I just had to give a Spools update, mid-week. I have been working away at my blocks, and had a light bulb moment.
In yesterday's post I commented that I had sewn some narrower strips for my lattice for the Dimestore Schnibble, as the designer, Carrie Nelson, had suggested in her pattern instructions. In my Dimestore project, I interspersed some of the narrower strips alongside the wider ones in the lattice and liked the scrappy look and the addition of even more fabrics, plus a slightly more complex look overall.
Hence the lightbulb moment. Notice anything similar in my Spools blocks in the photo at the top of this post?
In the photo above, you see a regular block, with three wide strips forming the "thread".
Hello. How about putting in some narrower strips in the same color family? In this photo, you can see I added two narrower strips in the center of the "thread" strip unit.
I got pretty excited about this (thank you Carrie Nelson), and started cutting 1 1/2 inch fabric strips and randomly incorporating them into my blocks. I love my Spools blocks even more, now that they have a scrappier look.
And that got me thinking. My brain really hurts now. What a taxing effort all this thinking has been.
How about a Civil War fabrics version of Spools? Scrappy style? Of course I had to do a couple of test blocks.
Have you ever…seen.anything.so.darn.cute?
So, I will be making two versions of this quilt, one in Marmalade and one from my Civil War scraps.
29 Responses
What a great way to use up scraps!!!
I’m totally smitten with your spools and love your Marmalade but I am a Civil War person so can’t wait to see how that one turns out! Great lightbulb moment Nicole…Love them!!!
I love the scrappy version! Great idea!
They look great with the extra strips!
Girl genius! It was worth making your brain hurt. And I love both versions.
I love the multiple strips – very cute!
Okay, so yesterday I sewed my spools. Now today you came out with a version I like better. I have to say when I was sewing I thought the stripes looked a little wide, but just did it according to the pattern. Now I may have to play as well. You keeo us thinking Nicole!
They look really great in color groups on your design wall, too. Will you keep them that way in the final top? All your ‘thread’ arranged according to color!! I haven’t made a Spools quilt yet and you’ve given me some things to think about!
I love the multiple strips. It does look more like a real spool of thread.
Agh! I don’t know which one I like better. I think, maybe, the civil war version might edge out the Marmalade, I think, maybe. LOL!
I think the multiple strips adds a bit more dimension to the spools. Great idea!!!
Oh, YES!!!!
Love the idea of the narrow strips in the spool blocks! I liked the pattern but wasn’t keen about all of the blocks being identical. Love this new effect and I now thinking about making the quilt!
LauraT
Way to think outside of the box!!! I love it!
Okay, I am totally smitten too!!!! This is definitely moving up my to-do list – way up!!
Ah….what a great moment of inspiration! There are definite advantages to starting the spools late in the game! Now I can blatantly steal, oops, I mean copy your wonderful variation! I like both of your versions, Civil War and Marmalade. How fun! 🙂
Love the addition of smaller strips and more scraps! Also loving the fact that you are like me…torn being loving modern fabrics and reproductions 🙂
Wonderful twist on the original pattern–and a great way to find a place for smaller scraps. Hmmm, thinking about my own bin of 1.5 scraps….
So glad you took my idea and ran with it!
I haven’t had time to do it yet, but still plan to.
Nice to see that it looks as good as I thought it would in my head!
This is going to be seriously adorable Nicole – isn’t it just the most gorgeous colorway!!!
LOVE IT! I’m sure it’s because that thread is variegated!
It looks great! I’ve made spool blocks using varied strip sizes and like that look better too.
I definitely love the variation in strip width! ;p
This is cute and I love the civil war style, too, with the black spools!! I knew you were going to come up with something fun with this! ;O) Thanks!
Hmmm, I just bought some 6″ flour sack squares and I was thinking how I could adjust the “wood” part of the spool to get that size to work. Hmmm, hmmm, and hmmm.
It’s very inspiring to see your variations. Thank you for sharing!
Reproduction spools are amazing!!!! Your selections of purples are phenomenal. It is so hard to find good purples right now in reproductions.
loved that spools pattern as soon as i saw it.
your marmalade version is amazing!
the narrow strips mixed in?
genius!
These are so cute! How big is each block. They look so much bigger than other spool blocks I’ve seen (not that many, though). I love it! Thanks for sharing!
Love your spools! I’ve finished mine this weekend, but haven’t decided how to quilt it yet. Luxury problem, I know, but I just have no ideas yet other than the white sashing.
Happy sewing,
Laila
Love the blocks you’ve made. I really hope to get to buy the Marmalade fabrics when they hit the store 🙂
Happy sewing,
Laila