New Design: Break of Dawn

Written by Diane Harris on July 21, 2025. 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!

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!

Any time I’m home, I’m cleaning up the studio. It’s always a mess.

Written by Diane Harris on December 17, 2024. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Magazines, Quilt Lifestyle

I’ve finished up my work travel for 2024 and it’s been so nice to be home. As I’ve worked to clear my creative space, I’ve unearthed some treasures.

Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts Nov/Dec 1990

I’ve had this magazine for 34 years because in 1990 it was a HUGE deal when Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts featured Nebraska and Nebraska quilters in its pages.

I remember looking at the editor’s image and thinking what a cool job she must have. I loved her edgy specs! I couldn’t imagine being so hip.

Pumpkins on Parade in APQ

Written by Diane Harris on August 7, 2023. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Magazines, Quilt Lifestyle

Today I’m happy to introduce a new quilt design, Pumpkins on Parade, which appears in the Sept/Oct issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

Pumpkins on Parade by Diane Harris of Stash Bandit.
Quilted by Julie Lechner @beenquiltin

This issue is on newsstands now and there are lots of great quilts inside. I love the cover quilt by Joanna Figueroa. Get a digital issue instantly right here.

A few years back I had the idea of putting an object at the intersection of an Irish Chain-type of block, and I fleshed it out in this new design.

So close and yet so far

Written by Diane Harris on November 3, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Magazines, Quilt Lifestyle

I was really excited a few weeks back to add the last few border strips to my Daydream sampler quilt in scrappy Christmas colors. I started this project when I was freelancing for Quilter’s World a couple of years back.

The first “finish” of my Daydream scrap quilt

Below is designer Carolyn Beam’s original Daydream in Moda fabrics by Corey Yoder.

Daydream sampler, designed by Carolyn Beam for Quilter’s World, shown in Moda fabrics
by Corey Yoder

I wanted a more scrappy look and I had several yards of this great candy cane print.

Numbers, numbers

Written by Diane Harris on October 1, 2022. Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Magazines, Quilt Lifestyle

I started quilting when I was 24 and expecting my first child. It was 1984.

There happens to be a well-known piece of literature entitled 1984, by the way. Maybe that vintage book cover will help you think back.

I’m inviting you to remember how quilting used to be.

When I started quilting, I didn’t belong to a quilt guild because there weren’t any nearby. I subscribed to only one quilting magazine because the others on the newsstand were questionable—the lines around the templates were very fat, and even I knew that those were problematic.

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.

Machine Quilting Help

Written by Diane Harris on November 4, 2021. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Machine Quilting, Magazines

What has tripped me up more than anything else in the quiltmaking process?

Without a doubt, it is the quilting.

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. 😊

Quilting on the HQ Capri by Handi Quilter

https://fb.watch/93Qah978LY/

Learn more about the HQ Capri stationary longarm.

Christmas Bells was designed by Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring.

The original Christmas Bells by Wendy Sheppard appears in the Winter 2021 issue of Quilter’s World.

Find the pattern for Christmas Bells in the Winter issue of Quilter’s World, on newsstands now.

You can also order it online or check out the digital download.

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.