April’s Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit: 4/19

Written by Diane Harris on April 6, 2026. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas, Open Classes for Everyone, Quilt Lifestyle

Please join me for the April edition of Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit, Sunday, 4/19 at 1 pm Central on Zoom. Tickets are $12 and the featured quilt is Wild Romp, a new design I’ve had in my back pocket for a while. It is throw size, roughly 55″ x 70″.

Wild Romp by Diane Harris, an EQ rendering

Each Scrappy Sunday session includes a quilt pattern plus my demos and tips for making it work with lots of different fabrics. This quilt is much easier to make than it looks—a real bonus!

Your ticket also includes a bonus scrappy quilt pattern because I want to give you a lot of bang for your buck. The bonus pattern will be a surprise. And there’s time to interact with me and others in attendance if you like.

Wild Romp in blues and golds

Each session is recorded so you can attend live or you can take in the recording for two weeks afterwards.

You can make Wild Romp less scrappy if you like this look better. Here’s another version:

I will have a supply list and yardage for the scrappy version (below)

in an email sometime after you get your ticket.

This quilt does take scraps that are a little bigger. You will need a variety of colored pieces that are about 6″ square. You don’t need to have the fabric or even cut anything before the Sunday session. I would wait to shop until you hear the tips because there are several important things to consider. And you might be able to just shop your stash!

This quilt is throw size, about 55″ x 70″. Throws are my favorite size because they don’t take me a year to make and they are easily quilted on a domestic machine. And they’re useful!

If this sounds good, reserve your seat right here.

And please invite your friends! Word of mouth is an important way of getting this info out. Thank you!

I will look forward to spending time with you on Sunday, April 19. We’ll all be in the comfort of our own homes!

Until then, happy quilting!

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Scrappy Sundays: March 22 is a great quilt block!

Written by Diane Harris on February 27, 2026. Posted in Blog, Classes, Open Classes for Everyone

I’ve been working on the ideas for the March edition of Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit and I hope you’ll love them.

They are based on a very simple quilt block called Strength in Union. I found it in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. It’s block #1807 and it has a lot of potential.

Here is the first version I made. I thought about going huge but since I was on a deadline, I opted for this smaller one instead. But it’s easily customizable to whatever size you want to make.

This is a great block through which to learn more about value and contrast, because you really need to place the values correctly or you’ll get a bunch of mush.

Here is an alternate look made with solids. Of course this is an EQ rendering although I did start sewing these blocks a few days ago.

The pattern for Strength in Union is included with your ticket which is $12, and Eventbrite adds a few dollars in fees. Just like last time, there will also be a bonus pattern included—something that helps build your skills in fabric selection.

Get your ticket here: $12 on Eventbrite

There are other ways to set these blocks and I’ll show you those during our time together. I can’t give too much away beforehand! But believe me when I say this is a great block for learning and playing.

This session stands alone. In other words, you don’t need to have been in the first session for this one to make sense. Each Scrappy Sunday presentation will be fine all by itself, but I hope you’ll come to more than one!

And yes, the session will be recorded and made available for you to view for two weeks after the live event.

If you’d like to attend, get your ticket promptly because the first session sold out. I am figuring out if and how I can make the recordings available for purchase when an event sells out, so please stay tuned.

Get your ticket here: $12 on Eventbrite

I can’t wait to share all the fun of this quilt block with you!

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Rotate That Baby and Conquer Your Scraps

Written by Diane Harris on August 4, 2024. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I finished a quilt top this week but before we get to that, here’s an invitation to a free event for anyone with scraps.

I’m sharing a new talk called Smashing Sashing during the Conquer Your Fabric Scraps Summit.

And I’d love it if you’d be there. A ticket to the summit is complimentary. There will be 21 teachers all sharing their best tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration for diving into your scrap fabrics and making good use of them in wonderful ways.

You’ll find all the details and registration (it’s free!) on the Summit’s main page. I hope to see you there!

_{Full disclosure: You’ll be offered the option to upgrade your ticket for a fee, which gives you extended access to all of the presentations as well as a bundle of goods: patterns, classes and more. If you upgrade, I will earn a commission. But you can take in all of the Summit at no charge and it’s fine if that’s what you prefer.} 😊

Here’s the scoop on my latest project.

Early this year I decided to jump in for the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge, hosted by Taryn @reproquiltlover on Instagram. There were three sizes from which to pick and I decided on the middle size. The squares are cut at 1-1/4″ so the Nine Patch will finish at 2-1/4″ x 2-1/4″. Small enough to be super cute but not so small as to make me miserable.

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The Joy of Beginners

Written by Diane Harris on February 27, 2023. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I taught a small group of beginning quiltmakers recently. Oh what fun!

I came up with a new design that I hoped would teach a variety of skills without being too difficult while still being attractive. I wanted something that would lend itself to whatever color scheme a beginner could imagine.

My first idea was this nine block quilt with two kinds of stars. But I was teaching this at Mangelsen’s in Omaha and we only had two sessions on the calendar—one full day and one half day, with a couple of weeks for sewing at home in between.

As I developed the class, I thought maybe a quilt of this size might overwhelm some beginners, so I designed a smaller option with just four blocks.

You don’t know exactly how a class will go until you teach it for the first time. As it turned out, some people chose the small quilt but several wanted a bigger project. I was so glad I had both available.

This simple block is a good one for beginners. It forces them to test and adjust the seam allowance. If they’re off by 1/8″ on each seam, the block will be 5/8″ too small in one direction. People are surprised by how skinny (“scant”) the seam allowance needs to be.

A red, white and blue quilt wouldn’t appeal to everyone,

so I presented an alternate coloring. People embraced the idea and some beautiful color schemes emerged in class.

Friendship Star seemed like a good block for beginners to learn half-square triangles and the basic idea of sewing patches into rows before sewing the rows together.

I also decided to give them a taste of improvisational patchwork with an easy wonky star block. The results were fascinating, as students did this work at home after trying it quickly in class.

I loved Rita’s wonky star, above. You need only to suggest a shape, and a viewer’s eye will fill in the rest. Even though all of her points are not pointed, the star is still evident. Our minds fill in whatever is missing.

Dorothy had different star points on her wonky creation. Hers are very small and that’s just fine, too. Our eyes still know it’s a star.

Everyone got pretty far on their projects and I was really pleased with how well they did.

They were really brave to try walking foot quilting in class. We used gently waving lines as our starting point.

Deb has experience as a quilter so she quilted straight lines using painter’s tape to guide her. Aren’t her colors pretty?

Ann is not a beginner but she came with her daughter Denise, who is. Ann’s patriotic quilt is a little larger so she can use it as a throw at home. She made 12 blocks and I love how she moved the values around for different effects.

Denise made really brave choices all along the way, and I think her results are wonderful. This is a happy quilt!

You can imagine how much fun it is for a teacher to introduce students to the joy of making quilts. And when it’s for the first time, my gosh, it doesn’t get much better than that!

If you’re local, I think we will put Learn to Quilt on the schedule at Mangelsen’s again in the fall. If you’re from anywhere else in the world and you’d like a beginning class online, please let me know in the comments. I’d be happy to consider doing a workshop on Zoom.

Quilt on,

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The Joy is Back

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

I went through a rough patch the last half of last year and I struggled to create. But things are looking up and my sewing machine is humming again.

I fell in love with the cleverness of this design by Jo at Thimbles & Needles in Sydney, Australia. The offset quality is eye catching, and I thought my bright fabrics would look great in her quilt design. I bought the pattern from Jo’s website and let’s just take a moment to marvel that we can do that! Aren’t you glad for technology? I sure am.

I want to insert an editorial here. Couldn’t I have tried to figure it out myself without buying the pattern? Well yes, I probably could have. But I bought the pattern because I know how much work goes into pattern development and I wanted to support another creative person. And I’ve learned that many times, there’s bonus info in the pattern like tips, fabric guidance or a handy way of organizing the process. Well worth the money.

That sewing was really enjoyable: simple piecing that looks super interesting. What’s not to love? I still have a few rows to go but it will happen soon, I promise.

I jumped at the chance for a simple sew-along with Plains and Pine last week.

The Wild Star is a simply pieced traditional Lone Star but with Lindlee’s modern twist, I was smitten. And she writes terrific instructions so I knew I could succeed.

I decided it might be fun to work from light to dark on each star section. I pulled from my scrap bin and only had to raid the stash a couple of times for a missing value.

I had to decide what colors I wanted to use because there’s not a neat division of eight on the color wheel. There are three primary colors and three secondary colors, but I needed two more. I turned red-orange-yellow into four sections, and added teal in between blue and green.

I didn’t like all the light points in, but I didn’t like them on the outside either. I auditioned a bunch of grays for the background because I wanted to give some relief from the colors. I think too much color can be overwhelming. It’s like your eye needs a palate cleanser, so to speak.

This is where I landed: the light and dark points alternate in and out, and the polka dots might not be everyone’s choice but I like them.

I’ve learned to trust my gut. Even if I know that something is out in left field, I will just do it. It’s only fabric, and if it doesn’t work, I will learn something. We don’t need to fear making something ugly. It is totally okay.

My setting triangles must have stretched a bit because I had to trim quite a bit to make it square. And yes, I did cut off the tips of some points. The world will go on.

It’s still not really flat but hey, THAT WILL QUILT OUT.

I added a little border to float it in that sea of polka dots.

I’m auditioning lots of things but I’m not sure what will come next. Sometimes you need to let things marinate. I’ll make another one of these because I love the colors in Lindlee’s quilt:

Isn’t it wonderful? You can grab the complimentary pattern by signing up for the Plains and Pine newsletter (click here).

I have more to share but that’s enough for one post. I hope you’re having a great week!

Quilt on,

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I forgot to remember.

Written by Diane Harris on March 8, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

While I was traveling last month, a book arrived in the mail. According to the invoice, I ordered it while I was away from home.

It’s a great book full of intriguing quilts.

But I don’t remember why I bought it.

I keep paging through as if that will remind me but so far, no luck.

Then there are these strips, about 500 of them, cut 1-1/4″ x 4-1/2″.

They’re all stacked neatly together as if for a project. But I have no recollection of what it was. A few of the strips are narrower and a few are shorter. Was I just careless or was there a reason?

No idea.

And then I have these brand-new rolls of 2-1/2″ strips from Robert Kaufman. Why did I buy them?

One is greys and grids by Carolyn Friedlander and the other is beautiful neutral solids.

They really are lovely but I have no hint of what I planned to make with them.

Do any of these look familiar to you? Maybe someone else will recognize what I cannot recall. 😳

Quilt on,

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Scrappy Backgrounds: What I’ve Learned

Written by Diane Harris on May 6, 2021. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

When I started making scrap quilts, that is, quilts with lots and lots of different fabrics, I thought that I still needed one big chunk of background fabric. I’d see the materials list and it would look something like this:

Sometimes it would require even more background fabric. Think 3 or 4 or 5 yards. I’d scurry off to the quilt store (which in my case means driving almost an hour) to buy the background.

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Quilt Block Mania: Wreath & Chain

Written by Diane Harris on November 3, 2020. Posted in Blog, Complimentary, How-tos and Ideas

Quilt guilds: I am booking virtual trunk shows from coast to coast!

I designed a cute little block for this month’s Quilt Block Mania called Wreath & Chain. I have some other blocks that go with it to make a quilt with nice big areas for gorgeous machine quilting.

Each designer uses the same palette for cohesion. But when I actually made my block, I used Stash Bandit colors.

I designed a few different centers for the block including a tree and a house. Here’s what I imagine the quilt could look like if the alternate blocks were plain. Some of these blocks were eventually scrapped in favor of more successful designs.

I’m showing it scrappy. I love how varied scrappy backgrounds can look, and scrappy reds are not far behind. I’ve colored it in solids using EQ8 quilt design software but I’d probably make it with prints from my stash.

Here is my fabric version, sewn from my stash. I wish I had yards of that teal-green print. It is luscious.

Get the free instructions for my block right here! This block is no longer available.

Be sure to visit the other designers who have complimentary blocks posted during Quilt Block Mania! They are all linked below.

Here are two blocks that caught my eye.

If you’re on Instagram, check out #quiltblockmania to see many more great designs quickly, all with the theme of winter celebrations. Thank you for visiting Stash Bandit!

And here are links to all of the designers and their free blocks. Enjoy!

Christmas Wreath by Slice of Pi Quilts
Baby Sue’s First Christmas
Celebrate by Inquiring Quilter
Gifts at Always Expect Moore
Snowflakes by Blockofthemodotcom
Gifts of Friendship
Fireworks at duck creek mountain quilting
Christmas Star by Michelle Renee Hiatt
Adirondack Mountain Quilt Block
A Present from Penny
Candlelighting at Pretty Piney Quilts
Poinsettia from QuiltFabrication
Harbor Holidays at Blue Bear Quilts
Christmas Cracker at Perkins Dry Goods
Sparkling Spruce at Patti’s Patchwork
Jingle All the Way at Orange Blossom Quilt
Snowflakes & Candy Cane Trees at Quilt Moments
Tower of Gifts by Oh Kaye Quilting
Winter Memories by Carolyn Burgess
Holiday Block by Seams to Be Sew
Ticker Tape Tree at Devoted Quilter
Evergreen by True Blue Quilts
Merry and Bright at Around the Bobbin
Ski Vacation

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Who the heck is Diane Harris?

Written by Diane Harris on August 6, 2020. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

If you found me because of Global Quilt Connection, you might wonder! Here’s my story.

I spent 11 years as an editor for Quiltmaker magazine, where I wrote pattern instructions and product reviews. I shot how-to videos and wrote a variety of articles related to quilts and quiltmaking. It was a dream job!

I was the online voice of Quiltmaker for most of that time. In the early days, we were figuring out what it meant for a business to be online, along with everyone else. It was exciting, exhausting and fun!

Some of the editors helped promote the magazine by giving trunk shows of the quilts from our pages. I loved doing that, and I got good feedback from quilt groups. So when my time with Quiltmaker ended, since I’d been making quilts for 30 years, I started Stash Bandit and began sharing my own quilts in trunk shows.

I’d been teaching quilters here and there as requests came up over the years, so I added classes to my lineup as well. Writing for a pattern magazine is a form of teaching, so it seemed only natural.

There are three components to my business. The trunk shows and classes are the most visible part. And they’re probably the most fun!

The second part is that I still design and make quilts for magazines. That helps me spread the word about Stash Bandit and leads to calls from quilt guilds. It’s fun to see your work in a professionally styled shot in a national publication! And it’s always a happy day if your quilt makes the cover. Never gets old.

And the third part of my business that I’ve just added this year is helping other quilt-related businesses with social media. I manage this area for a couple of entities and I love doing it. And it’s fine with me if my name is not publicly associated with that work. I’m an introvert and I don’t love the spotlight so much.

The most visible of those is working as brand ambassador for HQ Stitch by Handi Quilter, a line of three (fabulous) domestic sewing machines. I love the machines, and it’s my job to use them and write about them. Which I happily do every day! Learn more: HQ Stitch on IG @hqstitch and on Facebook/hqstitch.

One area that I have not forayed into is the pattern business. After a trunk show, people naturally ask me where they can buy the patterns for my designs. I don’t have a great answer!

It takes a lot to bring a pattern to the market. I’d spend a lot of time and money to do it. And then you have to sell an awful lot of patterns to cover all of that before you start making a profit. And that is just one of the reasons. The others are probably not interesting to a blog reader!

I would much rather show people how to make their own unique quilts by understanding how fabrics work together. I’d like to help them unlock their creativity and be fearless in making something outside their comfort zone. So that is how I work and where I place my focus:

I use scrap quilts to help others understand fabric, color, design and quilting techniques.

Some patterns remain available from the various magazines. And a few are freebies on my own website.

So that’s a bit of my story. It’s nice to meet you!

I’ve started offering virtual trunk shows and classes in 2020. I’d love to bring one to your quilt group! Get in touch and…

Let’s Talk Quilts!

You could help me out here by leaving a comment if you’ve been to a class or trunk show of mine. A few sentences about your experience would help others to know what they’re signing up for. Thank you!

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My Little Christmas Tree Quilt

Written by Diane Harris on December 24, 2017. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle, Uncategorized

Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is full of the love of family and friends. Let me tell you about my little Christmas tree quilt, Twinkling Bright.

It all started with this small block that I call a Baby Windmill. I’m on a mission to design as many interesting quilts as I can with this as the starting point. You can read more here.

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