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.
Below is designer Carolyn Beam’s original Daydream in Moda fabrics by Corey Yoder.
I wanted a more scrappy look and I had several yards of this great candy cane print.
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.
Just a quick post today with info about my trunk shows for quilt groups. This is the main thrust of my business and it’s what I love doing the most—and where I think my strongest skills reside, too.
When I share a trunk show, it’s more than “here are pretty quilts I made.” The quilts taught me lessons, which I’ll tell you about.
They use techniques to get a message across, which I’ll explain. They’re held together by something that I’ll point out, suggesting how you can use that in your own quilts.
These days I am mostly booking virtual trunk shows on Zoom. I learned to love it during the pandemic and I think people actually learn more in a virtual setting than they do in person.
If I’m within a six hour drive, I’ll consider visiting your group in person. I have six trunk shows available.
The most popular is Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts. Here’s the official description:
How do you make a successful scrap quilt? Learn Diane Harris’s best tips and top secrets during this trunk show of many scrappy quilts made over the years. What is a scrap quilt? Who can make one? Why would you create with scraps? How is it done? From the Stash Bandit herself, discover ways to pull your scraps together, strategies for using your stash and even what does not work. You may never make an ordinary quilt again!
Then we have this one that’s especially popular from August to December:
This one is so much fun to give because who isn’t happy about Christmas? We always have a great time! I once bought a t-shirt that said “Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle Bells” across the front but I haven’t had the nerve to wear it to a trunk show yet. See more of Jingle Bells here.
A trunk show that is finally picking up steam is this one:
I can’t tell you how much fun it was to build this trunk show! I made sampler quilts for a couple of years. They are so interesting to create, and there are still more on my list. Never enough hours, are there?! See more here.
If you’re interested in creativity, you’d like this one:
It’s all about how I took one simple quilt block and designed dozens of quilts from it. It’s about starting to think like a designer. People leave inspired! More about Windy Wonders here.
And finally, this one:
I love Dresden Plate. It’s a design that has gotten a bad rap and you only have to look on eBay to see why: Awful examples of Dresdens abound. This one is a combo trunk show/hands-on demo and how-to with examples of variations to whet your appetite for more. I have fewer completed quilts in this one but it still gets rave reviews. See more Drezzup here.
The trunk show I’ve been giving the longest—10 years now—is One Hundred Small Quilts.
This one doesn’t translate well to virtual so I only give it in person. Part of the appeal is seeing about 130 small quilts in one place, laid out on display after I talk about each one (quickly!). It’s a great evening with tons of ideas and takeaways. Everyone gets so excited and I love that!
Please get in touch: diane@stashbandit.net
A lot of the quilts I make start off by accident. That’s what happened with the Daydream sampler from Quilter’s World.
I do a monthly Facebook Live for Quilter’s World.** I brainstorm a few topic ideas for each one, and together we settle on that month’s focus. A few months back, I thought it would be fun to show how I would make the Daydream sampler with lots and lots of different fabrics.
This blog post originally ran in October 2019.
Yule Glow, designed and made by Diane Harris. Appears in McCall’s Quilting Nov/Dec ’19.
During the early fall and again after Thanksgiving, I’ve been piecing a scrappy version of Christmas Figs by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts, published by the Fat Quarter Shop.
Their quilt features the Christmas Figs fabric line by Fig Tree for Moda Fabrics. I had a fat quarter bundle of those fabrics that I’d purchased, and that’s what I used for the first few blocks. But I began to wonder if the blocks would be interesting enough with just those fabrics.
I’ve been working on a new holiday quilt called Christmas Figs. It’s been so much fun!
The folks at Fat Quarter Shop sent me a review copy of the Christmas Figs book, and I could not wait to dive in.
I’m not the least bit Scandinavian, so when cute little creatures called “tomten” started appearing in my Instagram feed last year, I had to Google.
It turns out they’re a little bit like gnomes. From Wikipedia:
A…tomte…is a mythological creature from Nordic folklore…typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season.
Every year it seems like I have time to sew during November, December and January. Other people are busy shopping, cooking and decorating. But my life is the opposite, and that’s kind of a good thing.
Thanksgiving was quiet with just five guests (two bigs and three littles). The meal was easy and the company departed around 3:30. I sewed for four or five hours after that. We ate leftovers and quickie meals the rest of the weekend, so there were many more hours in the studio.
I posted an image of my recent modern Christmas wreath quilt on Instagram, and a follower named Karen saw “urban-industrial style Christmas.” What a great description!
Oh, Christmas Wreath by Diane Harris; quilted by Julie Lechner @beenquiltin
Her thoughts moved me to play around with this design and purposely go for an industrial look. So I moved away from Christmas entirely, to these possibilities.
A little bit different, but it still feels like the same quilt. Sashing is wider and all of the background and the border is one color.
Here I moved to a darker background color. I kind of like this idea. In terms of fabric, I’d use a lot of variety in the Bow Ties. (Ha, they don’t even look like Bow Ties now!)
More playing around. I’m not sure how effective this really is. But you never know until you try, so I don’t rule anything out when I’m experimenting, especially if it’s just in EQ. Even in fabric, play is the name of the game.
Whoa. This happened by accident! The background is the same color as one of the Bow Ties, so that piecing disappears and they look like weird C’s. Now we’re getting somewhere. In reality you wouldn’t actually piece the C’s, you could just use a solid patch in the same fabric as the background. I love this one, and surprisingly, it looks Christmas-y to me once more.
I had one more thought. I changed the gray to another green.
Like I said, you never know until you mess around!
A note about Electric Quilt design software: I resisted upgrading to EQ8 from EQ7 because I thought I didn’t have time to learn a new program. But when I did upgrade, I was blown away by how easy and intuitive it is. I spent almost zero time learning EQ8 because everything felt natural and logical. I love it. If you’re interested in designing quilts, you should get it. Well worth the investment!
Today, I wish you the courage, the curiosity and the commitment to play.