Empty spools from your thread
02-20-2010, 09:24 AM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Central Indiana
Posts: 1,266
Originally Posted by LucyInTheSky
My boyfriend has a pet quail so I figured he could play with that (the quail, not the bf). Well, the quail didn't quite get it. So now the bf blows through the spool (it's an aurifil) and makes this whistling sound that irritates the quail. He (bf now) loves it...
As for mine.....cat toys here also.
However back when they use to be wooden I would see them used at craft fairs as arms and legs for cloth made dolls.
02-20-2010, 10:04 AM
#32
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Salem, OR
Posts: 511
Originally Posted by OmaForFour
Glue the spools together so that there are 4 in the bottom row, 3 in the next, 2 in the next, 1 in the next. Glue the rows together. Take two more spools and glue them one on top of the other. Glue them on the bottom in the middle. Get a wooden star and put it on the top of the row with 1. Make bows from narrow strips of your quilting fabrics and glue them wherever you want on the spools.
Voila! you have a "quilter's Christmas Tree" You can make these for gifts!
I have one that I bought at a craft show many years ago. It is my favorite Christmas Decoration!
OmaForFour
(Yes, I have 4 grandchildren!)
Voila! you have a "quilter's Christmas Tree" You can make these for gifts!
I have one that I bought at a craft show many years ago. It is my favorite Christmas Decoration!
OmaForFour
(Yes, I have 4 grandchildren!)
02-20-2010, 10:41 AM
#34
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Spring Lake, NJ
Posts: 2,458
Originally Posted by Elisabrat
Ok, I was wondering.. what does everyone do with the empty spools? I tossed three yesterday and kept thinking I wonder what could be done with these..surely art projects? I know recycle to the end.. but someone was requesting them for a science project in the classifieds and it made me think maybe there are ideas. Post them so we can all rethink our tosses of all those wonderful little spools!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-37333-1.htm
02-20-2010, 12:39 PM
#36
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Raleigh, MS
Posts: 1,038
Just thought of this, and I don't even know that it would work, but you could string several spools on a piece of thin rope. Spread peanut butter on the middle parts of the spools and roll in bird seed. Hang from a tree and make some birds happy. They'll be able to land and hang on to the bases of the spools. I suppose you could glue some small dowels to the bases so they had a better perch though.
02-20-2010, 01:19 PM
#37
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: North Fort Worth TX
Posts: 107
I use them to make a garland for my christmas tree. String them with a wooden ball in between. Use your thread clippings to put into clear glass balls for decorations and you can have a beautiful tree!
02-20-2010, 04:53 PM
#39
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: NW Minnesota
Posts: 1,245
I had a friend that is very much into model trains. I used to give him my empty spools and he made scenery bits with them. He turned serger cones into trees, smaller spools into fencing, etc.
And yes, I remember the wooden spools being used for "French knitting"...I still have mine from when I was a girl. ;)
Patti
And yes, I remember the wooden spools being used for "French knitting"...I still have mine from when I was a girl. ;)
Patti
02-20-2010, 04:54 PM
#40
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 619
I save all of mine, partly because of sentimentality. When I was a child in the 1940's we had very few toys due to the war & poor family. I would spend hours building houses, castles, etc with the empty spools, I loved those spools.
My children played with them & now grandchildren also play with them or string them on yarn for a necklace. True, they don't play with them as much as I did as a child but it thrils me when they do.
My children played with them & now grandchildren also play with them or string them on yarn for a necklace. True, they don't play with them as much as I did as a child but it thrils me when they do.
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