Welcome to week 49 of the Sew Much Block of the Month! It's really more of a block of the week program so you'll want to be sure to check out all 52 quilt blocks that are part of this hop. My block is a variegated thread quilt block. Kathryn's hops always push me a little out of my comfort zone since they are six-inch blocks and I normally work MUCH bigger than that. It's good to get pushed a little bit though.

If you are new here, you'll see a form to sign-up for my newsletter that will get you the pattern for my modern churn dash block and a little something else in the email, the block pattern link is in the supply list for ease, and towards the bottom of the post, you will find the link for a table runner pattern that uses the spool block.

This quilt block is made to look like a spool of variegated thread. It's a fun and easy way to use up scraps of fabric. The Sew Much Fun block tour has free blocks and tutorials for every level of quilter.

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing items from the links costs you nothing more and adds a few pennies to the fabric budget.

Variegated Thread Quilt Block

I will be the first to admit that I struggled to come up with my concept. The theme was pretty straightforward, anything sewing themed but I couldn't think of anything that was within my skill set. A cool vintage sewing machine block would have been perfect but while I can do paper piecing designing something beyond a traditional block is outside of my skill set. There is a Featherweight block and a treadle block in the hop. I just kept coming back to the traditional thread spool block, but I was sure it had been done several times. I went through all of the blocks and while there are a couple of other spools of thread the spool in my mind was different enough that I felt it could be included in the hop.

So why did I keep coming back to the spool of thread quilt block? Probably because it was one of the first blocks I remember making. I was obsessed with Georgia Bonesteel as a kid and that block was in one of her books I had as a kid. This block is my homage to Georgia and her inspiring me all those years ago.

Designing the Variegated Thread Quilt Block

Since we are doing 6" finished blocks for this blog hop I wanted my block to be very scrap friendly. The thread on the spools can be any color you want and strings don't have to be large pieces of fabric either. We will go more in-depth on the strings in a minute I promise.

I also wanted the spool to look like it had been used. If you are anything like me you have more partial spools of thread than you have full spools and they are probably in a rainbow of colors too. String blocks are a favorite of mine and I haven't done any projects that include them. Plus variegated thread is one of my favorite threads.

As I sat down to write this post I realized that this block besides its being a nod to Georgia's block, it is also a "choose your own adventure" type of quilt block. The thread on the spool can be any color you want. The spool doesn't have to be brown for a wooden spool, we have all colors of spools available to use today. The background can also be changed, maybe the same color as the walls in your quilting room.

String Blocks

The written pattern assumes that you have a basic understanding of string blocks. If you haven't ever made a string block before I have a string block tutorial. There are a few things I want to touch on that are specific for this pattern. The pattern is based on using 1" strips for strings. If you use different widths it will change how many strings you need to cover the paper.

Supplies Needed for Variegated Thread Quilt Block

Below are links for the fabric I used, the first link, and other suggested fabrics that would give you a similar-looking block. Of course, feel free to substitute any fabrics, these are only suggestions.

Spool Fabric - Maywood Sheltering Tree Beige, QT Fabrics Open Air Driftwood, Whistler Studios Early Bird Charcoal Woodgrain, Aurifil Orange,

Background Fabric - Figo Honey Bloom Blue Texture, QT Fabrics Open Air Sand Blue, Blender Fabrics (no matter what color you want you'll find it in that listing)

Strings - In my quilting room I call strings anything less than 2" wide and/or less than 21" wide. I cut all of my strings to 1" for this pattern.

Paper Foundation - You can use "true" foundation paper like this vellum paper or you can use old phonebook pages or even magazine pages. For string blocks, I tend to use either phonebook pages or magazine pages since I won't be printing on it.

Seam Roller

The Pattern

Constructing the Variegated Thread Quilt Block

This is a super simple block to put together. It's a string block and four flippy corners. That's it! I love a good quick block that I can knock out a bunch of them at once. If you struggle with flippy corners or snowball corners, they are the same thing different quilters call them different things, check out the snowball corner post.