Michelle, I am waiting to hear about the smaller spools too. I would love to make those too. Rosemary, just let us know.
For my spools I am going to use burgundy/maroon color fabrics. I am prewashing now. Have fun everyone!

I have finished my 41 reels in Turquoise! It was fun and easy, and only took me a few evenings to do.

I also used Retayne to wash all my fabrics, and Best Press to control them.

I did use Margo's great advice and cut the strips for the top and bottom sections a bit wider, so I could trim each reel down to the correct size. Excellent way to make these!

Rosemary, I have not made my second set yet, but will wait to hear from you about sending in two sets or not. Is anyone else making 82?? If you do, you will have enough to make the cool thinner reel border out of exchange reels, like Rosemary showed. I think it's so cute!

Margo wrote:
My mistake. I meant to say strip sets as these were 2 already sewn together which measure 1-1/2".

I wanted to say that all my red reel block fabrics were treated with Retayne and tested for bleed afterwards !
I hope they will not be anyones' problem...I have faith !

Nice!!

Ok...all finished..waiting for more instructions !!

Debbie, I bet you couldn't match the same greens others are using even if you really tried! Use whatever makes you happy!

I joined a couple of days ago and got Rosemary's confirmation! I love the spool quilt and can't wait to get my strips! Right now I'm away from home for a couple of weeks visiting family so I am unable to look through my fabrics to see what color strikes me. I was thinking about using greens but notice there are already several people doing greens. Maybe dark purple eggplanty colors I'll use! How fun this is. Thank you Rosemary for organizing the exchange.

ajclapp wrote:
Not a problem, Annis! I just didn't want anyone confused with the mention of 1-1/2" strips! Your technique sounds interesting!

Margo, I didn't mean to cause any confusion. Your tutuorials are always great and I'm sure will be used by many. I just thought I'd share the method I used for those that might want to try something different. I use all kinds of piecing techniques and use different ones depending on the project. If I were just making a few blocks or using lots of different fabrics I would start with 1" strips too.

ajclapp wrote:
NOTE TO OTHERS....Just to save confusion.....Annis's technique is completely different from my photo tute. Using my technique, the original strips are cut 1" wide.

idaho wrote:
Yes, I like Idaho's dry climate. But it is humid in Texas and we have lots of insects. And I have a lot of quilts in my closets that haven't been used or washed and many in progress. I do like the fact that the fabric doesn't fray as much with starch. The most I've ever used starch was for my younger son when he was in junior high and wanted his blue jeans starched which was about 20 years ago.

I'm in! My strip sets (2 strips sewn together) are now pressed and trimmed to an exact 1-1/2". I will sew the pairs together another day. I ended up starting with 8" strips. Used my guide bars to sew a scant 1/4" each side of the center. (Made a practice strip first to make sure the seam allowance was right.) Sewed scant 1/4" seams on the long sides. Set seams, then cut into 4" strips. Moved the guide bars to sew scant seams down the center again. Set seams, then cut into 1" strips. After pressing they were all really close to the exact measurement but I decided to trim them anyway as a fraction of an inch added 8 times ends up being too much off on these narrow strips. So I placed the 3/4" line of the ruler on the seam and trimmed both sides. Only a few of the strip sets were slightly undersized. When I sew the strip sets together I will use a scant seam again so I will be sure to end up with the right size block.

Well there's no going back now as I have already starched all my fabrics, cut strips and sewn some. It does make the 1" strips more managable and less likely to fray. Rita.