Great idea Rosalind.
Even before I read the text in your post, I knew you had an old Bernina 830 by your first photo. I still have mine also and love sewing on it. They are sturdy little machines, aren't they? I got mine in 1975.
Y'all are sharing how you do your thread so guess I should share what I do. I put my spool in an old mug I am not using and on top of my machine, I tape a 1" piece of plastic straw and run my thread through there and then thread my machine. It allows the thread to be loose and yet not bouncing all over my sewing table. :-D