#14 Nebula

#14: Nebula

Finished: 4/8/12

Techniques: Ricky Tims' Convergence-style, Free-motion quilting

Size: 18" x 21 1/2"

Description: Ricky Tims is a quilter who, I believe, still lives in Colorado. He's pretty well known for what he calls "convergence quilts" and I've always wanted to try one. Basically you take 1-4 pieces of fabric, sew them together, cut strips, interchange the strips, sew them back together, turn the piece 90 degrees and cut, interchange and sew together again. There are variations, but this is how I approached this piece.

nebula fabric

I had this piece of fabric which is wonderfully bright and colorful. I didn't have enough of it to do too much, but after reading Tims' book, it seemed to be perfect for this project. (See unaltered fabric at right.) Many of the projects in the book have a border that really sets off the convergence. Since I didn't have time to plan a border (I was on vacation and out of town for half the week), I decided to add a narrow black strip for interest. Quilting was done free-motion in a medium scale meandering which shows up somewhat in the picture above. The fabric and the convergence quilt itself reminds me of nebulae in outer space, hence the title.

I love this fabric and with I had much more of it.