Media Contact: Tammy Tilley
Phone: 574-202-0755
E-Mail: tammytilley@harmonymarketing.org
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Musician and Contemporary Quiltmaker, Ricky Tims, announced as Featured Speaker for 2012 Shipshewana Quilt Festival

September 10, 2011 (Shipshewana, IN) The coordinators for the Shipshewana Quilt Festival have just released that internationally recognized musician and quiltmaker, Ricky Tims, will be the be featured speaker at the 2012 Shipshewana Quilt Festival.

Ricky Tims has successfully blended two diverse passions into one very unique and interesting career. His skills as a pianist, composer and producer have been evident by the thousands who have heard his music. His success as a quilter is equally significant. 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. He was recently selected as one of "The Thirty Most Distinguished Quilters in the World."

Quiltmaker
Ricky 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 and spellbinding speaker. His innovative and entertaining presentations, feature live music and humor combined with scholarly insights and wisdom. His quilts have been displayed worldwide and are highly regarded as excellent examples of contemporary quilts with traditional appeal.

Ricky's has made quilts that have won numerous international awards. He began designing and making quilts in 1991, and was recently 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 with Charles Osgood.

He maintains an extensive international schedule of teaching and speaking engagements, is co-founder and co-host of The Quilt Show (www.thequiltshow.com) with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims - an online, subscription-based TV show for quilters. He presents three-day Ricky Tims Super Quilt 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. In 2010, he and Alex Anderson started a new quilting lifestyle magazine called The Quilt Life.

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 music is neither classical, new age, pop nor world, and yet it could fall under any of those classifications.

Musician
Sacred Age (2006) features solo piano infused with Native American instruments, string orchestra and vocal orchestrations. It was created to suggest the beauty, majesty, and spirit of the Spanish Peaks region of Southern Colorado. Christmas In a Small Town (2009) is a dynamic holiday recording that features original music and unique arrangements of timeless Christmas classics. Ricky's music has wide appeal for a diverse audience has been described as “George Winston meets Carlos Nakai meets Yanni.”

Ricky is proud to have implemented and conducted the 1998 concert When We No Longer Touch featuring the St. Louis Voices United Chorus and members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Passage, the CD recording of this unique concert was released in December 1998. He has also produced several solo piano recordings. His blend of music and quilting is unique and remarkable.

Quilt Festival
The Shipshewana Quilt Festival is the region's largest event of its kind, and draws thousands of visitors each June for the four-day event. The dates for the 2012 event are June 20-23, with events exclusive to tour groups on June 19 and 20. The event was recently chosen by the American Bus Association to be one of the Top 100 Events of 2011.

For more information on the Shipshewana Quilt Festival, visit www.shipshewanaquiltfest.com or call 866.243.9434.
For more information on Ricky Tims, visit www.rickytims.com
For more information on the ABA's Top 100 Events, visit www.buses.org.

Announcing: Ricky Tims' Whoo-hoo Nation World Tour!
January 2012
12-14 - Machine Quilters Expo - Oklahoma City
26-28 - Ricky Tims' Super Seminar - New Orleans, LA

February 2012
24-26 - Frankfurt, Germany

March 2012
1-3 - Spain - Barcelona
7-15 - Netherlands
6-19 - Switzerland
20-25 - Russia - Moscow
27-29 - Russia - St. Petersburg

April 2012
30-1 - Prague Patchwork Festival
3-12 - Ricky goes to Budapest, Hungary & will teach in the UK!
25-28 - AQS Quilt Show and Contest - Paducah, Kentucky 

June 2012
2-7 - Sew Many Places' Ireland Tour - Ireland
8-10 - International Quilt Festival - Galway, Ireland
14-16 - Ricky Tims' Super Seminar - Cheyenne, WY - PENDING -
20-23 - Shipshewana Quilt Festival - Shipshewana, IN

July 2012
2-7 - Ricky Tims' Super Seminar - Rochester, NY

August 2012
24-25 - Ricky Tims Solo Quilt Seminar - Socorro, NM

September 2012
1-16 - Japan/Korea/Taiwan
28-1 - Adelaide Quilt Expo - Adelaide, Australia

October 2012
26-29 - Houston Quilt Market - Houston, TX

November 2012
1-4 -  International Quilt Festival - Houston, TX

The LaGrange County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau is the official agency for tourism marketing, planning and development in LaGrange County, Indiana. If you have any questions about LaGrange County or would like more information about Shipshewana and other LaGrange County attractions please go on-line towww.visitlagrangecounty.org or call (800) 254-8090.