Monday, January 27, 2014

Design Wall Monday - Spools

On the design wall today is my spool collection, which is over 200 blocks now. This was the leader/ender project over at Quiltville in 2012 - click here for the instructions. If you want to see what other quilters made with their spools, you might want to check out the "spool review" link up post. 
I was a little late in starting my spools, but better late than never, I suppose! Now I am making up for lost time and loving this project. It uses 1.5" scraps, which is the perfect size for the small leftovers that I seem to have in abundance.



I am only sewing these as leader/enders in between other blocks and seams that I am sewing. 


I always have a stack of blocks sitting beside my machine cut out and ready to sew. It is a great way to make a "free" quilt! I learned about this from
Bonnie Hunter, and she is writing another book about leaders/enders, which I think is being released this spring.
Each month I focus on sewing up scraps that are the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so we haven't done orange, green, pink or purple months since I started making these spool blocks. I will be adding a lot more to my collection as the year goes on.
To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.

26 comments:

beaquilter said...

LOVE THESE!! love leaders and enders too

Barb said...

wow your spools are awesome!

Ramona said...

Love your spools! I love how you have them in the color groups. Very striking.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Very smart to do leaders and enders. It is like getting a free quilt!

Missy Shay said...

I love the way you have them grouped by color!

Jeanne said...

Oh wow! Love this rainbow!
Jeanne :)

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

Amazing design wall! I'm a huge fan of l/e projects too - so productive.

Karen said...

Do you have a plan for how you are going to set the spool blocks?

Janet O. said...

What fun! Are there a set number of spools you hope to have in each color, or is it just a "go with whatever" kind of project?
This will be an amazing quilt, Kathy!

audrey said...

Those are great! So pretty.:)

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I love tiny blocks and these are just so cute!! Hmm, when I string piece blocks, just might have to throw a few of these in the mix.

Andee said...

Love your spools...sew much fun! I thought about putting mine together by color across the quilt, but I had SO many blues at the end I didn't do that! Yours is looking good!

Mary said...

Looking Awesome on your WALL! Free Quilts are always sew FUN! Your Featherweight is doing a great job stitching your cute scraps.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

What a neat layout for your spools! I have a bunch made using them as Leaders and Enders too but I'm not sure what I'll do with them. They are always handy to have though :)

Karen Rowland said...

Your spool blocks are looking so great.

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

Love those spools! Simply adorable!

Kristin said...

Wow!! Your blocks look great!! It's really nice to see them all together!

Sweet Woodruff said...

I posted about leaders and enders too. I'm dying to make these spools. I never did them. Yours looks so nice, arranged like this.

Sheila said...

What cute little blocks. You go girl!

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh my!!! Those are just beautiful!!!!

cityquilter grace said...

ooh they are so fun to make...and i love yours!

Gina said...

Love how that quilt looks already xx

Karen in Breezy Point said...

Love your spools! I am still doing them as leaders and enders too--they are so fun to make. I need to sit down and count them--just keep throwing them in a box!

Bonnie said...

Inspirational. I didn't do the spools but seeing them as a rainbow quilt really makes them shine. Great job.

Grit said...

Wow, simply beautiful and awesome design.

Kate said...

It's going to be a beautiful quilt, love all that color.

I've been a fan of leaders and enders since I read Bonnie's book a couple of years ago. It's amazing what you can stitch up without really trying.