Hello all!

This summer I participated in a Heather Ross mini quilt swap on Instagram.   It was so much fun! I had wanted to make a thread spool quilt forever and this was the perfect excuse.

I wanted the quilt to have a loose "rainbow" order. So, I rummaged through my HR scraps, begged/traded some more scraps from friends, and got to work. The spools are improvisational pieced, which made the final piecing a challenge, but it made for a good variety of shapes and sizes.

I heavily quilted the background with swirls so the spools would stand out. (Swirls are my go-to free motion quilting motif.) It took awhile, but I love the look. Then I stitched around each of the spools and then quilted a few zigzags across each to mimic thread.

It was a lot of fun to make and I will have to make another one for myself soon!

(An outtake of my quilt holder jumping for joy!)