Scrap Quilt in Solids, Bad Intersections and Lessons Learned

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

I just finished a quilt top and now that it’s done I can say that I like it. But along the way, I hated this thing. Too much stitch-and-flip, too many ugly intersections and not nearly enough forgiveness for my style of sewing. None of this was the fault of the designer, Erika Bea, or the publisher of the pattern, American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. The blame lands squarely on me, and we’ll get to that in a minute.

It’s called Color Catcher, and it will look all right from the back of a galloping horse—which is a very old quilter’s mantra of unknown origin. I took a few lessons away from this project.

Just in the Nick of Time

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

I returned home on Monday night from a teaching trip, and just in time. News of the pandemic broke soon after and has only intensified in the days since. I’m thankful to be safely back home. I have no travel plans for a while.

Coronavirus particles. Colored transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of three coronavirus particles.

My daughter and I were reflecting on all the news last night. We concluded that only a handful of times in your life does something touch everyone in the country, or in this case, most everyone in the world. The last time I felt this way was 9-11. That was more horrific but this is unsettling and it’s not over yet.

Have No Fear

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

I’ve been working on something totally outlandish and I have decided that the most important guideline for making art and doing original work in your quilting or any creative field is this:

Have No Fear

You can’t be afraid to make something that nobody else has ever made.

You can’t be afraid to make something ugly.

You can’t be afraid to waste fabric or time or effort.

You just can’t be afraid of anything.

I started out with a simple idea of making a few more samples for a class I’m teaching at Vermont Quilt Festival this summer. It’s all about improvisationally-pieced curves.

It was innocent enough as I began. Pull, cut, sew, press, audition. Repeat.

One key is to have enough contrast between the fabrics in each block. And you want them to do different things. Curvy looks good with straight lines, or geometric looks nice with floral. You want a bit of tension between them.

As soon as this went up for its audition, my heart skipped a beat. Remember that for any audition you always want to stand WAY back across the room. You don’t get a good perspective if you are too close.

I ask a lot of questions: What would happen if I put in a very bold and graphic fabric like the blue and white above?

What would happen if I started mixing up the pairs? Could I put a center patch in that hole above with a partial seam? (Answer, yes you could!)

I cut and sew and add more blocks. I stand across the room. I fret. I thrill.

A color story starts to emerge and the quilt seems to be pink, red, orange and yellow. Very analagous. I decide that I should add more blue and blue-green and also some very darks.

I learned long ago from Mary Mashuta and Roberta Horton that if something sticks out like a sore thumb, you should add more of it. That’s right! If it resides in more than one place, your eye will move around the quilt instead of going straight to that one place. It’s absolutely true.

It was around this time that I panicked and thought the whole thing was just too bizarre. I made two sets with this stripe and dot, above. Would I be smarter to just make blocks in one size with two fabrics each? Maybe that would be better. But honestly.

 

 

If you look at these two blocks side by side, which one is more interesting? I decide to

Stay the Course.

I make a few smaller blocks so that I can fill in awkward spaces as needed. After each finish, I walk across the studio for the best possible view. It does you no good to stand close by.

At one point I shoot a text to a good quilting friend.

Her response is measured.
But I carry on.

 

At some point you have to start thinking about how you’re going to sew it all together. I decide where I can add fillers and coping strips and I start to think about sections and partial seams.

I make decisions about repeating fabrics to help tie the whole mess together. I trim and skootch and trim some more. I hope to high heaven that it will lie flat.

After about three days, it comes together! Just below is the final version, 68″ x 83″. I had free time to spend and this is how I spent it. My husband did laundry and meals while I hunkered down and didn’t talk to him very much. He’s a very good sport!

When he came in to the studio and saw it on the design wall, he crossed his arms over his chest and thought. He wasn’t sure.

“That is really different.”

His answer did not bother me. And I think that is when I realized that for three days, I had been forging ahead without fear.

When fear crept in, I batted it down.

When it threatened to derail me, I swatted it away.

When I was tired of risking and wondering and deciding, I pressed on.

And that is exactly what you will need to do in order to make art, to create something original no matter what your medium is.

The payoff is that you will have something that has never been made before in all the history of humankind. Nor will it ever be made again. It is yours and yours alone.

Pretty great reward, if you ask me.

Have No Fear,

A Nice Surprise at Quilt Guild

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

My favorite night of the quilt guild’s year is the garage sale, hands down. There are always things to be shared and treasures to be found. My small guild in Holdrege, Nebraska had a garage sale in January. I tried hard to find interesting things in my studio that I no longer needed to benefit the group in a small way.

I recreated this image and it doesn’t do justice to the hundreds of 1-1/2″ strips I had on hand. The strips were passed to me from a co-worker (I think) at Quiltmaker quite a few years ago. They were of every persuasion and they weren’t terribly appealing. I knew they wouldn’t do well just stuffed in a bag but I had an idea.

Playing Drezzup in Hastings, Nebraska

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

I had a delightful time with Hastings (Nebraska) Quilter’s Guild last night, presenting Let’s Play Drezzup to about 50 people. This program is in three parts:

  1. A hands-on experience to make, trim and join the Dresden blades. Everyone takes home her samples.
  2. A trunk show of blocks showing the endless variations possible with Dresden Plate.
  3. A sampling of new and old Dresden quilts with quirks, oddities and interesting details.

I have to rush to fit it all in one hour but it’s getting good feedback. Whenever I pull this trunk show out in preparation for a program, I get all excited about Dresden Plate again! I could spend the next five years on these quilts alone.

President’s Blocks, Part 3

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

Hello and welcome to Stash Bandit! I’m Diane Harris and it’s nice to have you here. 

I’ve been telling the story of some blocks I received in the late ’80s.

Read Part 1.

Read Part 2. 

 

 

 

 

This takes us up to The Rest of the Story, in the words of Paul Harvey.

When the quilt top was finished, I still had the other half of the Nine Patches left over. It seemed a shame to throw them away.

All of those fabrics had been cut into patches for me. The stitches had been taken for me. The blocks had been gifted to me. I just couldn’t pitch them.

I brainstormed for what to do. Making another quilt wasn’t sensible, but using them in this quilt was. I toyed with creating a border but decided to sew the halves together into wonky Nine Patches.

Only one of these has a signature. It belongs to Lorena, my renegade friend who had to sign one name in each white patch, of course. Two of her names are on the quilt front and two landed here, on what will become the back. (If you knew Lorena, you’re laughing.)

For the quilt back, I set the new wonky Nine Patches into columns with scrappy pink setting triangles and sewed the columns together. Lengths of two more pink prints went down each side to make it big enough. And now we are ready to quilt.

While this is no masterpiece, I had so much fun making it! It brought back memories of so many people and our happy times together. There’s even a block from one person whom I didn’t really care for, but I’m glad she’s on the quilt. Funny how time softens the edges.

These blocks have stayed with me for around 32 years as a UFO of sorts and as soon as the quilting is done, they’ll be an FO instead! What a victory! I guess it’s never too late.

In case you’re wondering, these are the names found on the quilt.

Kathleen Ernesti, Donna Rector, Ellen Boyle, Gloria Nelsen, Penny White, Velesta Halbur, Sandra Renli, Wilma Amen, BJS, Doris Volk, Joyce Pick, Shirley Anderson, Maxine Kraemaer, Sue Sindelar, Sandy Eckert, Inger Hansen, Lavonne Hornik, Mattie Niewohner, Daytime Friendship Quilters, Mary Goetsch, Lila Brown, Marilynn Heller, Julie Deering, Carol Monk, Elsie Acklie, Joan Waldman, Lorena Edna Marie Kouba, Peggy Haas, Genelle Trowbridge, Shirley Hassler. There’s an unsigned block from Sherry Stuifbergen. 

I can’t wait to reimagine another long-stored project, but right now I have my mind on Dresden Plate quilts. My next two programs will feature my Dresden collection and I want to have some new things to show. All of that upcoming. Until then, keep on scrappin’!

I’m a quilter who loves everything about the process and I enjoy sharing it with others. My energetic trunk shows are lively entertainment for your quilt guild. I’d love to come to your city so give me a call and Let’s Talk Quilts! 

President’s Blocks, Part 2

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

In case you missed Part 1, you’ll want to catch up by reading President’s Blocks, 32 Years Late. I have an idea for reinventing blocks I received from guild members more than 30 years ago.

The blocks are 9″ (give or take) Nine Patches in ’90s blues and muslin, with signatures in ink or embroidery. I have about 40. I’ve decided to create blocks like the one above by slicing the Nine Patches 1/4″ to the side of the diagonal center and joining them with a big red triangle.

President’s Blocks, 32 Years Late

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

I was president of a quilt guild in Norfolk, Nebraska for two years in the late ’80s. We were babies then—as women, as quilters and as a group. But we did figure out that it’s nice to do something for the president at the end of her term.

I’m not sure why I thought muslin and blue Nine Patches would be attractive, but that’s what I requested when the members offered to make me “President’s blocks.”