Scrappy Sundays is tomorrow!

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Classes, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone

We are just 24 hours away from a new edition of Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit. I hope you will join me tomorrow!

The featured quilt is called Surround Sound, and it presents a bunch of opportunities for learning. I’m looking forward to sharing helpful ideas for this quilt and others made from scraps or a scrappy vibe.

Tickets are just $12 and they include the pattern, more design ideas and a recording to watch at your convenience. Save your seat! 

I had a great time playing with this concept and I will share many other ideas in addition to the featured quilt. And the “hangout” time at the end is always enjoyable because we all just want to share about making scrappy quilts. I hope you’ll join me and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Get a ticket now.

I wish you loads of happy quilting!

Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit: Surround Sound

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

Today I finished piecing the featured quilt for the next Scrappy Sunday session. It’s called Surround Sound and I hope you like it.

As so often happens with ideas, one thing led to another. There is the featured quilt, which I quite like, but then there are several more interesting designs that were inspired by it. Ticket holders will get them all!

Surround Sound by Diane Harris

I’ll be sharing how I make small, medium and large half-square triangles along with other methods so you can find the one that works best for you.

Unify diverse fabrics in scrap quilts

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

One of the tricks to making cohesive scrap quilts is finding a way to unify diverse fabrics.

In my Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts trunk show, I talk about using “glue”—something to hold all those fabrics together. Today I’m sharing a few types of glue along with examples where they’re used.

Color

Using a single color for a scrap quilt is an easy way to achieve unity. That one color automatically holds everything together quite nicely. It’s such a simple idea but I think it’s true.

Scarlet Spin by Diane Harris for Quiltmaker. Photo by Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.

Scarlet Spin came together easily because “all reds clash well,” according to the late Mary Ellen Hopkins. If you’re brave and you use all the reds together, it will work. You truly can’t mess it up.

Threads Across Nebraska: Quilts, shopping, fun!

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

If you’re in or near Nebraska, I hope you’ll join me at Threads Across Nebraska in Kearney Friday and Saturday.

I’m very excited to have 30 of my quilts on exhibit during this event, hosted by Nebraska State Quilt Guild. And I’ll have more quilts in my vendor booth, something that is new for me. I might be in over my head with the vending but I trust that people will give me grace as I learn how to do it.

I’ll be doing a “walk-and-talk” through my exhibit at least once each day, likely around 10 each morning.

This is a casual stroll past the quilts, chatting about the quilts and sharing some of their stories. I’m looking forward to this a lot. I realized yesterday that I’m not nervous about this because it will just feel like talking about quilts with my friends. Nothing comes more naturally to me!

My quilts hung at Maine Quilts in July, and it was interesting to watch people analyze, enjoy or be inspired!

I had to leave out a few quilts that I wish I could have included but they’ll be in my booth so I hope you will stop by to see them. I’ll have a bunch of stuff for sale:

Featherweight sewing machines, vintage quilts and tops, Stash Bandit scrap bags, curated fat quarter bundles and several patterns of my designs.

Raspberry Limeade, a new quilt, pattern coming soon.
Quilted by Julie Lecher.

I’m also running a special for quilt guilds to which I can drive: Book a trunk show for $425 ($100 off) and a class for $500 ($200 off) and pay only one-way mileage (50% off) when you book by October 15! 

If this sounds good, be sure to get in touch soon and we’ll find a date that works for both of us. My 2026 is filling up fast so please don’t delay. I’d love to visit your group!

Lingering Effects by Diane Harris, quilted by Julie Lechner

If you’re not close enough to attend Threads, I’m putting together some exciting things for 2026 and I can’t wait to tell you all about them. Until then, quilt on!


So many scrappy ideas: New book!

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

Is there anything more fun than a brand new book that is packed with possibility? I think not.

Scrap Quilts from Crumbs, Strips & Strings by Emily Bailey is hot off the press and let me tell you, it’s a good one!

Click image to pre-order!

Emily has taken traditional patchwork shapes like hexies, Log Cabins, stars, braids and Nine Patches and turned them on their head by using up leftover bits and bobs.

I can’t say I wanted to make a Grandmother’s Flower Garden before…but now I do!! Look at the size of those scrappy hexagons. And the dark scrappy ground is marvelous.

And if I ever make a braid quilt, it’s going to be this one in the coolest colors of all.

How about a little improv to make some flowers? They’re the perfect place for those favorite tiny scraps you couldn’t bear to toss.

Of the 15 patterns inside, the cover quilt called Fireworks is one of my favorites. The dullness of the grays with the brightness of the colored strips makes my heart sing. I’m probably going to make this quilt!

You can preorder the book now right from Emily, or ask for it at your local quilt shop when it arrives mid-October. Official publication date is 10/14. Get a better look at the quilts in the video below.

Let’s have a giveaway! Leave a comment for your chance to win Scrap Quilts from Crumbs, Strips & Strings by Emily Bailey. I’ll choose a winner on Oct 15 and notify by email.

Quilt on,

A scrappy good time at Maine Quilts

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

Last week I traveled northeast for Maine Quilts and it did not disappoint.

Mainers remind me of Nebraskans: friendly, down-to-earth, truly good-hearted people. I loved them all.

Today I want to share my favorite quilts from the show, which had both judged and non-judged categories. One quilt that captured my attention was “Magic Pocean’s Salty Dogs.”

Magic Pocean’s Salty Dogs: Jennifer Smith. Quilted by Meliss Swanson. Design: Kinship by Angie Wilson @gnomeangel

Free quilt pattern: I Spy a Windmill

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

If you need a quick baby, toddler or donation quilt, here you go!

I love a Windmill block, and this scrappy I Spy version comes together quickly. The blocks finish at 16″ and the quilt is 52″ x 52″.

I Spy a Windmill by Diane Harris

It can be tricky to get novelty fabrics to play together nicely. I think a lot of I Spy quilts look pretty chaotic.

New Design: Break of Dawn

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Fabric Savvy, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Magazines

My latest design is in the August issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. It’s called Break of Dawn.

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved.

I’ve been playing with rectangles I call “bricks” for a few years now, and this design began when I experimented with a light-to-dark progression of bricks across the quilt.

Bricks from lightest to darkest wash across the quilt.

I still love this original idea and will likely create a quilt from it. One of the best things about bricks is that once you have an idea, it can be made with any size of brick that you like. I think this would be lovely in bricks cut 2″ x 3.5″. (A brick in my world always finishes twice as long as wide.) They’d finish 1.5″ x 3″.

In an effort to jazz it up, I added a few Flying Geese. (Super easy to do in EQ8 software!)

That’s when I saw rooftops! If I rotated them, I could create a neighborhood made from Flying Geese and bricks. And if I maintained the colorwash, it could suggest a sunrise.

Here’s one of my Electric Quilt drawings:

I bring my ideas to life in Electric Quilt design software.

And here is a flat shot of the actual quilt:

Break of Dawn by Diane Harris. Quilted by Julie Lechner.
Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved.

Some of the names I used during the quilt’s evolution made me laugh.

There was Suburb Sunrise. And Sunrise Over Sterling. Which morphed to Sunrise Over Salem. And then the fine folks at American Patchwork & Quilting came up with Break of Dawn, which I like much better. Read more about the issue at that link—there is a lot of good stuff!

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved.

You’ll find the issue on newsstands through August 20 or you can buy it online here. I’m taking the quilt with me to Maine this week for Maine Quilts, where I’m sharing my trunk show called Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts.

I’m also teaching some workshops:

Strange Bedfellows: Fabric Savvy Playshop has all my best tips and tricks for using fabric effectively.

Bound for Glory: Make the edges of your quilt fabulous!

Star Silhouettes by Diane Harris. Quilted by Julie Lechner.

StarQuar Scrap Quilts: The simplest technique ever results in unlimited quilt designs from scraps.

Tango: Fun, fast, easy—all the way to a dynamite finish!

If your guild is looking for programming in person or online, I’d love to be considered. Please get in touch.

LET’S TALK QUILTS!