{ How to stitch an American Dream by Jenny Doan - TLC Book Tour }

 

About How to Stitch an American Dream: A Story of Family, Faith and the Power of Giving

Publisher: Harper Horizon (October 19, 2021)

Hardcover: 240 pages

Faith, family, hard work, and second chances are at the core of every great American story, and Jenny Doan’s story is just that. 

In her new memoir, How to Stitch an American Dream, readers will discover the behind-the-scenes success story of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and Jenny’s remarkable journey to overcome hardship, claim the abundance of family, and ignite the power of giving—all while revitalizing a small town along the way.

Over the last decade, the Doan family business, the Missouri Star Quilt Company in tiny Hamilton, Missouri, has grown from Jenny’s corner shop–with one quilting machine and two bolts of fabric for sale in the back–to become the largest supplier of pre-cut quilting fabric in the headquarters of Jenny’s world-famous YouTube tutorial videos.

Jenny is now giving her fans, the business world, and moms of all ages (and grandmas too!) what they’ve been asking for: the full story of her journey, from her humble beginnings as a homeschooling mom, to founding MSQC in her fifties, through the remarkable success and inspiration she’s so well-known for today. In this book, you’ll learn:

• How she and her beloved husband, Ron, raised seven children on a shoestring budget— and had fun doing it;
• How, after a string of bad luck, the family made a prayer-based decision to leave California behind and start over again in rural Missouri, even though they had no place to live, no jobs lined up, and no idea how they were going to make it;
• How Jenny, Ron and their children worked side-by-side to patch together a family home out of a crumbling shell of a farmhouse;
• And how their faith, hard work, and generosity not only carried them through the hard times, but led directly to the success of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

How to Stitch an American Dream will make you laugh, cry, say “bless your heart.”

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

About the Author

Jenny Doan is a wife, mom of seven, and the founder of the Missouri Star Quilt Company, which in ten years has transformed from a way for Jenny to keep busy in her empty nest to a $100 million company with 450 employees.

 

REVIEW: 

I loved, loved, lovedddddd this book.

Jenny Doan is an extraordinary woman, with a difficult past.  But her perseverance, her struggle and her determination led her to be one of the most well known woman, and companies in the United States.

If you've dabbled in sewing and quilting, you no doubt know the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  However, maybe like myself, you never really looked into how it got started, the woman behind it and the work it took both as a family and as a businesswoman, to make the company what it is today.

I think for me what made me relate even more to Jenny, was her life before the success.  

She was a homeschooling mama, much like many of us out here, and she had the same responsibilities and worries we all have.  But it's the way she dealt with those obstacles thrown in her path, that make her an inspiration.

The book is broken into different chapters, with fun titles such as:

Breaking Barriers and Jumping In

Bacon Fights & Baby Makes Four

Growing family in the salad bowl

Casting Bread upon the water

Jenny was making her own clothes as a teenager, and that reminded me so much of myself as a teenager.  I worked with my grandmother at her little sewing shop.  I would leave school and walk to her shop, then spend the afternoon ripping seams, attending to customers or helping her pin a wedding dress she would be working on at the moment.  

I didn't realize at the time that all those little moments would mold me into the woman I am today.

Jenny Doan started off much the same way, though she was a lot more adventurous and outgoing than I was, which led her to getting married at a very young age, a marriage that quickly ended in divorce due to the abuse she was put through.  It was heartbreaking reading about her emotional and physical pain.  She was left holding a young daughter, and another in her belly while facing betrayal from her husband.

She used that experience to learn and grow.

The book divulges her life, takes us through the journey from a young divorced mother, to getting married again, becoming a homeschooling mama and ultimately starting her business with her children, at the age of 50.

 

The things Jenny went through, are a true testament of her faith, her love for God and her family, and the culmination of years of hardships.

This book changed me, it taught me so much, it made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me grow closer to God.

I have a new found respect for Jenny and her beginnings.  She inspires me to push through the hard times, and to live any dreams that I may have.  No matter how scary they may seem, to just dive in and go for it.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and Harper Horizon for providing me with a review copy.