opening soon and five more in design!

After relaying much of this amazing story she and Ron-a Vana, her husband, demonstrated her quilts, all from pre-cuts and how their templates are incorporated.  For those of you considering a either a road trip west or even to Kansas City (a world series will be playing soon at the Kaufman), their home is about 45 minutes north.

A hearty thank you goes to Around the Block Quilt store in Portland, MI for bringing MSQ books, templates and other goodies to the presentation.  Neighbor Judy and I arrived at the school around 5 p.m. and the cash register was already cha-chinging.  Those ladies definitely had lighter boxes to take back to Portland.

Oh, in case you're wondering about more take away info from the presentation:
            a) trust the fabric combinations in the pre-cuts, don't pull out fabrics you may not like
            b) all of MSQ templates, unlike other company templates, are designed especially for pre-cuts.
            c) check their website for the combos on pre-cuts and how many make the various size quilts....

Jenny's presentation was just too packed with information to relate all of it....you just had to be there.....

Oh, and after all the laughter - she knows quilting and quilters and of course family dynamics, she had us almost in tears at the end.  When her first video went out she thought her audience would be working women.  Little did she know the impact she had on persons confined to their home for medical or mental health issues.  She turned that compliment she received unto us...and all at the good we inadvertently do.  She says there is no better and far reaching hobby or career than quilting.....golf doesn't do that, now does it....she told us.  Our quilts and the pillowcases touch hearts far and wide.  She too, was almost in tears!

Wall Street Journal article:  Wall Street Journal article
White House Visit:  Visit to White House