When the lines converge

( Pictured here are my beloved inlaws enjoying a morning under the covers reading- December, 2006)
A few summers ago I discovered Ricky Tims and his book "Convergence Quilts." The book has some wonderful examples to spur ones creative juices. There are some more complicated designs that use curves and registration marks to join them together.If you get a chance, check out his website at rickytims.com and you can see the many wonderful Harmonic Convergences as well as his Caveman Quilts. His quilts are heavily quilted with beautiful detailing.

Now, I am a practical sort of girl and while I admire other people's wall hangings and art quilts, I usually don't make them( there are a couple of exceptions-one that I have played a little bit with is the Snippets Sensations by Cindy Walters). I wondered if it was possible to use the technique to make a large enough quilt for a couch. The first one I made is a wall size and remains unfinished. Perhaps one day I will use it to explore adding some embellishments and such..

Since that time I have made a half a dozen larger ones- It has been fun to explore how to put the colors together so that you don't get mush- I have an unfinished one that is mush - there was not enough contrast in the fabrics and just didn't work. It was destined for a special someone that deserved better than an ugly quilt so it sits in pile to remind me to get the values and contrast right..
I loved making these quilts- it was a little bit of a puzzle to see how it might come out.

This middle quilt was made for a dear quilt friend - How often do we make quilts for loved ones but not for our quilt friends because we know that we can make beautiful quilts themselves? My friend loves purple and green and I was really happy how the fabrics worked together- (My profile has another view of this quilt).

This last one was made for my friend K's 50th birthday - I called it Black and White and Red all over- I am the person on the right... It was a surprise for her and I know she is quite fond of her cuddle quilt.

I have also made the same quilt for my sister, and two friends as wedding presents. I often find the most challenging thing to do is to figure out how to border it. Often I have extended the square so that it has a small stop border and then used the same fabric from the body of quilt and used in each of the four quandrants. It can be a challenge to find a good border fabric.

Ricky Tims has so many wonderful designs ( Kaleidoscope, Chantelle Flower, and Rhapsody come to mind)- I was given his Rhapsody Quilts book and I would like to make that pattern too. I have a Kaleidoscope quilt made that just needs to be quilted- Hopefully during Christmas vacation....

Life sometimes gets in the way of quilting time- not just because of the demands from other parts of my life but I don't always have any energy left when I do have time to quilt. There are so many quilts that I would like to make... I have the technology and the materials but sometimes find it hard to find the time and the motivation for creating.. perhaps you do too..

Time to go and do a little work for school next week and then have the rest of the weekend for family and quilting... Have a great week...
Regards,
Anna