Make a note to pick it up when you’re at the grocery store or grab it online!
As the world shut down in the spring of 2020, I thought about quilters staying at home and making quilts to calm their hearts and minds. I couldn’t get the idea of a house quilt out of my head.
Or maybe it’s that we’re sailing into Year Three and that’s disheartening. I’m having a hard time concentrating, organizing, motivating. I think I am not alone.
The start of a new year always feels like a good time to clean up the studio. Of course I do it periodically but I’m no clean freak and my husband would say that I’m a walking tornado. When I can’t see the top of my sewing table, I know it’s time.
I designed Father & Farmer with my dad in mind. He wore bib overalls and a blue chambray shirt and carried a red or navy bandana handkerchief nearly every day of his life. This quilt appeared in Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts Feb/March 2021.
You can still order the issue and it’s even on sale! There are several other patterns inside that I’d love to make. A magazine continues to give you the most bang for your buck: anywhere from eight to 12 patterns for less than five dollars, in this case. What’s not to love?!
One of my favorites this year was a quilt that began with reject or leftover blocks from my friend Carol Baker. I loved the fabrics! I took a handful of blocks apart, reused some of the patches and added some stash fabrics of my own.
I gave it the name “scrappy with orange garnish” as strictly a working title when I submitted the quilt idea. Maybe nobody had a better idea because that one seemed to stick—something I learned as I opened the magazine. You can still get the pattern if you have scraps you’d like to use up. It would look great in just about any colors!
Scrappy with Orange Garnish Pattern from Quilting Daily (also on sale!)
In early spring I ran a series of Sunday afternoon sessions on a complimentary basis. I called the series Scrap Quilt Secrets. It was fun and interesting for me but I learned some lessons that were tough to swallow. I spent the rest of the year attempting to apply what I’d learned.
The StarQuar unit grew out of Scrap Quilt Secrets. I continue to play and I’m excited about this idea and its endless potential. One magazine quilt is already on tap for 2022—I’m working on it now.
The thrill of 2021 was my Big Cheese quilt on the cover of Quiltmania. I was just happy to have a design picked up, and it was such a lovely surprise to see it on the front. I picked up my phone one morning, opened Instagram and there it was.
This quilt came about because another idea had flopped. I was just playing around and it kind of happened by accident. And then I guess I didn’t realize it would appeal to anyone else because it sat around my studio for many months before I sent it to Quiltmania in a sort of “hail Mary” way.
Like many others, the pandemic has kept me from seeing the people I love most including my grandchildren, who live in Hong Kong. I made doll quilts for my twin granddaughters Lucy and Emma.
The two quilts are the same but have slightly different colors, and the fabrics all came from my stash.
When the magazine was finished shooting the quilts, I shipped them off to the girls. Funny thing, they liked the quilts but were especially enamored with the little pillows and pillowcases!
I’m running out of time and laptop battery but I also did monthly Facebook Lives for Annie’s/Quilter’s World, traveled to a handful of guilds, presented on Zoom nearly every week, launched open enrollment classes, tried to send Scrappy Tips by email regularly, worked to blog more often (still working!), grew my Insta a whole bunch and met a lot of wonderful people in virtual classes.
Still need to do lots more planning for 2022 but I will sign off for now with this:
Bricks are so easy to cut and sew but the potential for amazing designs is endless! This class is beginner friendly but more experienced makers will gain new insight regarding value, contrast, scale and more. You may choose from several sizes of bricks and you’ll precut so you’re ready to hit the ground running. A ridiculous amount of fun!
This morning I did a Facebook Live for Annie’s Catalog and Quilter’s World.
It was sponsored by Handi Quilter and I quilted live on their HQ Capri, a stationary longarm with 18″ of throat space. It is dreamy.
In this video, I share tips on what questions to ask yourself and I quilt several different kinds of patterns on the HQ Capri. Take a peek, we start officially at about 02:10. You can drag the progress marker to 2:10 if you don’t care to hear the friendly chit-chat at the beginning. 😊
You might wonder why I create online content for companies like Annie’s, Quilter’s World and Handi Quilter.
I do freelance work for companies that provide valuable tools and supplies to quilters around the world. I promote companies I truly believe in. I am paid for my work whether you make a purchase or not so everything is upfront and transparent here. I am honest about what I think you’d use and benefit from.
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m happy to have you. More new content coming soon but right now, I hope you’ll like this!
Many months back, I was tired and discouraged on a Friday afternoon. I had an attitude of “devil may care.”
In a fit of—what? Insanity? Kamikaze mindset? Utter foolishness? I remember thinking “what have I got to lose” as I sent off some quilt designs to Quiltmania, the beautifully produced French magazine for quilters around the world.
On that Monday morning I had an email response. They’d like to publish two of the designs. I did a happy dance!
I’ve scheduled another Sunday Sew-In for next week on Sept. 19 and I’d love to have you join me.
I hosted a Sunday Sew-In in June and it was an experiment but I enjoyed it and others seemed to enjoy it, so this time I have a better idea of how to do it.
Just a quick post today with info about my trunk shows for quilt groups. This is the main thrust of my business and it’s what I love doing the most—and where I think my strongest skills reside, too.
When I share a trunk show, it’s more than “here are pretty quilts I made.” The quilts taught me lessons, which I’ll tell you about.
They use techniques to get a message across, which I’ll explain. They’re held together by something that I’ll point out, suggesting how you can use that in your own quilts.
These days I am mostly booking virtual trunk shows on Zoom. I learned to love it during the pandemic and I think people actually learn more in a virtual setting than they do in person.
If I’m within a six hour drive, I’ll consider visiting your group in person. I have six trunk shows available.
The most popular is Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts. Here’s the official description:
How do you make a successful scrap quilt? Learn Diane Harris’s best tips and top secrets during this trunk show of many scrappy quilts made over the years. What is a scrap quilt? Who can make one? Why would you create with scraps? How is it done? From the Stash Bandit herself, discover ways to pull your scraps together, strategies for using your stash and even what does not work. You may never make an ordinary quilt again!
Then we have this one that’s especially popular from August to December:
This one is so much fun to give because who isn’t happy about Christmas? We always have a great time! I once bought a t-shirt that said “Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle Bells” across the front but I haven’t had the nerve to wear it to a trunk show yet. See more of Jingle Bells here.
A trunk show that is finally picking up steam is this one:
I can’t tell you how much fun it was to build this trunk show! I made sampler quilts for a couple of years. They are so interesting to create, and there are still more on my list. Never enough hours, are there?! See more here.
If you’re interested in creativity, you’d like this one:
It’s all about how I took one simple quilt block and designed dozens of quilts from it. It’s about starting to think like a designer. People leave inspired! More about Windy Wonders here.
And finally, this one:
I love Dresden Plate. It’s a design that has gotten a bad rap and you only have to look on eBay to see why: Awful examples of Dresdens abound. This one is a combo trunk show/hands-on demo and how-to with examples of variations to whet your appetite for more. I have fewer completed quilts in this one but it still gets rave reviews. See more Drezzup here.
The trunk show I’ve been giving the longest—10 years now—is One Hundred Small Quilts.
This one doesn’t translate well to virtual so I only give it in person. Part of the appeal is seeing about 130 small quilts in one place, laid out on display after I talk about each one (quickly!). It’s a great evening with tons of ideas and takeaways. Everyone gets so excited and I love that!
Please get in touch: diane@stashbandit.net
