Spool of 1966

I hadn't made any sort of spool block, though I've admired them for some time.  When I think of spools, I think of Kerry's blocks, Alexia's mini spools, Chibicookie's block, and Faith's row of spools. All great examples of variety and technique in spool construction.  One of the patterns that I've had earmarked for a while in the Brackman book is Aunt Kate's Spool of 1966. A simple spool in a circle on top of a pieced square background.

If you own the Brackman Book, which apparently now goes for a pretty penny, you'll know that the book gives you the basic pattern design; but it omits measurements or precise patterns. That means I needed to take a guess at proportions of the spool ends, thread and circle. I intentionally set the thread at a slight angle and selected a background fabric reminiscent of stitching to echo the spool concept. Then I gave myself the extra challenge of lining up the stripes in the circle fabric. Futile effort as contrast and daylight washed it out for the photo.  Considering it was machine pieced with mitered seams, it matches pretty well. Trust me on that one. I was feeling a bit smug having tackled mitered seams with aplomb, but I'm still not brave enough to machine sew smaller circles. I hand appliqued the circle onto the background. With that, I'd finished my take on the Spool of 1966.

I wanted to bump up my quilting history, so I searched Google and the Quilt Index to find other spool quilts.  I found only three links about this block on all of Google including Rose Marie's My Sweet Klosjes (Spools). Rose Marie made 182 of these blocks!

Can you see the block just to the left of the Spool of 1966 in the Brackman book? The simple one with an irregular 9 patch X in a circle? I think that's the one that I'd like to tackle next.