Missouri Star Quilt Co. / Harry Truman National Site / Family Time

It was a super busy today for me.  While Scott and his brother visited, I took a 50 minute drive over to Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri just due east from St. Joe.  It's the MECCA of all quilt locations!!

I was quite surprised that what I thought was just a quilt store was, in fact, a "quilt town"...literally.  Missouri Star must own nearly the whole downtown!  Two full blocks of building had quilt shops in them along with a corner Sewing Center.  They have 14 shops that they own right in the little downtown area of 6 blocks.  They have shops on nearly 3 full blocks and are working on yet another one that even the employees don't know what it will be yet!  Here's some photos of the Main Shop.

I bought a Kim Diehl Jelly Roll and a 1/2 yard of fabric to make a strippy quilt for the rig.

All Missouri Star Quilt Shops in town are these below.  There's even a MAP guide!

• Main Shop
• Missouri Star Mercantile
• Florals
• Sewing Center
• Primitives and Wool
• Batik Boutique
• Sew Seasonal (Upstairs)
• Man's Land (the play for men to kick back, watch TV or play pool)
• Backing and Trims (Upstairs)
• Machine Shed
• Modern (Upstairs)
• Licensed to Sew
• Kid and Baby (Upstairs)
• Penney's Quilt Shop

Here's photos of some parts of the shops, the murals on the walls of all the shop buildings and let you see what a super fun place this is.  If time wasn't an issue today, I could easily have spent a good 3-4 hours there!  Each different store is themed out...babies, kids, woolens, repros and 30s, etc.  The best one is the Man's Land where men can just hang out, watch TV and shoot pool!  Here's photos of some of the buildings and inside some of the shops.  AMAZING!

Also, in Hamilton, Missouri is the birth place of J. C. Penney and his home was right there on Davis Street in between all the shops.  Penny's Dept Store is now Penney's Quilt Shop owned by Missouri Star.

After Hamilton, I set my GPS and headed to the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri.  This is the birthplace of President Truman.  The Visitor's Center is located at 223 N. Main and open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Tours of the home are every 30 minutes and the cost is $7 per person unless you have the National Park Pass and it is free.  The Visitor's Center also has a short film and a small Interpretive area, memorabilia and a little shop.

Six blocks down from the Visitor's Center is the Truman Home at 219 N. Delaware St. and tickets for the tours need to be purchased at the Visitor's Center.  You can park across the street from the Truman Home in front of the Noland Home (216 N. Delaware) but the streets are very narrow.  The home is painted a beautiful white color and there are a mix of grand houses like this one amid more modest ones just across the street where his cousin lived.  NOTE: Big rigs and RV are not recommended anywhere downtown.  Parking is very tight.  My recommendation would be to park at a Wal-Mart of large shopping area and unhitch and drive into town to avoid the narrow street and if you head toward Kansas City, beware that there is a bridge only 13' 5".  Our rig is exactly 13' 5" so we would have been in a bad jam had we taken the RV.  Also, the Truman Farm Home is in Grandview, Missouri at 12301 Blue Ridge Blvd.  The grounds are open daily all year and is self-guided tours.  Audio tours are available at the site.

My Photo in Summer

NPS Photo in Fall

NPS Photo in Winter

Due to pressing time and the fact you can't take photos inside Truman's home, I chose not to do the tour.  I had to wait 45 minutes for the next tour and then the additional 30 minutes for the tour would have set me back too much.  I felt I need to head back to Country Club.  It was a good thing, too because when I pulled into town at 4:55 p.m., Scott needed to be picked up at Sam's Club where he had ordered 5 large pizzas for the family get-together with Dawn and her hubby, Jon and six kids came in from Kansas and Kim's son Kory and girlfriend came up from Iowa.  So, timing was perfect all around.  We had a great time!  It was so fun to see everyone.  I hadn't met Jon before.  Last time I'd seen Dawn was 10 years ago!

Miss Maddie and her pizza

Christian, Liam and Jon

All the girls:
L-R Olivia, Maddie, Dawn, Kaitlyn and Christine

Jon and Dawn

Family Games

Kory and his girlfriend

More fun and games

Dawn's big happy family!

Dawn taking a breather

Loving Maddie

Consoling Liam

Dawn and Kim in deep conversation

Shadow getting the royal treatment from Kim

Shadow hogging the camera

Kim and Kory having a tender moment

Tomorrow is church with Mark and Kim and then we head south to my brother, Dave's house in Verona, Missouri.  It was GREAT to be with Mark and all his family.  We were so blessed to stop and spend a little time here.

A nice summer storm is rolling in so it will be nice to hear the rain and thunder while I fall to sleep.  Sweet dreams, all!