Lone Star. . .FIinished. . . .FINALLY!!--post 11

Label

The Lone Star Modern/Contempory is at long last a useable quilt! When I started it, I used Christmas fabrics that had been in my stash for at least a couple of decades. I pulled the fabrics because the project began as an online Saturday Workshop the Clark County Quilters guild sponsored. Alvera Gaskins was the instructor.

During the all day class, I didn't get as far as actually having a "leg" together. It was months before I picked up the project again. Eventually, I was ready to add the background fabrics to the corners and sides.

The book that inspired me to finish

Originally, I had planned to go old school and use a cream fabric as the background. That decision didn't feel right so I went to a local quilt store to peruse a more modern background. I came up with several choices. Because I have a phobia of making the wrong choice, I asked the owner for her opinion. She chose my second candidate. When she explained why, I chose that fabric.

Finished

Relatively soon after my fabric purchase, I stitched the legs into a top, pieced a back, layered and basted the project. I quilted in the ditch and had finished that task when I was rear ended in a car accident. 

The accident happened at the beginning of September 2022. All progress stopped. For months, pain and the inability to hold the ruler stopped me from cutting, piecing, and stitching. After physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic and massage sessions, I'm better. While I am back to quilting, I still have pain and mobility issues. I try to focus on what I have because when I let myself consider what I've lost. . .well, I become sappy sad!

Highlight on quilting from back

Eventually, I got back into quilting this project. This Lone Star project had me stuck so many times. Our book club's latest read :The Kitchen Front" by Jennifer Ryan provided the inspiration to finish this project. 

This book is a great read. Four women are competing in a cooking contest held in England during WWII. They must use ingredients available during the ration time. One character, Nell, falls for a POW from Italy. He is the son of a family who own a restaurant in Italy. I thought of Italian pottery and had had the answer to a part of my quilting dilemma! Italian pottery designs inspired me to quilt the background as if it was a plate. You will have to read the book to find out how relationships develop between the characters.

Finished front

Friday morning. I put the last stitch into the project. It is now ready to be washed. It measurers 75 inches by 95 inches. I used 14 yards of fabric from my stash; but, I purchased 18 yards of fabric so I've only used  17 1/4 yards of fabric from my stash this year. Next year I will have to improve the amount of fabrics I use from stash!

While I attempted to make this a "modern" quilt, I didn't achieve that. I would call it a contemporary quilt and reflected that in the label. I'll keep plugging away at the modern part. Thanks, Rosanne H for helping me with the modern and contemporary definitions!

It feels so wonderful to be FINISHED! It will be going on our bed. 

Previous posts:

Lone Star post one; Lone Star out of time out post two; Lone Star with borders post three; Lone Star
back post four; Lone Star quilting in the ditch post five; Lone Star update post six; Lone Star quilting update post seven; Slowly moving forward Lone Star update post eight; Quilting the Outer Edge post nine; Filler Stitches post ten.

Finishing the Lone Star was goal number five on my December list. I'm linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework as she has been sharing many wonderful compassion quilts stitched from scraps.