Starburst center

Whee, V of Bumble Beans Inc sent back my String Lone Star. Here is Pokey holding it down:

I made all the small stringed diamonds and assembled the big diamonds in 2008 while I was living in Paris. They sat and sat because I just wasn't sure how to put them together. While V was visiting, we got the pieces out and auditioned these orange shades. V, who loves making Y-seams, then made all the background pieces and then joined it all together for me. Huge thank you - she did a smashing job.

I tried to think of a name that had a star connotation as well as brightness. I came up with Starburst after the candy (which I bought just to give you this image):

And to give you a better perspective of the size:

Too bad I don't have fun Halloween pedicured toes like Barb.

I learned a lesson about paper-pieced diamonds - remove the paper before putting them together:

It's much harder to remove because of the angles, as compared to straightforward paper-pieced squares.

I think I'm going to add a border to this, although it's strong enough to stand on its own. I'll do some components assembly and then decide.

For a complete change of topic, I'm so disappointed in this fall tv season. Pretty bleah on the networks. Tried and disliked so many, including:

• Hawaii Five-0 - so tired of cop shows
• Undercovers - the leads are pretty, but oh so dull
• Detroit 1-8-7 - love Michael Imperioli and the soundtrack, but ugh, so predictable. I'm watching it thinking how is it that the newbie who's wife is expecting a baby didn't get shot during the hostage crisis and then blammo. Yep, definitely called it...
• The Defenders - loved Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell but man, I hate shows that take place in a courtroom. If they could have down more behind the scenes (ala Damages) I'd have been all for it.
• Law and Order: Los Angeles - that whole ho hum cops and lawyers thing
• The Event - completely unappealing. trying so hard to be Lost (look, we even have a plane!)

What I am actually watching:

• Project Runway - of course!!! can I just say what a bleah runway show that was this week? black black black black. there are other colors people!!! I thought the judges chose the right person to go home (that really was the third time we saw the same outfit!)
• Top Chef: Just Desserts - incredibly watchable. Who knew pastry chefs could be such divas, not to mention you shouldn't cast someone who is actually unhinged. The only bad thing about the show is that it makes me crave sweets.
• Terriers on FX. Terrible name since it sounds like a show about the Westminster Dog Show, but it has nothing to do with dogs.  Instead the title refers to the two down-and-out unlicensed private investigators getting into all sorts of trouble. It's got lots of heart, pathos, running stories, but you really can just jump in. Donal Logue has been my sweetie ever since the Tao of Steve  - he's wonderful to watch. In some ways the show reminds me of Veronica Mars - highly recommend you try this one out.
• Castle - I've really surprised at just how much I like this one, it's so grown on me. Fun mystery and it's lighthearted. Doesn't count as a cop show since it has the marvelous Richard Castle mystery writer as one of the leads (Woohoo, Nathan Fillion!)  [note: I'd send you to the official website but it has an ad that starts up automatically and can't be stopped - how obnoxious is that!]
• Chuck - I've been really disappointed this season. I want a fun, light-hearted show and it's determinded to be more serious. I want more Buy More and less relationship whining! More Jeffster and Casey paired up with Morgan. oh, and fill in Ellie already so that a great character isn't always in the dark whining.
• Mad Men - truly been some series high points this season. The penultimate episode had too much Betty and Sally (I so don't care) - here's hoping they move really far away!
• Fringe - the show is never quite as good as I want it to be, but still lots of fun.

So I should really think about getting chores done now. Here's another Pokey pic to hold you over until the next blog post: