Homespun E15 | Jenny Doan

hi everyone welcome to Homespun where creativity and Community come together I am your host Misty Don and I am so excited to be talking with the incomparable Jenny Don today you are going to love everything she has to share as always Jenny thank you so much for being here today I'm so excited to talk to you and I know everyone will love to hear some of your story excited to be here I love this format it's really it is fun it's fun to chat and so I thought maybe we could start it's Birthday Bash week and I thought maybe we could talk just about some of our favorite stories through the years and about you know growing Missouri Star because I think it's a pretty unique story and one that we you have shared in your book and things like that but maybe let's start with when the company first started and Al and Sarah came to you saying we're going to buy this quilt machine did you ever imagine that it would grow to what it is not not for one time any moment I just thought it would really keep me out of their basement you know and I would I would have an income yeah and so we'd be able to do it because that was at a time when the market crashed and Ron was still working uh at you know nights at the at the newspaper and I mean it was just a rough time and I just figured it would give me a little bit of an income that was that was all we were really hoping for yeah enough for me to build a little nest egg and enough to pay the the payment on the machine yeah so that's that's how it all began exactly and then that machine came and it was too big for the house we literally did not have a room for it and so then we put it in the we had to buy a building yeah and the building uh buildings were so cheap then because there was every building was shuttered just about pretty much I was going to say there was really no thriving economy in Hamilton at the time and so that was kind of a blessing and a curse because there was cheap real estate to to get a building for sure but they for sure everybody thought this is going to fail this is never going to work you know it's not going to go anywhere it's never going to work but the the gift was online you know nobody had gone online yet right YouTube wasn't a thing yet you I mean well it was maybe almost one year old right uh when we decided to do tutorials online that changed everything it really did do you remember that first video I do remember the first video very vividly you want to talk about it well I broke my leg in the middle of it you know I was being silly and goofy and I swung my leg out behind me you know cuz Allan was like no Mom be more expressive you know and so I'm like fine I can be expressive you know and I swung my leg out and it C caught in the cords and and I went down and landed on my leg and you know I said to Alan I said I think I hurt myself and he's like well what do you want me to do call 911 and I'm like yes I think you better call 911 and he's like he's he's like Mom we don't want an ambulance to come to the quilt shop so somehow they whoever was there got me into the car loaded you up uh and and it was broken for sure you know and so it was a rough first video because that part of it for me wasn't even really the rough part I got you know we got my leg taken care of and it was uh too swollen to cast so they just could boot it you know I couldn't really use the crutches so I had to crawl everywhere it's the worst so I you know cuz I'm too big to carry you know especially then and but it's you know I crawled uh out the out the car and up the porch and into the entryway and up the stairs and to my bed and Ron helped me get up in bed you know that that one leg you know shaking to hold everything and you get in bed and he gets me all you know fluffed up and some pain medication in me and and I mean within a few hours Allan was back begging for me to come and film and I'm like uh no it's not a thing we not doing it you can come back in another six weeks cuz you remember he would just show up like every six weeks he'd be out doing his work and then he'd come home and be like I have this idea for the shop you cuz at the time he was still working for another company yeah so then then uh you know I mean the whole thing just uh he decided that I should do videos yeah and so then he came and uh literally I had to crawl back down the hall outside you know they got they got this little wheelchair for me to sit in and it with my grandma's and she's probably this tall tiny little this tiny and uh and I was not I was much taller and not that tiny and the um the metal on the sides I mean this is an old wheelchair so no we're not no plastic here the metal on the sides bowed out and hit the wheels so as they pushed the the wheelchair the wheels the friction of the me the wheels on the metal like almost lit me on fire I'm like w you know my hips were burning I didn't know what was happening but something very painful was happening to me oh no but we got there and that first tutorial literally um I laugh so hard at it now because you know there are crutches behind me I'm sitting in a wheelchair um but mostly I have I'm on a lot of pain medication yes heavily medicated and I could not get my my words to be right you know and come out right and to enunciate and I was trying so hard and I remember that I was trying to talk about a wonderful pattern that Pam and Nikki lintot made okay and I couldn't say to save my life you know and every everybody there you know my children think it's hilarious you know and of course I'm trying so hard and I can't figure out how to get those words out and I mean the tutorials are way better now let's just say we've improved greatly from that time we've come a bit yeah come a little ways I don't don't think that's on YouTube anymore probably not probably not I think it's been um pulled down but it was on there for a long time it was for a long time and there are still a few where you were still obviously in a wheelchair yeah and you can see the crutches kind of well because we would film you know even like we do now we would film try try to film a couple different ideas Y and uh and they we didn't have an every Friday thing or anything like that you know we just put them out as we got them finished and edited and ready to go you know and of course you know we did all that ourselves I know it's been a whole different time it really is it's been such a wild ride to think back and in in some ways it feels like just yesterday but now somehow it's 16 years later which is incredible it is incredible it was there a moment for you where you're like this might work um I think that moment had to do with us and the mail you know so the we would walk our little packages that we were mailing down to the mail people and pretty soon we had to get a a box from them to hold them in we got these bins and we'd walk the bins down and then we'd get we get a uh a bag and then we drive the bag down and then one day we got 100 orders and I remember Morgan who worked for us she laid down in the middle of them and we took a picture cuz it was so astounding that we had a hundred ERS and then the post office started coming to us and picking up and so I was like oh my gosh you know this something working something is really happening here you know also the other thing was I got a call from someone in Brazil who was watching the tutorials and they're like we want to come and see you and I'm like oh we're this tiny little shop all we have is three bolts of fabric and a quilt machine two little shelves she's like I want to quilt my quilt with you you know and she came wow and and uh and I was just stunned that somebody you know from a whole other country would think what we were doing was amazing enough to come and see us that was a really a eye opener it's incredible and it's it's one of those things that even now for me the connection that can be built online is really incredible it stuns me I just don't know how we are able to feel emotion through a computer screen yeah and whether that emotion is you can do it or I get what you're going through I I can't I don't know how it happens but it does and it happens every day many times a day and for the people who are on the receiving end you know first of all I'm so grateful to them you know absolutely and uh and secondly it still amazes me that that what I'm doing matters that much because in my head for a long time I was just sewing right and um you know and really what that tells me is that whatever you bring to the table it's enough you know if you're just willing to share your knowledge um it it really is enough and it will help somebody and if it just helps one how great is that you know oh exactly and one of the things you've been sharing this year in our Dome girls Retreats you you've kept in your Journal some of the things that you've learned and I know one of them is that you need to you need to share your knowledge with your family especially because it can die with you if you don't share it so you want to talk a little bit about that well I think it's really important um when we're given a skill or we accomplish a skill or learn a skill and and especially a skill that brings you peace or joy you know when you when you when Natalie gets working in stained glass I mean her whole self changes yeah she loves it so much she loves it so much it really is her deal when I am sewing that's my thing yeah I sew when I'm happy a mad angry anxious you know whatever it is that's my goto for it's my it's healing to me yeah and so when we have experienced those things How Sweet It Is to share with somebody else so that they too can feel that peace yeah it's not about the sewing it's about the peace it's about the being able to do something that's hard you know it's about all those things and when you when you just keep that for yourself and I think a lot of people don't ever do it intentionally they don't think what they do was going to matter to somebody else but if you could just share that with somebody else and I've seen it happen in lots of different ways I mean Ron put a call out to all the grandkids and said who wants to learn to make eclaires exactly cuz he's really good at that and you know we have all these sweet pictures of grandkids who came over to do that and he taught them a skill and it's so special to them yeah and so I think when we you know if in our life we don't do that that possibility of Joy it ends with us yeah but if we put our arm around anyone you know your friend who says you're getting really good you should make me a quilt and you put your arm around her and say let me show you how to do this because it's going to change your life yeah you know and it doesn't matter what the creative process is it matters that we share it oh absolutely it it makes me think of and you you shared that at Retreat and then one of our retreaters came back to town and I happened to run into her and she shared with me how she didn't have any grandchildren but she had these sweet little neighbor Girls oh I love that and so they they have been sewing with her for I think over a year now and they come over and they love it so much and she's like you are right it matters it's so it does matter it's so important and so I think it's it's a great lesson to all of us to make time to share what we love you know and and it's the joy that just like you said that joy that it brings us it's just going to it's going to come back you know my mom used to say when you Cass your bread upon the water comes back buttered yeah and that's how it is you know you show somebody a skill and do it best you can but be happy for him who can do it better yeah you know I mean if I teach like for instance with my three girls you know um Sarah hopes never to sew again she can so she's a fabulous quilter but she doesn't do it often does she she doesn't love it um Natalie uh sews pretty much like I do um but it's probably not her first love um Hillary on the other hand took the little bit of information I gave her and she became a gown maker and a phenomenal quilter and the way her brain works is completely different and I'm so you know happy for her and proud of that you know and so you know they are not going to be just like you when they learn the skill they're going to be like them and like the them that is is important to be yeah I love that so much well and I think it's a good reminder to all of us that our version whatever whatever you know makes us happy makes our heart sing in that way we need to listen to that and make and make time for it I think that's the big deal for me when my um children were small I love to sew and I all of a sudden you know my time I didn't have the time and if I got up really early to have a few minutes of sewing my children got up really early you know they were so always so worried they were going to miss something fun you know and probably they would well I was going to say that's what you get for being so much fun but still it was one of those things where you just have to you know you just have to be um you know aware of where where it's going yeah so definitely I think that's so true well is there any other of those messages that you know you put in your Journal that are are sticking out in your mind that maybe you want to share with people so I thought that maybe I could write 16 of them you know one for every year and I think I'm at about 30 I think so yeah and um and there are just so many things that we learn from uh from being a part of a community yeah you know when people come to Retreats they often come alone but by the end of that time they have 90 new friends you know or 40 new friends or 11 new friends you know depending upon the size of the retreat that they go to that's their tribe those are their people and when they have a question those people are going to help them and when they have a need those people are going to help them and so for me it's I love the I love the camaraderie of the of the quilting Circle you know it used to be there was the quilting B you know we had the little circle well that Circle has broadened and I remember in the beginning when Allan um and Dave started the online Forum uh well for the first time in the history of quilting there was thousands of people on a forum that could answer and help with any question and it was the biggest B and I don't think anybody even really thought about that at the time no but those women are still friends and they and men women and men and they still get together every year a smattering of them you know to have at Birthday Bash for a retreat you know and it's it's so wonderful to have watched over the years they've lost some of them now you know and They Mourn together and they celebrate together you know it's just sweet to see those those relationships happen and I think often times because of social media and things like that we kind of ho up in our houses and think we know everything that's going on but there's something complet completely different that happens when somebody touches you you know when you hug someone when you look them into the eye you know and um spend real time together spend real time together yeah that's so true it's really sweet that's interesting that you bring up the Forum because when we first started you know I had little babies at home and that that was the first thing I did for the company was help moderate The Forum and we would do giveaways on there and it was it was really fun to see that that early camaraderie and people being so excited to have someone listen to them and answer their questions yeah what do you guys think about this you know it just happens all the time are you just ever amazed at all the different things you've done in the company yeah it's pretty wild it's like when you think about you know a job description you're like well I did that I did that I know Natalie can do the same thing she's like well I did C all the customer service for a while while I was the you know I was the Kit maker I was the you know I know it's pretty wild it really is it is really wild but I feel so grateful for it too and I I mean I know you feel the same way I mean what an incredible journey it's been and so much learning so much learning and I I just feel like that is truly such a privilege and and in that vein you talk a lot about how quilting is a learned skill and so I thought maybe you could share when you first learned to quilt what what that looked like well it's it's definitely a journey and I think the journey story is really important for every one of us to look back at that first quilt so I had a a granddaughter over to my house this last week and um I was go going through quilts uh and I pulled this one out and I'm like oh my gosh this was one you know cuz I used to hand quilt because I didn't I didn't have money to get it machine quilted and so I made this and it's a block from uh like 12 different states a their state block and I put it together and you know it has a big fade Mark right in the middle of it because I left it sitting in front of the window so long and you know and she she kind of looked at me she goes well what do you want to do with this and I said you know what this this is a beginning for me so this I honor yeah because that's where we started started and a lot of us are like oh don't look closely at that you know and it's like uh-uh you know look closely and enjoy where I was so the journey for me is really important because I think for all of us our Journeys are going to be varied and different but they are going to be um when we look back at them they're going to be some of the sweetest times of Our Lives because as we go along you really do get better and better and I distinctly remember the time that I started that I learned how to square blocks because it wasn't for you years right so true and I didn't care yeah cuz you knew how to make it work well yeah I was happy with where I was and I knew how to make it work and then you know the all of a sudden you know a tool came out that made it made worked for my brain because tools are brain focused and um when that came out and it worked for my brain I was just like oh my gosh I can square a block I felt like a superhero you know um and so then that change that that changed all of my quilting because all of the sudden you know I could square and I I was reading a a post the other day and one of the comments was all this squaring how do you how do you just not do it you know and there's like 380 answers and I'm just like you know what I'm going to go peruse some of these answers and you know some of them were be happy where you are just don't worry about it and some of them you know some of them were you know well once you learn how to do it you know it'll make your life easier and I love on those um quilt what is it called forums you on Facebook or whatever you you know that um I would say 99% of the time the people are just so helpful yes and they just want to help you be be better and enjoy your craft more yeah and I think that um I think I think for me uh I had six ladies that I went and spent time with in um chilicothe and that was my Facebook you know we didn't have it then and I would uh I would say to them you know well I want to make this you know and they'd say okay and they'd help me through it and one of the ladies I started making half Square triangles where you put two squares together and sew around it she goes oh you can't do that and I'm like what why they they look the same yeah you know and she I could see the gears changing in her head and she was just like well I guess they can and she says well they're on the bias and I'm like well yeah but clothing sewers love the bias can't we just do is the bias a bad thing you know I didn't know the rules right and I'm glad I didn't because that really is my magic you know those shortcuts and um you know when I started doing that it was like oh yeah you know this is awesome you know and so that journey I think is important to remember important and and we're still on it right absolutely you know so we you and I we just went to England and we saw amazing quots incredible and every time I see them I think to myself oh I I could never do that yeah and yet it's really just sewing straight maybe it's only this far of a line you know and lots of little lines you know anything is doable yeah but um you have have to it's really if you if you want to if you're ready for it if that's where you are in your journey anything you take on you can do don't be afraid to take something on but I love quilts that are quick and easy yeah that's my love yeah and so you know while I have done some ones that take a little more work and you have to pay attention and some of the squares are teeny tiny um I gravitate toward quick and easy yeah you know so it's just a different Journey for everyone and I love that something to be loved and enjoyed and really considered yeah definitely is there one that you've made that you're still like I just can't believe I did that so when I broke my leg and was in bed yes um I had a friend who I tried to get Ron to figure out how to get a sewing machine in my bed I could not we could not figure it out plus I didn't have a good foot to you know to push the pedal yeah and uh and we thought about putting it under my arm I mean we really tried all the we really tried all the things but um I had to do something and people brought me all the books and wonderful you know I mean lots of stuff to do I had wonderful quilting friends who who filled my life up tried to fill my time up with things that would you know work for me and so one friend said I'm going to teach you how to needle turn applique and I'm like I don't want to I don't I don't have no desire to do it I'm not that fussy I take big stitches you know and and she's like well we're I'm just going to bring you some fabric in the morning I'll want you to do this and then at night I'll come and look at it and so so I thought well it'll get me two visits a day yeah you know and so she'd come uh in the morning and bring me this stuff and then she'd come at night she'd say well this really isn't very good and she'd take it apart oh no and she'd say he'll thank me someday well I decided that I was going to take on a jam padded quilt after I was better yeah you know we did all these little things when I was in bed but after I was better I thought I I decided I was going to take on a Jan Paddock needle turn applique quilt and the Really the whole thing except for the background squares are sewn together in the machine all the rest of it are needle turn okay and I literally look at that still I mean that was before the quilt shop I was going to say that was or maybe right beginning because we had her come and teach a class exactly and so I literally whenever I see that quilt I still look at it and go I can't believe I did that I love that and there are I mean I have done some needle turn applique on some other things it's definitely not my love because it's really fussy for me for you yeah um but um some people love it live it die by it breathe it every day she does some every day she loves the hand sewing I love The Petal to the metal right you know we all have our things so a little bit different but um you know I still look at that quilt and I think I just can't I'm so proud of myself that I did it is it perfect no is it amazing yes absolutely it is oh I love that so much that's so cool it's very fun well you have some big changes coming up I do that's so exciting and I'm just so excited for you and Ron and it's going to be quite the adventure and a little terrifying for us as you you head out and for me and for you I know but man our are I'm so proud of you for for taking this leap and for you know listening to your heart and knowing that it's important for you guys and and being willing to lead by example and and step away from this incredible Legacy that you've built here at Missouri Star and we will do our best to keep things chugging along Missy there has never been a time that you haven't done your best oh you're the sweetest don't make me cry don't do that you have done your best Natalie Natalie does her best I everybody does the best they can every day I mean we never get up and say today I'm going to be terrible today I'm just going to do a bad job you don't do it everybody does their best and you you really do your best but it is a um it is a leap of faith for me uh it's something Ron and I have always wanted to do we've always wanted to give back in a big way or in in any way I I actually didn't care where I went or what I did I wanted to give back uh in a way and when he turned 70 it was such a wakeup call because how did we ever get this old well I'm not that old for sure but how did how did we ever get this old how are you married to such an old guy my marriage is such an old guy we're still healthy we're still great and we can do something and I had been praying a lot about um because I'm I'm a woman who prays but I've been praying a lot about you know how to do a little less so that I could do his retirement a little more honor him a little more because every day I go do my work and I'm happy to do my work and he's finds things to keep him busy at home yeah but I wanted to do some things that honored his whole lifetime spent you know uh taking care of us and our family and so um so that's the answer that came to me was that you know to do something humanitarian and uh and I thought what what a grand idea and you know the the thought that came is that if if I out there and I you know I try to take everybody with me you know on this and let them know what I'm doing and how it's going that um the world would rally around you girls and that the you know the Quilters that are out there would um will love you and hold you up and uh and take care of you while I'm gone um the idea of leaving my my family and my grandchildren because I work with a lot of them every single day of my life so much yeah is going to be a tough uh a tough call for me but I I think it's going to be good for everybody basically I have to trust that there's a plan that's bigger than I am yeah and that um you know and that things things are going to work and it's going to be fine yeah and um you know and the other thing is that I have to keep remembering is that I am not dying I will only miss one birthday bass that's amazing because I will be home I will not be here next year but I will be here the the and I I get home in August yeah and uh and I do think when I get home my hope is that I because I'm never going to stop creating I'm not GNA stop in Africa I mean it's part of who I am exactly um but what my hope is that I will be able to create in a different way without so many deadlines you know the power of the deadline which some people thrive on yeah and um I don't really Thrive I mean I I'm not a procrastinator so my stuff is always done early but I I love the idea of just being free to create a series of something that then releases yeah and I know that's something that been trying to get me to do for a long time but I feel but I'm so tied to the deadline and so remove removing this this little space and the and the way we do things I think for me is going to be um a gift yeah and um and I think I'm really excited to see how it changes my creative process yeah I am too and I I think that's it's exciting and I think it's a good reminder to everyone that you will be back I will be back you will be back and you will have more to share and you'll still be sharing while you're gone oh 100% which is um you know I think a lot of people are are like but wait what's what's happening and so don't worry so well and it may be like this is what my apartment looks like sure you know like I got a picture from a lady today and she goes this is what a mosquito netting over a bed looks like and I was like oh oh that's not terrible you know in my mind it's like you think about the old movies from the jungle in the 30s you know and it's like oh this is going to be awful you know but it's it's not you know and so it's uh I think it'll be I I I think it's going to be quite an adventure to be honest it will be I am a little nervous about it only because I'm a planner and I like to you know I like to know just what's going to happen well and you've had quite a routine for a while I oh 100% I mean I know what I'm doing every single day of my life yeah yeah and so to have you know that kind of open question a little bit as as you you know take this next step is pretty well and a question about every single area of our life it's like from how do we do our laundry to you know how do we drive the car you know I mean it's like every area there's no nothing feels like oh we got this yeah you know it's all brand new again it's all brand new which is honestly a lot of fun I mean I guess it goes back to what you were saying earlier where it's like it's all a learned skill we can we're never too old to keep learning right and you know what a what a cool opportunity to um to have like the adventure of a lifetime and and to give back while you're there yeah I know somebody um gave me a quote that I love and it said you will change them almost as much as they will change you yeah and their Joy is unsurpassed they have joy with nothing yeah you know we have joy you know surrounded by things you know but they have joy with nothing I mean we had the opportunity to go to Africa and we experienced that we really did experience that that pure just the best people just the best it was so so wonderful I'm so excited about it oh I'm so excited too and I'm not dying so I'll be back that's exactly right and I cannot wait I cannot wait to see you know how it rejuvenates you you and inspires you in new ways and you'll just come back I hope filled up to the top ready to share so to so amazing well is there any final words you would like to leave with everyone um before before we wrap it up uh well I just I just hope everybody you know I don't know I I don't know final words that sounds feel big well it doesn't feels big for a minute just you know just to wrap up today um just a message that feels important or is on your heart I would say um take time for yourself keep creating I mean so many times like especially when we're living in the trenches which is what I called when I had children I was sitting in the trenches we don't take time for oursel but it's the oxygen mask thing it's like if you if you take care of yourself first yeah then you can take care of those around us because even as even for us as we get older we are still the caretakers we're still caretaking for someone and I think about the women who come to Retreats and they're all carrying something heavy it's something everyone you ask it doesn't matter who it is would say this is what I'm dealing with and the things that they're dealing with as they share them with me feels overwhelming to me and I don't even have to live them yeah but um they come to retreat they take a little time for themselves they fill they fill their bucket or their little cup yeah whatever it is whatever it is but they go filled up just enough to go back and keep fighting and it's our creativity that does does that for us and it doesn't matter what you create in but if you can create in a way that fills your bucket a little bit you can keep taking care of and doing all the things that you need to do to get through the day yeah so take care of yourself first and then all the rest will follow it's easier said than done for sure it truly is but it's but it's true I've seen that in my own life as well and you know when we make the difference when we make the time for ourselves it makes all the difference it makes a huge difference in how we can how we can react and take care of the people around us who depend on us absolutely well I love you I love you so much I love you to and I'm so excited for you and thank you so much for being here with me today you're welcome and I can't wait to see all the Adventure that lies ahead pleas oh thank you so much love you love you too [Music]