Ricky Timms Convergence Quilt Workshop

Totally encouraged by the kind comments from Jo and Lizzie, I have fixed the bit that was wrong (inbetween other things...) and taken a photo of the square as should be!

I even found time to blog about it now, rather than monday.. How is that for good intentions!! (Being up since 5.30am did help a little there too! It's amazing what you can get done with a little extra time!!)

Ok... the workshop. We were making the basis for a convergence quilt, led by a lady who had the book by Ricky Timms of the same name. This is my table with everything still nice, clean, organised and set out!



First up we were required to bring 4 square's of either 14" or 16"sq. I thought I'd go for the smaller one and see how thing pan out!


We proceeded to lay them out in a bigger square (no photo of this) where I had the horses left bottom, orange spots left top, yellow right top and orange right bottom. Then fold over the bottom squares onto the top (right sides touching) and sew along the bottom line.

Having done that slices them both up, starting with a strip of 1", then 1 1.2",2",2 1.2",3" and leave the remainder. You do that for both of them going outwards from the middle.

You then move the smallest strip of the horse panel, all the way to the right into the gap between the two biggest orange panel. Once you have intermingled them all (converged them!), you open up to full length.

and first sew two strips at a time together,

then, once you have done the row, start again sewing together till they are all connected.

Following this, you turn everyting 90 degrees so you now have the horses/orange bit on the left and the spot/yellow one on the right. Square both panels up aligning onto the long lines by cutting out the middle bit (yeah.. that's right, the bit where I so carefully tried to connect up all four corners! ha!).

And do the same againg... cutting strips from the middle to either of the sides (same sizes strips again),
converge, also as before;


and repeat the sewing the two strips together again;

then, also like before, join all those till everything is joined;

It is then (and only then...) that you realize the interested person who came to look at your fabrics and picked up a strip... has put it down in the wrong place! In the middle, instead of at the end... Being so busy sewing and matching points (a lot, a lot of points!!) I did not notice....

Luckily I have my trusty seam ripper and ripped and re-sewed and then it looks more like it should do!



One more tip I have to give on this and that is that it needs ironing in a very particular way. I was told it did not matter which way the seams went and to iron it all in the end. Someone else then said, she had read the book and if you do not iron half way through (half one way, the other the other way) you never get your seams to but up properly and consequently cannot match your junctions. I was very frustrated as no matter how well I matched.. because all the seams were ironed the wrong way, I could never get them to lie flat.. they sprang back and got sewn slightly out...

But you don't see that from a distance right?.... right??? I am glad I did the workshop thought as that was such a good thing learned.. It was of course very stupid of me as Dana had allready taught us the importance of ironing right at the start of the ORBC group... I KNEW it, that's why I asked, but, not trusting myself I relied on what I was told and came acropper.

All that needs to be done now is a border, maybe some applique on top and quilt and bind. I have a feeling thought this is going to be another UFO... (rather than a WIP...) as I did make time to go the the workshop but don't have time to finish it at home!

Looking back this almost looks like a tutorial... It isn't and to do it properly I would recommend to beg, steal or borrow Ricky's actual book as it is wonderfully well explained in there with lots of variations (wavy lines etc... wow....). I didn't mean to do a tutorial or I would have photographed each stage much more extensively. I just wanted you all to have a rough guide so you have an idea what it entails and whether this is something you would like to do!

I had fun at the workshop, but I somehow doubt I'll make another one... maybe when I have bags of time! Talking about time... must leave you now! Have fun if you are going to try this!