Deadwood by Ricky Tims

Anne has a cold this weekend. Boo! She managed to contract some rhinovirus, which has been nothing but trouble in a protein coat. She probably caught it from one of those runny nosed guttersnipes that she’s been schooling all week. On Saturday morning, I left her at home, feeling under the weather and took my two-wheeler for a spin through the park. It was cold. Colder than I had expected and even though I had dug out some of my winter riding gear, it was a little on the uncomfortable side.

Anne’s Cowboy Boot Block

Next up, Anne and I drove to the U-City library to meet Don and DJ and to see the 2013 Quintessential Quilt show. This show is put on by Circle in the Square, a quilting society that Anne used to be a member of. We were all enjoying the quilts, when Anne made a “hmmm” sound. She was looking at a Ricky Tims quilt that was sporting a distinctive western motif. Tims had named the quilt, Deadwood. A portion of this quilt is pictured at the top of this post. Apparently, Mr. Tims is a bit of a phenom in quilting circles nationwide (Who knew?), although he originally hails from Saint Louis.

What fascinated Anne about his quilt was that she thought that she had made one of its cowboy boot blocks. After she checked the catalog, she became convinced. There Tims credited Circle in the Square quilters from 1993 for gifting the various cowboy boot blocks. I’ve enlarged above Anne’s block. It all came back to her then, which fabrics she had provided and which ones Tims had. I remember the color cats fabric, because she used it on other projects too.

I think that she was a little bit giddy when we left the show. I don’t think she ever expected to see any of her work in a juried and judged quilt show. I remember Anne feeling overwhelmed after having attended her first Circle in the Square meeting. At that meeting Suzanne Marshall showed off her new quilt. It went on to win first place and $10,000 at Paducah that year. The kicker though was that she had finished it in less than a year. Marshall won first place in this show with a new quilt, while Tims scored second with another one of his quilts. As I said, Anne was feeling a little bit giddy leaving the show, having rubbed shoulders with such talent, but I think what she was happiest about was that it had taken Tims twenty years to finish his Deadwood quilt. Now she doesn’t have to feel so bad about her own procrastinations.

Some Blueberry Hill Baseball Memorabilia

After the show, Anne, Don, DJ and I adjourned down the Loop to Blueberry Hill. We had a late, but enjoyable lunch. If you’ve never had the thrill of the Hill, its décor reflects the eclectic tastes of owner Joe Edwards. I think that some of the animal trophies began to creep DJ out. While we were waiting for our table, I photographed one of the baseball related displays. Like Anne, Saint Louis has caught a fever, Cardinal fever. Unlike Anne’s, no one wants their Cardinal fever to subside. We know now that we’ll face the Botoxs in the World Series. I would have rather had the Tigers, but no one bothered to ask me. Anyway, it should be a good series. Go Cards!