
Get ready to be entertained, inspired and enlightened during Ricky Tims Quilt Luminarium, a comprehensive quilt symposium that demystifies seemingly complex concepts, teaches mastery of unique techniques, and harnesses the power of the ever-elusive muse of creativity.
The sessions for Quilt Luminarium cover a wealth of information. It’s like an in-depth college course for quilters that covers a variety of methods and techniques. Quilter who are newbies as well as those who are extremely experienced will be inspired by the depth and diversity of topics covered. There is nothing else like it in the quilting world with frequent eye opening surprises.
This course takes place Thursday, June 1 from 1 PM to 5 PM and Friday, June 2 from 8:30 AM to 5 PM at the Iowa Theater. Stay in Winterset, IA through the weekend to participate in the Saturday, June 3, Airing of the Quilts, the finale to our Iowa Quilt Festival.
Event Tickets
Tickets for Quilt Luminarium are $225 per person.
At the end of the Quilt Luminarium course, you will walk away with a comprehensive workbook and knowledge in these areas:
Quilting Caveman Style – Improvisational patchwork is not new, but it is wonderfully freeing. Learn to create designs without using patterns, templates, rulers, measuring or quarter-inch seams.
Convergence Quilts – Ricky’s convergence technique is popular with both traditional and art quilters alike. Learn how one piece of multi-colored fabric, or at most, four fat quarters, can make an amazing quilt with slicing strips and rearranging. Frequently addictive for all who try it.
The Elusive Muse Parts 1 and 2 – Ricky’s passion for creativity and fostering it in others is exemplified in this motivational session. Learn who you are. Learn how to defeat the demons of insecurity, apathy, or loss of creative mojo. This is among the most appreciated of all seminar sessions.
The Music in My Quilt and Designing Patchwork – Ricky offers guidance on the basics of Elements of Art and Principles of Design and follows it up with practical guidelines that will teach even the most novice quilter fail-safe ways to get that design out of your head and into reality.
No Pins Precision Curved Piecing – Try to imagine conquering curves and doing it without using quarter-inch seams and with a precision that is typically difficult to achieve. This method of piecing will change how you approach flowing curved piecing.
Foundation String Piecing – This process follows logically after the No Pins Curved session due to the fact a multitude of fabric pieces can be assembled on one much larger template – allowing for visual treats and yet simpler construction that most traditional patchwork designs and methods.
Fabric Dyeing – This has always been one of the most requested topics from Ricky’s followers. Here you will receive all the information necessary to dye your own fabrics.
Rhapsody Quilts – Ricky is known for these wonderful reversed and mirrored design quilts. They are show stoppers. You’ll learn how to draft and design these. They are a mixture of piecing and applique and are far easier than they look.
Outline Applique – Ricky uses a machine blanket stitch process for his applique. You’ll get the tips necessary to make your stitches look like a pro.
Rick Tims Bio

Musician and Contemporary Quiltmaker
Ricky Tims has successfully blended several diverse creative passions into one very unique and interesting career. He is a well-known performing artist (piano), composer/arranger, and producer. His artful and inspiring photos are notable. His success as a quilter is equally significant.
He is known in the international world of quilting as a best-selling author, enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, an award-winning quilter, fabric designer, and a talented, spellbinding speaker, and most recently—novelist. His entertaining presentations feature live music and humor combined with scholarly insights and motivational anecdotes. 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 named as one of The Thirty Most Distinguished Quilters in the World. In 2009 he was selected (in a three-way tie) by the readers of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine as The Most Influential Person in the Quilting Industry. In 2008 he was profiled and featured on the popular television news show, CBS News Sunday Morning.
He maintains an extensive international schedule of teaching and speaking engagements, is co-founder and co-host of The Quilt Show (www.thequiltshow.com) an online, subscription-based TV show for quilters that he hosts with Alex Anderson. He presents seminars in select cities throughout the United States and holds week-long La Veta Quilt Retreats at his art quilt studio in tiny mountain town of La Veta, CO. He is challenged by creativity in all forms, and encourages individuals to cultivate self-expression, reach for the unreachable, and believe in the impossible.
Quilting is a relatively new interest compared to Ricky’s lifelong passion for music. He began formal music lessons at the age of three. He is a pianist, conductor, composer, arranger, music producer, and performing artist. His discography includes: Heart and Soul, Christmastime, Sacred Age, Christmas in a Small Town, and most recently Alone With My Thoughts (2021). Ricky’s music has wide appeal for a diverse audience has been described as “George Winston meets Carlos Nakai meets Yanni.”