Born in a North Central Texas prairie town, Ricky Tims is often asked, “What in the world made you start quilting?” His quilt story begins before he was born with his Granny and a brand new Sears Kenmore sewing machine. Ricky spent a lot of time with his grandparents growing up and watching his Granny making things or mending, sitting at her Kenmore sewing machine. Granny made quilts from odd-shaped pieces of fabric, including wool, flannel, and corduroy. She used reclaimed wool blankets from the Army surplus store as batting. Ricky remembers helping her tie quilts when he was about ten years old. Ricky inherited Granny’s Kenmore in 1991 and decided he would make a quilt. “In no time, I was hooked, and the rest is history.”
Ricky Tims successfully blended two diverse passions of music and quilting into one very unique and interesting career. He is known in the International world of quilting as an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, an award-winning quilter, and a talented and spellbinding speaker. His quilts have been displayed worldwide and are highly regarded as excellent examples of contemporary quilts with traditional appeal.
Ricky began designing and making quilts in 1991 and was recently selected as one of the “Thirty Most Distinguished Quilters in the World.” In 2008, Quiltmania named Ricky one of nine “Exceptional Men” in the quilting world. Ricky was featured in March 2008 on CBS Sunday Morning. He is the author of ten books (with over 100,000 copies sold) that demonstrate his unique blend of artistry with quilt making. He not only maintains an extensive international schedule of teaching and speaking engagements, but he is also the founder of the often sold-out “Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminars” touring throughout the United States. Ricky is also a designer of his own line of fabrics and threads.
Ricky was chosen by the readers of Quilter’s Newsletter magazine (Feb 2009) as “The Most Influential Person in The Quilting Industry” (in a three-way tie with last month’s featured author Alex Anderson, and Karen Bresenhan of Quilts, Inc.)
At this time, Ricky Tims is scheduled for a two-day Luminarium event in Branson in September 2021. Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Guild has the honor of being the supporting guild for this event. More details to come as it gets closer to the event.
Ricky Tims’ books in the OPQG Library will allow you to familiarize yourself with his designs and techniques.
CONVERGENCE QUILTS: Mysterious, Magical, Easy and Fun
This book explains Ricky Tims’ imaginative new piecing technique. Convergence quilts feature two or more fabrics cut into strips sewn together, then cut and pieced again to give a woven look. Every Convergence quilt is a unique work of art.
KOOL KALEIDOSCOPE QUILTS: Simple strip piecing technique for Stunning Results
In this book, Ricky walks you through his innovative techniques step-by-step to create the project quilt. It includes an inspirational gallery of 26 student quilts. Each quilt you make with this technique will be unique. Sewing strips together and producing these fantastic quilts is just truly magical.
