Working on Quilt #117 - the Thanksgiving Cross Stitch quilt

I am busy working on the Thanksgiving quilt. The top is done with the houses top border and the maple leaf bottom border. For the sides, I did a free form strips and small squares with two left over maple leaves on the side borders. It ended up being a humongus quilt, about 85 x 90 inches. I said to Becky, my quilt partner and co-conspirator (also daughter) - "How did this one get so big?" Her reply was "Because you kept adding things to it, Mom." On Saturday, I monogrammed our signatures on the back, Becky and I. Here they are. Also a date which reads: "Thanksgiving 2014."

Then I hauled the quilt and all the necessary supplies, pins, scissors, iron, and my sorry self up to the attic (remember I am still doing stairs on my bum) and began pinning. By the end of Monday night, the quilt was pinned.

So now I have to decide whether or not to baste this monster of a quilt before I start quilting. I am of two minds, 1) it's extra work - why do it? Just suffer thru the pins and 2) if I baste it, I avoid the pins while quilting and I will have the cross stitch squares already basted before I have to hand tack them. That would be nice. We are headed to California in two days so I doubt I will have any time to work on it before we leave so I will mull it over on my mini-vacation. Time for dinner. Happy quilting!