Surprised

I just finished three-days-in-a-row at work. All three were very busy nights. I feel like a slug today. The plan is to blog a bit, hang out on the computer catching up, watch The Big Bang Theory and knit on my Kate Shopping Shawl, and then maybe work on some piecing for a bit and then hit the sack. Exciting, no? I don't know how I keep up.

In relation to the title of this post, what surprised me is how productive I managed to be on Sunday. I finished piecing three blocks for the Civil War Stars. I really, really, really love these blocks. Although I have expanded my stash into batiks and modern fabrics, my true love is repro fabrics and traditional quilting though I don't do traditional hand piecing and hand quilting. I'm pretty certain that had our foremothers had electricity and a sewing machine, many of them would have opted to machine piece. And, I don't have any qualms about machine quilting a quilt. Unless I have to do it. The thought of stuffing a ginormous queen-sized quilt through my machine gives me the vapors. I don't have a problem with sending it out.

Looks like I'm off on a tangent again. Back to Sunday. So, I finished working on some partially pieced Civil War Stars, and I managed to knit a fair amount of my Kate Shopping Shawl while watching Food Network Star and Falling Skies. Love both of those shows, and thank God that Penny Davidi was given the heave-ho last week. What was with her? "Bring back sexy to the kitchen"? Ugh. Not working, So, "Stilettos in the Kitchen"? Then, "Middle Eastern Mama"? Yikes. First of all, I don't usually feel very sexy in the kitchen. I don't want to vamp it up while I'm sauteeing shrimp. One extra thought wanders across your mind, and damn, you have rubberized shrimp. Then, who the hell wants to cook while wearing stilettos? Didn't that go out with Donna Reed and the Beaver's mom? Third, she didn't come across as a Mama, unless it was Ma Barker (google her if you don't know the name). Penny always made me think of Phil Collin;s deep dark song "Mama". There was nothing warm and fuzzy about this crazy woman, I figured she was a goner the week she started meowing and hissing at Mary Beth at the end of the show in front of the judges panel. But no, she hung on a bit longer.

Geez, my mind is really wandering today isn't it? The really big surprise on Sunday was that I managed to finish piecing my 1930's repro fabric Spring quilt. I don't have any pictures yet because this quilt is huge, and I need a couple of tall people to hold it up for me to get a good shot of it. I still have to applique the vines in the large white triangles, but that shouldn't take too long, unless I decide not to do it, in which case it won't take any time at all. I decided not to do applique flowers - I did yo-yo flowers, and I think it was a good choice. I like the way they look - a bit fun, and not too serious. The light, bright colors of this quilt make me think of fun, and I think the yo-yo's are right in line with that. I have to get the binding together, but I can do that while this creation is out at the quilters.

Yay for progress!