Quilt Block Mania and Giveaway!

Written by Diane Harris on September 1, 2020. Posted in Blog, Giveaways, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

I am so excited to be part of this month’s #quiltblockmania with many other quilt designers. We all used the same color palette and designed blocks with a Halloween theme. You’ll want to check them all out—that’s 29 free blocks! Scroll down for links.

🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃

I’m building a new program called Taste Test: Unexpected Sampler Quilts, so I designed Pumpkin Chain in EQ8 as a way to tie lots of other quilt blocks together. It would make a terrific sampler!

Just choose favorite 12″ blocks with a fall or Halloween theme. Alternate them with my Pumpkin Chain and like magic: amazing sampler quilt!

You can also change out the center portion of my pumpkin so that each chain block is different. I’m excited to share those center blocks with my newsletter subscribers between now and Halloween! Sign up for Oh Scrap! and never miss out!

Last week I wrote about coloring designs in EQ and shot a video of how it’s done. If you watch it, you can see one of my ideas for how Pumpkin Chain can be used. More to come!

GIVEAWAY! I’ve gathered some soft oranges, backgrounds and neutrals to help you get started on your own autumn scrap quilt with some of the blocks you’ll find during Quilt Block Mania.

Leave a comment before midnight on Thursday, Sept. 3 and I’ll pick a winner on Sept. 4. Tell me where you found another cool block during #quiltblockmania! The winner of the giveaway is Bev C in Florida! I have already heard back from her and the package will be on its way shortly. Thank you, everyone!

Here’s a printer-friendly pdf with instructions for Pumpkin Chain.

“Which Hat?” at Pretty Piney
Black Cat at Inquiring Quilter
Ring of Pumpkins at Always Expect Moore
Haunted House at Powered by Quilting
Three Treats at Sew Brainy
Bat at Slice of Pi Quilts
Day of the Dead Skull at Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Gypsy Wagon Fortune Teller at Orange Blossom Quilt
Monster at Seams to be Sew
Patchwork Pumpkin at Quilted Diary
Stacked Pumpkins at Perkins Dry Goods
Spooky Star at Block of the Mo .com
Leaf Ghost at Off the Wall Quilt
Leaf and Vine at Quilt Moments
Frankenstein at Around the Bobbin
Bat by Heidi Pridemore
Candy Corn by Quilt Fabrication
Dark night by Cotton Street Commons
Pumpkin by Sew on the Go
Pumpkin and Bat by ScrapDash
Pumpkin Chain by Stash Bandit
Happy Jack-o-lantern by Patti’s Patchwork
Foundation Pieced Creepy Eyes by Amarar Creacions
Spooky Trees by Aunt Em’s Quilts
Upside Down Witch by Appliques Quilts and More
Scaredy Kitty by Tacy Gray
Sun-Boo-Net Sue by Blue Bear Quilts
Spider by Oh Kay Quilting
Candy, Pumpkins, and Witch Hat by Utah Quilt Appraiser

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EQ8 Tutorial: Two Ways to Color; Quilt Block Mania

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

I’m partnering with The Electric Quilt Company to promote EQ8 design software for a couple of months, and to that end, I shot a video showing two different ways to color a design in EQ8.

If you’re unfamiliar with the software, just sit back and enjoy the view and don’t worry about feeling a little lost. When you actually have the software, you start from the very beginning and learn one small step at a time. Everything builds on something you already know!

Here, we are jumping right into the meat of things and it may feel like drinking from a fire hose! Rest assured that there’s plenty of free help to launch you into coloring, designing and playing with EQ8.

To get started, use code EQ8STASHBANDIT for 20% off everything at electricquilt.com. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Do you see those big white spaces in the quilt on the video? Here’s the plan:

In just a few more days, I’m excited to be part of Quilt Block Mania, where 30 designers will have original block designs posted on their websites at no charge. Each block uses a similar color palette and has a Halloween theme. There are some incredibly adorable designs!

My block will go into one of those spaces.

But wait! There’s more! 😉

Each week, I’m going to release another companion block so that before long, you’ll have a whole set of them! And I designed it so that the other blocks in #quiltblockmania will fit in the spaces where you currently see the Log Cabin Pumpkins (a pattern which I’m also going to release).

So you’ll have lots of options and enough free quilt block patterns to keep you busy until Christmas!

Make my day and do this:

• Visit electricquilt.com and poke around!
• Use code EQ8STASHBANDIT when you make any purchase through the end of September and get 20% off at electricquilt.com.
• Watch the video to get a taste of the fun!

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Make a Little Halloween Quilt!

Written by Diane Harris on October 27, 2019. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

I love small quilts!

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 35 years.

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