WMUTeach

I think the technique you are using used to be called a "spider". I do this sometimes but I am more efficient if I just hold the threads when I start a seam. I keep loosing my spiders and then I find them all over the place. And I am not fond of spiders in my house. I still get "bird's nests" sometimes but less often than before. I really should be doing leader/ender with my 2.5s.

lizzie3

I checked out Bonnie Hunter's take on the leader enders and it was quite stunning some of the quilts she made. I'll see what her challenge is next month but I probably won't/can't participate. Most of my stash are bright colours and thus so are my scraps. I really don't have contrast in shades so can't sew a light to a bright, cause they are ALL bright! lol But I've looked up some scrappy quilts and am going to just start with 2.5" squares and make some 16 patch squares and see where it takes me.

I don't have many scraps right now (well compared to the average quilter) but I hate that I have any so I'd like to get ride of them before they get out of hand.

Onebyone

Using a leader and ender is time consuming for me. Every now and then I will have a start issue but nothing to fret over.

sewingpup

I have been thinking, what would it look like if instead of lights and darks, I used warm and cool colors....or just picked two color families like say, blue and yellow, or green and purple. I also have thought of just sorting all my uncut scraps into color family and seeing which ones I have the most of and doing a scrappy something with them.

Gemm

This sounds amazing, Sewingpup! I am currently playing with very small HSTs that I picked up at a thrift store (1.25") and am finding it terrifying to picture trying to make a full-sized quilt out of them. Your idea of using strips as your leaders/enders makes this sound more feasible. :-)

Iceblossom

I'm a spider user -- that is I use one little bit and then all the threads collect and make the legs

My big reason for using them is I don't like fabric getting sucked down into the bobbin area, so I just start somewhere in the middle of my little bit of fabric and sew off the edge and on to my next piece. If I used a leader, I'd have to start with a leader for the leader...

joe'smom

If I have to occasionally re-start with a new leader, which means I'm holding the thread ends, then I go back to my leftover piece of binding as the leader, in case I get a tangle (which I wouldn't want on my leader/ender quilt piece). Once that leader is in, I go back to using an ender piece from the 2nd (leader/ender) quilt, which becomes the new leader.

This is so confusing to talk about, LOL.

sewingpup

The idea is to always have some fabric under the foot. So when I am starting out, I will put a "spider" or a "Leader" under the foot, hold onto my Thread ends, then start feeding my piecing under the foot chaining them together, when I get the end of my project pieces, I then feed another "ender" and let it stay under the foot clipping my project off. Then when I start stitching again, that "ender" becomes the "leader" for when I start feeding my project pieces through again. Of course I have to do this each time I stop to fill a bobbin, to change thread colors, to clean the machine, etc. Of course, I could just use a "spider" but it fun to start building up blocks and sections for another quilt. And as the leaders and enders are scrap fabric, if somehow I make a mess on them on start up, I just toss that mess.

lizzie3

That sounds like it could really work!! My favourite quilts have 2 colours so it would very likely work for my tastes. I spent 2 hours cutting up a bunch of 2.5" squares and it took me longer than I thought it would. I guess since I focused getting rid of the smallest pieces so many of the scraps only had enough for 1-3 squares. I don't have enough variety in fabric to stick a colour palette so I went with all my brights. I feel like I'll use the scrap quilt as a backing but we will see.

Irishrose2

My Arkansas Crossroads has been my leader/ender quilt made while sewing other quilts. Even the snowballed blocks can be leaders and enders. I rarely have to restart on my piecing machine.