Author Archive

Rollin’ Along: Review & Giveaway

Written by Diane Harris on June 1, 2022. Posted in Blog, Giveaways, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

Ideas for 2.5″ strips abound in new title

My friend Anne Wiens from Montana sent me a copy of the newly published Rollin’ Along from Martingale and Moda Bake Shop. Compiled by Lissa Alexander, it features a dozen clever designs by Moda Bake Shop creators.

_{Rollin’ Along is a new book from Martingale and Moda Bake Shop.
It was compiled by Lissa Alexander.}

One thing I noticed right away is the nice variety in the designs. There are some traditional looks and there are modern vibes. There are super easy quilts and more challenging designs. There’s even a Dresden Plate quilt with a super fun twist!

_{Summertime Fun! This quilt by Jessica Dayon is patterned in Rollin’ Along.}

Maybe you want to sew for summer. There are quilts to fit the bill like Summertime Fun by Jessica Dayon (one of my favorite sewalong hosts).

Or maybe you’re itching to sew for the winter holidays. You can make Backcountry Cabins by Jen Daly as Christmas-y as you like.

Anne’s Storm Warning features a clever technique that looks especially great if you have striped fabrics. You really can get that large center square from 2.5″ strips! I’m anxious to give it a go. (Visit Anne’s blog here for fun and interesting posts, and visit her pattern shop right here!)

There’s something to love in all 12 designs and I feel sure you’ll find several quilts to make. Use a Jelly Roll you already have or go scrappy by cutting strips from your stash.

Jennifer Keltner at Martingale created a trunk show of the quilts. Take a look.

What is not to love?! Don’t the quilts look amazing? And it’s surprising how large they are! So if bed quilts are on your “must make” list, this book has them.

Let’s have a giveaway.

Fill in your email below by midnight on Friday, June 3 and click “sign up” to be entered. If you’re on a device and the form does not appear or doesn’t work, just leave a comment and I will enter you manually. Thank you for visiting Stash Bandit, and look for Rollin’ Along at your local quilt store or wherever you buy books. It’s a keeper!

O r der it directly from the publisher right here!

_{By entering, you agree to receive occasional emails with helpful, useful and practical tips on making scrap quilts. Of course you want to get those! (But you may easily unsubscribe any time.)}

The winner of this giveaway is Bev from New York, who says she has never won anything, ever! Thanks so much to all who participated! 😊

Mangelsen’s + Stash Bandit

Written by Diane Harris on May 25, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

I’m very excited about a new venture that begins next month.

I’m joining creative forces with Mangelsen’s in Omaha, a family-owned and local fabric, hobby, craft and just-about-everything store. I’ll do a series of events at the store beginning with my most popular trunk show on Sunday, June 5.

Hope & Cope by Diane Harris. Quilting: Julie Lechner @beenquiltin

I’ll be sharing about 50 scrappy quilts. Each one has something to teach us about combining fabrics in unexpected ways. There are all sorts of styles.

Whether you like reproductions, or brights or a feminine look, there’s a little something for everyone.

A scrappy doll quilt for my granddaughter Lucy.

Tickets for this trunk show are $15 and they include a discount coupon for use at Mangelsen’s on the day of the event. Don’t delay—get yours here: https://www.mangelsens.com/events/make-extraordinary-scrap-quilts/

Not only am I bringing tried and true favorites, I’m bringing everything I pieced during the pandemic. We’ll have a bonus section featuring the tops that aren’t yet quilted.

MerryJoyCheer by Diane Harris. Photo by Kristin Laing Photography.

I did some new improv work, similar to MerryJoyCheer, above. This kind of making is unbelievably entertaining and I’m looking forward to sharing my new creations.

As a natural follow-up to the scrap quilt trunk show, I’ll teach “Color, Contrast & Cohesion: Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts” at Mangelsen’s on Sunday, June 26, 12:30 to 4:30. Registration is open and tickets are $75. Reserve your spot now!

I am so happy to partner with Mangelsen’s and I look forward to seeing many of you in person for the upcoming events we have planned. It’s going to be so much fun!

Best wishes,

Trunk show tickets here

Workshop tickets here

My self-inflicted cutting mat debacle

Written by Diane Harris on May 2, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I replaced my largest cutting mat recently, the one that sits atop my drafting table.

I use a drafting table for cutting because it’s the perfect size and it’s height adjustable. I picked it up for $15 at a garage sale in the early 2000s because engineers were moving to computer-aided design (CAD for short), and it seems drafting tables became obsolete. There were lots of them on garage sales.

The cutting table in the Stash Bandit studio

I bought my cutting mat when I got the table, roughly 20 years ago. It has held up all of this time. I extended its life by rotating and flipping it and I never left it in a hot car. Finally its surface was so worn that I couldn’t cut accurately.

The worn surface of my original cutting mat

I bought a replacement at 24″ x 36, and it was no small feat to find one without lines on at least one side. I detest the lines on a mat because they’re unnecessary and confusing. (That’s a blog post for another day.)

But I finally found one with lines on only one side, and BONUS, the blank side was gray. Gray is the truest neutral because it doesn’t alter your perception of a color. My design wall is also gray for this reason.

My design wall is gray, and I loved the gray side of my new mat for its neutrality.

The new mat was lovely. Cutting felt so easy! The rotary cutter sliced to perfection and my whole world was in order.

But then came my fatal error.

My lovely, hot iron is the Black & Decker Classic.

I use an older vintage-style iron from Black & Decker called The Classic. I thrifted it for $3 and it’s wonderful but it gets very hot. And I mean VERY HOT, including the base of the iron that rests against the board when it’s upright. When I’m working on my ironing board, pinning a border or whatnot, I set the iron out of the way, sometimes onto my cutting table.

I set the hot iron on the cutting table.

You can see where this is going, can’t you? On day 2 of owning my brand new cutting mat, I put the hot iron, sitting up, on the cutting table, on the cutting mat, and the heat from the iron promptly warped it to all kinds of wavy.

I thought maybe I could live with it and I tried for a few days. But cutting was difficult and often inaccurate. Those warpy bumps have a mind of their own.

Eventually I gave in and bought yet another new cutting mat. And they were out of the ones with the gray back side. This one sports green which is fine, but it’s not as lovely in blog photos as the gray. So there you have it.

Second-hand iron: $3
New cutting mat #1: $74.89
New cutting mat #2: $74.89
Lesson of “don’t sit hot iron on mat”: Priceless

Quilt on,

Have you heard the one about…

Written by Diane Harris on April 11, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

Have you heard the one about the couple who decides to retire for the night?

It goes something like this. The man turns off the TV, brushes his teeth and goes to bed. The woman picks up some toys and notices dishes in the sink, so she sticks them in the dishwasher and wipes down the counters, and as puts the dishtowels in the laundry, remembers she forgot to switch out the washer and dryer, so she does that.

And that reminds her that her daughter needs a clean uniform for tomorrow’s soccer game, so she starts another load, which reminds her that her friend wanted to know about that new detergent she liked so she sends a text with the info.

Let’s Tango! Fun, easy class.

Written by Diane Harris on April 7, 2022. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone, Quilt Lifestyle

There’s still time to register for Tango, a class that happens live tomorrow 4/8 from 11 to 5 Central. If you can’t attend live, you can watch the recording later at your convenience.

Tango by Diane Harris. Photo by Kristin Laing Photography.

Easy piecing has never been so much fun! And Tango looks great in any color recipe or fabric style you choose.

I’ve searched high and low for the name of this quilt’s maker. If you can help,
please let me know. It was started in one of my Tango classes.

The number of finished quilt photos I get indicates that many people do finish their projects, and that’s the best news! None of us needs one more UFO.

Here’s an EQ8 version that I adore. I might have to make this one.

If you want a smaller quilt or a larger quilt, that’s easy to accomplish. The quilt does grow (or shrink) in 9″ increments but otherwise, it’s very doable.

I made these yellow, gray and white blocks recently and I can’t wait to quilt them.

One of the beautiful things about Tango is that you can make it very controlled or very scrappy, or somewhere in between. You can often sew from your stash with no extra purchases needed.

Stephanie Lockhart made this Tango from Alison Glass fabrics and
shot it in a delicious setting.

Once again, you can attend Tango live on Friday, 4/8 from 11 to 5 CDT, or you can watch the recording later at your convenience.

Tickets are $65 at eventbrite.com. Get yours now!

Upon registration, you’ll get an email with a link to the supply list and the Zoom link to attend live, even if you plan to watch the recording. Everyone who registers will have access to the recording.

I hope to see you in class!

Protected: Tango color inspiration

Written by Diane Harris on April 7, 2022. Posted in How-tos and Ideas

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Becoming a student again

Written by Diane Harris on April 6, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

I took a class this week with a quilter I’ve long admired.

The class was Psychedelic Baby, taught by Katie Pedersen @sewkatiedid from Seattle. Katie was one of the first people I saw doing improv patchwork many years ago—maybe 2010?

One of Katie Pedersen’s improvisational Psychedelic Baby quilts

I’ve enjoyed her work all these years and jumped at the chance to learn from her when Omaha Modern Quilt Guild brought her to town.

Quilt retreat with friends

Written by Diane Harris on March 31, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

My local quilt guild and a shop owner are hosting a retreat!

I signed up last-minute when I saw that my schedule was wide open for the next few days. I’ve never been to this venue near Schuyler, Nebraska. Most of my best buddies are going, and some time away will be good!

The problem for me is always what projects to take along. I have a zillion UFOs. I want to start a zillion more new quilts. And I have things in progress that I really want and need to finish.

Even Steven blocks, design by Kitchen Table Quilting

I found a bunch of blocks when I was reorganizing fabric recently. One group was Even Steven blocks with white grounds, above. The design is by Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting—so easy and very satisfying as it lends itself beautifully to a scrappy vibe.

A few hours later, I found more Even Steven blocks but these have colored grounds. I don’t remember exactly but I think I loved the block so much and I had so many parts cut that I decided to make two quilts. Now that seems overzealous, so what if…

Alternating white grounds with colored grounds

What if I used the blocks together by alternating them in one large quilt? I think this will be just the ticket! I hope to have these set into a quilt top before retreat ends.

Sewing for retreat needs to be simple—if it’s absolutely mindless, even better.

Because I’m always conversing with the friends around me. I hop up and check out what others are making. I grab some M&Ms. And if the sewing isn’t simple, I mess it up!

I’m ready to sew these slabs of pink bricks into a quilt top, too. I’m very excited about this quilt. It’s the simplest piecing with a really nice effect. Not sure yet if I’ll send it to a publisher or create a pattern myself.

I’m taking the nine scrappy pixel blocks I made recently. I needed to make these as soon as I saw the tutorial on Instagram, but when I got to nine, I felt finished.

So I’ll sew them together and call it good.

This idea came from Susan P @sushi.farmer on Instagram, where she tells exactly how she selects fabrics for a pixelated look. It is brilliant.

I have a few other things up my sleeve and I’ll post again soon with updates. Thanks for visiting Stash Bandit today!

Quilt on,

Books, Books, Books

Written by Diane Harris on March 22, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I’ve collected books full of antique quilts for many years.

I buy most of them second-hand. They are a great source of inspiration and I return to them again and again. Many of their titles are similar, and so I struggle to remember which ones I own.

American Quilts, The Democratic Art by Robert Shaw.
Sterling Publishing. 2009, updated 2014.

What’s interesting is that many weren’t written for quilters. Each book’s aim is slightly different, but only a few feature patterns for making the quilts inside.

Grab “Lucky” today!

Written by Diane Harris on March 17, 2022. Posted in How-tos and Ideas

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, quilting friends! I’m offering the complimentary pattern for my “Lucky” quilt when you sign up for Scrappy Tips by email.

Scrappy Tips will arrive once or twice a month and is short and sweet because we’re all busy. When there’s an event upcoming, I include that, too.

Get Lucky right here.

Quilt on!