Scrappy Sundays with Stash Bandit: Surround Sound

Written by Diane Harris on May 4, 2026. 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.

• Continue Reading
• No Comments

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.

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.

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:

And here is a flat shot of the actual quilt:

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!

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!

• Continue Reading
• No Comments

Tango at Mangelsen’s Sept 29

Written by Diane Harris on August 20, 2023. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone

Bringing a scrappy adventure to Omaha! Join me, won’t you?!

Tango is a quilt that looks good in so many “outfits.” And the piecing is fast, fun and easy, leaving you free to think through fabric choices and let the prints do almost all the work!

This is my original Tango quilt made in brights and whites, with quite a few dullards thrown in for balance. But your Tango can look completely different!

• Continue Reading

I love small quilts!

Written by Diane Harris on September 8, 2022. Posted in Blog, Complimentary, How-tos and Ideas

Small quilts don’t take up a lot of time or space. They quickly satisfy my need to create. They’re fun to use in my home as the seasons come and go. And they make great gifts. What’s not to love?!

I have been making small quilts ever since I started quilting in 1984. That’s 38 years. I have saved most of them, and they became my first trunk show for quilt guilds: One Hundred Small Quilts. I think your quilt guild would love it.

• Continue Reading

Upcoming Fun with Stash Bandit

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

Lots of online and in-person events are coming up!

Pine Burr Workshop

Last minute seats available in an online Pine Burr workshop on Friday, July 22 from 9 to 4 Central. A Texas guild is hosting and the class is open to people outside their group.

This is a very old technique that I’ve adapted for the machine. It’s easy and relaxing and the results are stupendous. The full day class is $65.

These blocks are addictive and so much fun to make. I’ll show you several options and plenty of inspiration to get you rolling. Read more and reserve your spot right here.

Jingle Bells Trunk Show

• Continue Reading

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!

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.

• Continue Reading
• 9 Comments

Plus and X Block Instructions

Written by Diane Harris on March 18, 2021. Posted in Blog, Complimentary, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration

One thing we’ve talked about in Scrap Quilt Secrets is the Plus and X Block. It became popular a few years back when a Japanese quilter named Setsuko Inagawa entered a quilt with this block into the Tokyo show, and a quilter named Jan Burgwinkle took photos and posted them on flickr. People went wild and soon there were Plus and X quilts popping up everywhere.

I made mine in the first few years of the frenzy and I didn’t pay any attention to value. Here’s what I mean.

• Continue Reading
• 4 Comments

Quilt Block Mania: New Year Star

Written by Diane Harris on December 1, 2020. Posted in Blog, Complimentary, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration

Welcome to Quilt Block Mania! I have a complimentary block pattern for you and a list of other designers who have also posted blocks this morning!

Let me introduce you to something I call “the running thirds.”

My block is called New Year Star and it uses the running thirds. It’s a way of dividing a block in three so that you get a Nine Patch, but the divisions are not equal.

Instead, they are the sizes of any three consecutive or “running” numbers, such as 3, 4 and 5. All of the Quilt Block Mania blocks finish at 12″, and you’ll notice that 3 + 4 + 5 = 12.

Keep in mind that for right now, we are talking about the finished sizes.

First we’ll divide the block into three columns. The first column is 3″ wide, the next is 4″ wide, and the far right column is 5″ wide. There’s our pattern of 3, 4 and 5.

But wait! There’s more!

Next we’ll divide the block horizontally so that we have three rows. The first row is 3″ tall, the next row is 4″ tall and the bottom row is 5″ tall. Same pattern of 3, 4 and 5. Still with me?

From there you can see that the dimensions of each patch are easy to figure out. If you’re not following, try this:

• Read the dimensions of the top row, moving across.
• Read the dimensions of the middle row, moving across.
• Read the dimensions of the bottom row, moving across.

You should be able to hear the patterns of 3, 4 and 5 as you read. Repeat the process for each column:

• Read the dimensions of the first column, moving down.
• Read the dimensions of the second column, moving down.
• Read the dimensions of the third column, moving down.

My New Year Star block is based on a 3-4-5 grid just like you saw above. What’s so cool about this idea is that you can adapt it for many traditional blocks and put a whole new spin on them. But that’s a topic for another day.

Take a look at the New Year Star if you scrap it up a bit with the magic of EQ8.

I like these colors but I thought it might be intense for an entire quilt. So I changed to blue and silver and got this:

The stars appear to be dancing because I rotated the blocks randomly and used many different blues: brighter, darker and dustier.

Then I went scrappy with baby girl colors, and the quilt is below.

There are so many things you can do with this block! If you have EQ8, I recommend that you play with it there. But if you don’t, then mess around with crayons or markers or even your stash to get inspired and make a quilt that is uniquely you.

I’ve created a printer-friendly pdf with the block instructions for New Year Star. The block finishes at 12″ x 12″. Enjoy!

Scroll down for links to the other designers with complimentary blocks out today. So much deliciousness!

Stargazing Sue
Starburst at Slice of Pi Quilts
Massachusetts Star with blockofthmo.com
Nova Star at Always Expect Moore
Nativity Star
Star Bright – Cotton Street Commons
Five Pointed Star at Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
New Year Star at Stash Bandit
Poinsettia Star
Wish Upon a Satar by Heidi Pridemore
Falling Star at Pretty Piney Quilts
Star Splash at QuiltFabrication
Seward Star at Blue Bear Quilts
Moon Star at Perkins Dry Goods
Starburst at Patti’s Patchwork
Cherokee Star
Christmas Tree Star
Christmas Star by Oh Kaye Quilting
Starfish by Appliques Quilts and More
Snowy Star by Seams To Be Sew
Combination Star by Devoted Quilter
Ablaze by True Blue Quilts

• Continue Reading
• 14 Comments

Log Cabin Possibilities

Written by Diane Harris on September 29, 2020. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

I’ve been playing in EQ8 again and it seems the possibilities with Log Cabin never end. This started with a basic block I made for a Facebook Live with Annie’s Craft Store and Quilter’s World.

I liked the first few blocks so much that I just kept sewing. Right now I’m up to 24 blocks and I’m going to make at least that many more.

I often sew with just a vague idea of where a quilt is going. I want to let it take shape naturally. But this time I chose to decide up front how I would set the blocks. EQ8 let me explore the possibilities!

I don’t know if the arrangement above has an official name, but I’m calling mine Rickrack. I love rickrack!

I’m not sure about the setting above. It feels like my eye can’t quite understand what is going on. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t have a name that I know of.

This one has the blocks arranged into Pinwheels. Are you starting to understand what it’s easier to try out settings in EQ8 than to rearrange the blocks on your design wall a dozen times?

I really like this setting. It’s like the Rickrack setting a few photos back, but this time the strips of rickrack are oriented vertically. It’s like the mark on Harry Potter’s forehead!

If I had to name this one, I’d call it Girl’s Best Friend. Because you know, diamonds are just that!

Each time you recolor a block, EQ saves it for you. You can view the blocks one at a time, several at a time, or many at a time in the Project Sketchbook.

You can view the quilts you’ve created in the same way.

It has been my pleasure to partner with Electric Quilt Company these past few months to show you a little of what EQ8 can do.

Through Sept 30, use code EQ8STASHBANDIT for a nice 20% discount on everything on the EQ website. I know you’re going to love this power tool!

And I can’t wait to show you all my Log Cabin blocks very soon!

• Continue Reading
• 2 Comments

Log Cabin Playtime

Written by Diane Harris on September 25, 2020. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

Earlier this month I hosted a Facebook Live for Quilter’s World and Annie’s Craft Store. We talked about making Log Cabins using Block 1 in the Awash with Color Mystery Sampler.

I made a couple of blocks and parts to help viewers understand the ideas I was sharing, and I liked them so much that I just kept on sewing. Then I decided to open up EQ8 design software and see what other possibilities lurked! I was not disappointed.

• Continue Reading
• 1 Comment