the quilt square that was not meant to be...

It's my month to choose the quilt square for 12squared.  I loved these two designs.  I liked my sample.  But I wasn't totally excited about it.  So I did a different design.  Head on over to 12squared to see it! Maybe I'll do this one later! :)

Here's my inspiration. 

 source: fresh lemon moments

 source: a little biased

where we'll end up!

Where we're starting!

Trim or tear off selvages from your fabrics.  Trim selvages to at least an inch wide with a bit of the fabric showing so you have enough to work with.

 You will need enough to form a 7"x8.5" block when strips are sewn together.  (That was about ten with the two blocks I've made) I cut strips about 7.5" long and laid them out to decide what order to sew them into. You can repeat selvages if you need/like.

 Sew selvages together to form a block. To preserve the "cute" part and writing edge of the selvages, you'll probably want to use a scant quarter inch seam or closer to 1/8" seam.  Just make sure it's secure and straight.

I'd like all the writing to face up.  I'm type A like that.  

Keep going until your block is 8.5" high. 

Press seams in one direction. 

Press flat. 

 I sat down with a movie one night and ripped off all the selvages I had. (It was very eye opening to the current level of my fabric hoarding!) 

I had lots of selvages, so I tried to pick pink and red selvages for this spool.  The first block I made, I chose cool colors in blue and green. If you have enough to coordinate, go for it.  If you don't, no worries! If you have no selvages, let me know!

 Next, cut two 12.5"x2.5" strips for the spool.  Choose a color that resembles a spool to you.  I chose grey for the first spool I made and used a taupe/light brown this time.

Cut four 2" squares of solid white cotton.

 You will be sewing down the diagonal of this square, so mark down the center.

 Pin your squares to your spool strips as shown.  

Sew along the diagonal. 

 Line up your ruler with your stitch line and trim off to 1/4" seam allowance.

 Iron flat.

 Here's the top and bottom of your spool.

 Square off your selvage strips.  My block measured 7" wide and 8.5" tall.

 Cut 2 8.5"x3.25" blocks for the sides of your spool.  

Sew white blocks onto either side of the selvage block. 

 Press flat. 

 Assemble your spool as shown.

 Here are the two (blurry) blocks I've made so far.  

Here's where you get to have fun! Go back to the top original inspiration picture.  If you are feeling adventurous, go ahead and change the measurements and make a squatty spool or a tall and skinny spool!  Have fun with it!  If you are thinking this is adventurous enough, :) use my measurements and tutorial! 

Here are the constants I would like to stick with:

**for the top and bottom of the spool, stick with the 2.5"x12.5" measurements

**the finished block should be 12.5"x12.5", so if you make a short squatty spool, add white sashing at the top, while keeping the bottom of the spool at the bottom

**use selvage strips for your "string"

**use a "neutral" or spool-resembling fabric for the top and bottom of your spool (grey, brown, tan, black, etc.)