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!

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.

Need a winter pick-me-up?

Written by Diane Harris on February 19, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone, Trunk Shows

How about a scrappy trunk show? Come and enjoy!

On Thursday, Feb 24 (just five days away) I’m giving Windy Wonders on Zoom to everyone who’d like to get a ticket and come.

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

This live event on Zoom will begin at 7:30 pm CST.

Tickets are $15 at eventbrite.com. Grab yours now!

Tilting Windmills by Diane Harris. Photo by Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.

You’ll hear the story of how I started making Baby Windmills, and how I built a trunk show of designs based on one simple block.

The start of an early Baby Windmill quilt design

Plenty of tips on scrap quilts will be included, along with how-tos for making Windmills in any size you choose.

I’m in! Take me to tickets!

Most basic Baby Windmill quilt. Photo by Kristin Laing Photography.

The trunk show lasts about an hour, to be followed by Q&A. Ask anything you like about scrap quilts!

If you’ve heard Windy Wonders or another Stash Bandit trunk show, feel free to leave a quick review in the comments. I’d appreciate it!

Get your ticket to Windy Wonders now.

I’ll see you on Zoom!

Small guild? Big idea!

Written by Diane Harris on February 15, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

There are hundreds of small quilt guilds all over the world.

And I know firsthand that their programming is limited by their budgets. So I’ve come up with a plan to make it easier for smaller groups to book a program with Stash Bandit (that’s me!).

Diane Harris presenting a quilt guild program in Holdrege, Nebraska

Here’s how it will work.

The live presentation will be virtual through Zoom.

Available to groups with 50 or fewer members on their paid roster (honor system).*

The fee for a one-hour trunk show of your choice is $10/person on the roster. For example, if you have 35 members, $10 x 35 = $350. (The standard fee is $525.)

You will be guaranteed a seat for every person who registers for the meeting on Zoom.

I will make the remaining seats available to others.

The deadline for your members to register for the meeting is 10 days before. This gives me time to fill the rest of the seats.

For very small groups, I may request a date other than your normal meeting time.

I will limit the number of these programs I do each year.

The Jingle Bells Trunk Show is great from July to December.

Cope & Hope is part of “Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts.”

I have six trunk shows from which to choose. Today I’ll highlight three.

Controversy in the Quilt World

Written by Diane Harris on February 4, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle, Uncategorized

There’s a hubbub in our part of the universe, have you heard?

About a week ago, on Jan. 28, Mary Fons posted a YouTube video called “Stop Cutting Up Quilts to Make Clothes.” A graphic image (below) was used on Instagram to publicize the video.

And the graphic did its job. Not only did it entice me to watch the video, almost 15 thousand other people watched it too. Many of those watched after this became news in the quilt world, but still. For the sake of comparison, Mary has about 8000 subscribers and her videos mostly garner a few hundred views each on YouTube/Twitch.

So here’s a little background if you need it.

Mary Fons is the 40-something daughter of quilting superstar Marianne Fons. Marianne and her business partner Liz Porter created an empire of sorts selling magazines, books, videos and tools for quilters, among other things. They became widely known before selling the business.

Mary Fons

Mary Fons has long been inside the quilt industry. She hosted Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting television program on PBS, she founded a magazine for beginning modern-leaning sewists called Quilty, she wrote a long-running column for Quilts Inc. (the organization that gives us International Quilt Festival), she more recently served as editor-in-chief of Quiltfolk magazine and she’s an active live-streamer on various quilt topics via YouTube and Twitch. (There’s much, much more to her quilting resume.)

The internet has not always been kind to Mary Fons.

And that’s an understatement. There were quilters at every turn who did not like her and they weren’t shy about saying so. They made awful comments and personal attacks. Mary called them out and forged ahead.

There was a time when I wondered if it wasn’t convenient to ride (into the industry) on her mother’s coattails, but then I heard Mary speak at QuiltCon and she was eloquent. She is smart, she generally does her homework and she isn’t afraid to take a stand.

Part of her background is in theatre and so she is…theatrical. She’s very expressive and it seems like many of her detractors have taken issue with that. But it’s how she communicates—her way of being in the world.

Now back to Mary’s recent video.

Mary spoke passionately about famous designers like Emily Bode and regular quilters like you and me cutting up quilts to make garments. She strongly opposes the practice and she tells us why.

But a lot of people have told Mary that she is…

…wrong, privileged, dramatic, clickbait, condescending, gatekeeping girl boss and more. So much more. The general idea among these folks is “how dare you tell me how I can make art.”

Fashion designer Emily Bode and one of her jackets

On the other hand, many people agree with Mary

and have applauded her bold stand.

There are plenty of knickers in knots over this controversy. Learn more and decide for yourself:

Mary’s YouTube video: What started this storm

Lots of opinions via Reddit: Mostly negative comments

Passion for patchwork: make-do-and-mend hits the Paris catwalk: More about Emily Bode and her fashion designs made from old quilts

Bode’s homepage for lots more quilted clothing: See the weird and wonderful here

I’d like to know what you think. Is it all right for someone to use an old quilt to make something else? Does it matter if they’re a famous designer or a regular quilter?

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Quilt on,

One more thing: International Quilt Museum has a Fons & Porter exhibit hanging through Feb. 26. Learn more.

Visit International Quilt Museum through Feb. 26 to see the Fons & Porter exhibit.

Protected: Scrap Management: Brick by Brick

Written by Diane Harris on January 25, 2022. Posted in Inspiration, Students Only

Cope and Hope in Quilter’s World

Written by Diane Harris on January 13, 2022. Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Magazines

I have a new design in the Spring issue of Quilter’s World, on newsstands now. It has a beautiful cover with lovely spring colors.

Make a note to pick it up when you’re at the grocery store or grab it online!

Cope and Hope by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit, quilted by Julie Lechner @beenquiltin,
photo courtesy of Quilter’s World.

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.

It’s Quiet Over Here.

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

I think the holidays took the wind right out of my sails.

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.

A look back and a peek ahead.

Written by Diane Harris on December 31, 2021. Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

Time just flies by, doesn’t it? Here are a few 2021 highlights.

Father & Farmer by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit. Quilted by Julie Lechner.y ever

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?!

Scrappy with Orange Garnish by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit.

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!)

StarQuar blocks by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit

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.

Big Cheese by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit

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.

You’re a Doll by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit

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: