Let the Fun and Games Begin – It’s Finished!

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Back in 2009, almost a year ago to be exact, I wrote about a visit Tall and Handsome and I made to the Asheville Cotton Co. in Asheville, NC. At the time we were contemplating a move to the area and of course we were looking for a place to fill our quilting addiction needs. Let me tell you this place will certainly fill that bill…and then some. I would recommend it for tourists and locals alike.

T & H and I had finished up our first joint project (and his first ever project) called South by Southwest. This project was a fusion of our combined heritages using the Tennessee Waltz pattern to represent my East Tennessee birthplace and southwestern fabrics to represent his New Mexico birthplace. We were both itching for something new. The BamaSteelMagnolia™ Diaries were already in the works, but as you know, any quilter worth her (or his) salt usually has more than one project going on at one time.

At the Asheville Cotton Co. T & H’s eyes light up with the light and passion another quilter certainly recognizes and identifies when he saw the fabric collection by Benartex called “Gotham”. I must admit it was gorgeous and his enthusiasm was contagious. Soon we both had picked out enough fabric for each of us to make wall hangings.

We both followed patterns that were associated with the fabric line, but as par for us, we made changes and adaptations for our personal tastes and visions. He pieced and worked on his solo and I was extremely proud of the end result. Unfortunately, the top got packed in a moving box and has yet to be uncovered. When it is, I will certainly share!

I had my top pieced and ready to quilt a year ago. Since then I’ve made a baby quilt, worked on The BamaSteelMagnolia™ Diaries, moved and am getting ready to move again. But, yes, somewhere in all that frenetic activity called life I did managed to quilt Let the Fun and Games Begin. I brought it with me to the coast and on the last day of August this year put the last stitch in when I finished the binding.

The title is a nod the Pachisi board the finished top reminds me of. T & H was kind enough to lend a hand so I could photograph it. I have one last thing to do when I go home…and of course, that’s to practice what I preach…and make that label…

Let the Fun and Games Begin – finished and binding applied

Center Detail

Corner Detail

Quilting Detail on back

Quilting Detail – up close

Rod Pocket detail

© 2010 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.