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Hello, Everyone! I'm Toi and I work for Ricky. Before I knew Ricky as my boss, I knew him as Ricky the Quilter, and before that I knew him as Ricky the Musician, and before all of that he was known to me simply as Uncle Ricky. We have traveled many, many miles together. 

I got married in June of 1996 (25 years ago...how?) and moved from Texas to St. Louis, Missouri, where Ricky was living at the time. My husband and I bought our first home in 1998, where we lived exactly 7 minutes from Ricky, which was so nice because Ricky and I were the only family we had in St. Louis. Everyone else in our family remained in Texas.

Not long after we moved into our first home, Ricky gave us this quilt, which we hung behind the couch. He picked up the center batik piece (shown in the detail pic above) at the quilt show in Paducah and at the time he was beginning to explore his now well-known Caveman-style of quilting. This is one of his first pieces in that style. There are metallic threads running throughout the quilt, which makes it really beautiful when touched by lamplight or sunlight. 

We left St. Louis in 2000 for Florida and have since moved again to Tennessee. This quilt has gotten to travel the world with Ricky to shows and to be photographed for magazines and books, but it always finds its way back home to us and the wall behind our couch. It is the backdrop for many a Christmas morning photo, birthday photos and is usually visible if we are in a zoom call. It has also 'seen' our family grow by two magnificent boys and many, many (husband says maybe too many-ha!) animals over the years. Anyone who has ever visited our home knows this quilt well, and our long-time friends know that our house isn't a home without it hanging behind our couch. 

Ricky and I no longer live 7 minutes from one another, but this quilt behind our couch keeps the thought of him close to us at all times.