Quite a few years ago I drew some quilt designs in a notebook, which I promptly forgot about.
When cleaning and sorting through the papers in my sewing room this Summer, I came across this notebook again. One of the designs I had come up with, I want to present to you today. I have named the block ‘Spool Star’.
The block itself is derived from the traditional spool block, but constructed differently, thus making it possible to usetwo different colors in one block. Putting these block together will create interlocking stars. To some they may look like pinwheels instead of stars, but the name Spool Star does sound a bit better than Spool Pinwheel, right?
As you would expect from me, the fabric selection is a mix of Alison Glass, Giucy Guice, Libs Elliot and some perfectly matching blenders from my stash.
This small quilt has a double batt: 100% cotton and a wool batting on top. I stitched in the ditch around the stars / pinwheels and added some curves in the white background fabric.
The stitching in the ditch around the pinwheels did shrink the quilt a little bit in the centre. The edges of the quilt have become slightly wavy because of that. The small quilt didn’t hang flat. I should have checked this before I added a facing and a sleeve to the back. Oops!
I used the YouTube tutorial by Stitched by Susan and hoped that the colors in the fabrics wouldn’t run. I went for this tutorial because my quilt was already bound and ‘finished’ and I didn’t want to submerge the whole thing in a bathtub.
As I don’t have any carpeted floors, I got a foam children’s play mat to pin the quilt onto. I especially looked for a bigger mat with thicker foam, but this combination was difficult to find in my price range. So I decided to get a bigger mat and I would use the foam tiles on top of each other.
The blocking technique got much of the waviness out , but I will have to remember to block before I and binding or facing.
The design of the Spool block is a foundation paper pieced pattern, but I am working on a traditionally pieced version. The Spool Star pattern can be used for so many beautiful lay outs.
Expect to see more of this block very soon!
Esther
ipatchandquilt 
Awesome .. the design reminds me of a “whirl-i-magic”. Very airy and light … fly away sensation …
A
Yes it does look like a whirl-i-magic or pinwheel kind of shape. 🙂
Hugs
Esther
“wild”. Great idea.
Thanks, Vicki
Thank you Vicki!
Esther
That’s a wonderful variation of a traditional pattern and looks beautiful!
Thank you very much Susan!
It’s lovely – and I see paper planes, not stars or pinwheels!
A-ha! Paper planes indeed! 🙂
Pinwheels, planes… they are moving!
Hugs
Esther
That’s a refreshing take on the original spool block!
Thank you very much Vicki!
Precisely what I was going for!
Esther
Nice!
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