Ricky Tims' Kool Kaleidoscope Quilts: Simple Strip-Piecing Technique for Stunning Results [Paperback]

I bought Ricky Tims' book on Convergence Quilts a few years ago, and have made several of convergence quilts since then. They are lots of fun to put together, and extremely easy projects. Everyone says "Wow!" at the results, even though I've often made one of these quilts, start to finish (from "Hmm, which fabric?" to sewing on binding), on a quiet Sunday afternoon. When I saw Tims' had a new book out with another cool-looking quilt design, I ordered it immediately. I'm very glad I did -- though this design is a little more involved.

I just finished my first Kool Kaleidoscope quilt top this morning. (I've yet to quilt and bind it.) I really like how it came out, and I'm already thinking about how I'll do the next kaleidoscope quilt -- surely a good sign!

The quilt top made from the "basic" instructions is about 50" square; that isn't obvious from the book description.

While the convergence quilt design is ideal for not-quite-beginners, you might want to gain a *little* more experience before you take this one on. It's not as easy to throw together the kaleidoscope as the convergence quilt, but it isn't a LOT of effort either. It took me a couple of weeks of here-and-there effort (a few hours after work one day, a couple of hours stolen from a weekend morning another, etc.). Now that I have one quilt done (checking the book for instructions every few minutes), I think a second one would be an easy weekend project.

One thing that Tims does *astoundingly* well is write easy-to-follow instructions with lots and lots of photos. I won't say that you _can't_ get lost, here, but you'll have to work really hard to do so. (And this is coming from a woman who has an iTunes set of music called "songs for ripping out stitches.") There's a two-page overview of the technique at-a-glance that helped me grasp what I was about to do, and then about 30 pages that show *exactly* what to do, with pictures for each step of the way. There's also an extensive photo gallery of quilts made with this single technique -- a necessity, here, and more than "ooh pretty!" since the technique can generate so many "looks." Ricky Tims has a wonderful "bedside manner" in sharing a new technique, too; I felt very reassured, all the way through, that I wouldn't screw this up.

The basic technique IS very cool! And it's very low on tasks that require you to measure-this-exactly, since you create a template from freezer paper, whack it up sort-of-randomly, and then use those templates against strips-of-many-fabrics to build the design.

I have a few words of caution, however, at least based on my vast experience of one quilt made with this technique. First: it calls for 15-20 fabrics, and he suggests a half-yard of each. Fat quarters won't work for this technique. I didn't have 15-20 fabrics in my stash that'd go together, so it required a trip to the fabric shop for a deep dive into the batik section. (Not that this was a painful thing -- quite to the contrary -- but if your stash is limited, you might want to recognize that making one of these quilts may have an impact on your Visa bill.)

I do have quite a bit of fabric left over, though, and I think I might have been able to do this with less. As I mentioned, Tims has you create strips of many fabrics sewn together, what he calls a "strata" -- five of them for a quilt. Each strata, he says, needs to be 10" wide. I think I could have done just as well with 8" or 9" wide, as in one case my template didn't even touch one strip of fabric and had barely a fingernail's width of another. And I could have repeated a few of the fabrics more often. Maybe it's just the way my design worked out; I'll have to experiment more, next time.

Overall, however, this is a great book and a fun technique. If you're a beginning quilter looking to expand your repertoire, I recommend Tims' convergence quilts book first. But if you're comfortable with matching seams and can sew a 1/4" seam with reasonable accuracy, this is absolutely a great book.

This was a Christmas gift for my daughter-in-law, who is the expert quilter in the family. When she opened it, she looked at me and said " how did you know I've been wanting one of his books?". It looked interesting to me and since we are very much alike, I thought it was a good choice.
It is a great book ;we both enjoyed just looking through it and I told her I may want to borrow it. I don't sew quilts per se but I do sew clothing , accessories and home decor. I saw several patterns in the book I want to do for something other than a quilt.
Really a great book for the price, especially if you enjoy color and patterns that are a bit different.

This book helps you to create amazingly complicated-looking quilts using a surprisingly easy method. Just sew sets of assorted-size strips together, make templates out of freezer paper, and trace them onto your assembled strips. Cut them out, stick them up on your design wall, and be amazed at the results!
The pattern is a great way to use up your fabric stash and scraps, as a ~50" square quilt will require about 7 yards of 1.5"-3" strips. Be prepared to break out the wallet if you're going to buy fabric to supplement your stash!
I would recommend this book to advanced beginners or intermediate-level quilters who want to make something stunning without a lot of complicated piecing!