Lone Star Maniac continued

If I plan to have this quilt ready for the Glad Creations staff quilt show on January 1, I better get crack'n.

You should come to the store the first week of January and see our quilts - this year it is all about stars and predominantly Lone Star quilts.  I didn't pick the theme but since it is one of  my favorite quilt designs I was tickled when it became the theme.  I had already resurrected the Jan Krentz Lone Star for completion (See Jacobean Floral Meets Lone Star and Beyond posted in August 2010) and I had bought the fabric to make this giant Lone Star for my brother-in-law and his wife so I was already heading alone the path of Lone Star quilts in 2010.

Well, the top was finished the end of March and here it is the first week of September.  I knew that the back was going to be an event since the quilt is so big.  I have to admit that I just kept adding to it until it was big enough (half priced fabric helped).  I decided Labor Day weekend was a great time for a project like this.  Little did I know what a commitment that was.

Over the years I have amassed quite a number of pins but it just wasn't going to be enough.  I started with the quilt centered on my pinning table.  Even with extension legs to raise the table up to 38 inches the quilt hung down to the floor and folded up on either side. Oh well, time to pin.  I had gone through more than half of my available pins just pinning the center section which is less than 25% of the whole quilt.

I went looking for those 2 quilts that I have pinned but have not quilted yet (procrastination does consume resources).  I ended up putting in the stabilization line in both quilts and tacking the outer border so I could get all of the pins.  Knowing that I was still going to be short I decided to count how many pins went into a section so I would know how many pins I needed to buy.  It was 475 pins which meant that I was going to be about 600 pins short.  By the time all was said and done, I am guessing that there are roughly 2500 pins in this crazy thing - and it weighs a ton.

It is Labor Day Monday and I have started quilting this quilt.  Despite the fact that it is huge (120x120 plus when you add backing and batt) the quilting is a simple serpentine down either side of the seams.  Because of the size and the mini Lone Stars in the setting squares and triangles I expect this will take a while to get completed.  Fortunately the Juki can handle the large volume of fabric under the extended arm.We will see how long this takes.