Bonnie Hunter
 

I am so excited. I just returned from Bonnie's lecture in Amherst NY. It was totally on Leaders and Enders. She states that it increases your productivity exponentially by using the leaders and enders while making other parts of a quilt or even a different quilt. Fantastic lecture. I need to start cutting and sorting my scraps using her method. :thumbup:

ok, I'll be the one to ask the dumb question:

What are leaders & enders?

I'm a fan too. Can't wait til the end of October.....I'm signed up for a class in Texas :thumbup:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/...-and-hows.html
This is on Bonnie Hunters Quiltville web site.

I was impressed that she said that she sews mainly on 3 vintage machines... treadles. And she counts her block progress by putting a leader between every 10 of her chain piecing.

Mine are sitting right beside my machine but I can't remember to do it. After sewing for sew many years, it's hard to do things differently. I usually have a thread tail before I remember what I should have done.

Unfortunately my poor brain isn't capable of that type of organization....but I do like the idea!

I'm going to her workshop, a week from today. YAY!!!!
It does take a bit of planning, but I've made 2 quilts with leaders/enders. Now, I just hate it if I don't have anything cut & have to reach for that ratty old spider.

Thanks for bringing Bonnie Hunter up again. I really am going to have to retrain myself to start using her method. I don't have the scraps, but I bought several precut kits that I am going to start sewing while I am stitching other patterns together. This will get rid of those other leaders full of thread that I have now. I hated wasting the thread anyway. It's amazing how someone has to point something out to me before I can see it how it can apply to me. What I will have to deal with is that I don't always use the same needle setting or stitch length for all projects. I guess it's time for the sticky notes.

My friend is using 2.5"squares as enders and she hopes to make a quilt from them

It's funny. I am all things Bonnie, but I don't use her leader/ enders. I make her l/e quilts or projects, but - I don't need to use them. The machines I use do not get upset with starting a seam, I've had several that do, but not right now. I also sew with a Juki f-600 that doesn't need them. I sew in long strips, not individually most of the time, but when I need to start from scratch my machines just do it. Am I the only quilter who locks her seams? After many repairs on quilts I had put together and were starting to open up, I got fed up and just lock stitch when I start.

I do use L$E, but only when I am piecing, there is no tension/ stitch changes for that....if doing any other sewing, mending, that little basket gets put to the side.....

Bonnie Hunter is going to do an all day workshop for our quilt guild next year. That date is reserved on my calendar and I am going to be one of the first on the sign up sheet. I'm also putting down the money to reserve my spot.

Are you going to be at the Stitchin' Heaven class(es)? There are four of us traveling down from Arkansas to attend all 3 of her classes next month. Hope to see you there!

I started using Leaders and Enders after finding Bonnie last year. I have made 2 quilts since then, and had the "bonus" third one from using them.

Now I have no projects going, so I'm going to be cutting the pieces for a Smith Mountain Morning (one of Bonnie's patterns) that I'm going to make for my brother. Need to think about finding something for Leaders and Enders for that.

I'm hooked!

wow,bet that was fun and a learning process.

I was once part of a guild that had her come and do a talk, followed by a class the following day which I couldn't attend because I have a day job. I had never heard of her, and wish I had paid more attention to her because now I am a huge fan and didn't know the treasure I was learning from at the time.

I, too, use enders and leaders. I keep a pile of 2-1/2" squares used for this purpose wherein I stitch the 1/4" seam, thus collecting for a scrap checkerboard for another project.

Sorry, #11 above. My response is redundant.

I've been to two BH workshops and learned something in each one that has helped me piece and cut easier and better.

I missed signing up for her workshop that happens next week in Michigan. Hopefully I can make one of her workshops in lower Michigan when she is there - I believe in 2016. In the meantime, I am doing l/e with 2 1/2 or 5 inch squares. Love all the thread I am saving by doing l/e! Just this August I pieced three quilt tops by using the l/e process while piecing other quilts. Wish I had known of this process years ago!

Maybe you've figured it out by now by reading the other posts. They are just scraps of fabric that you sew onto after you have finished a seam. That's the ender. Then it becomes a leader when you sew onto the next piece. We use them to keep the thread from bunching up at the start of a seam, to keep the needle from unthreading itself, and to mark our progress (putting one on after each 10 pieces). Some people call them spiders (because they often have lots of threads hanging from them), and some call them startie-stoppies. Whatever you call them, they are great.

I don''t need to use a leader for my machine, but I love love, love Leaders and Enders! I am currently working on three projects and one of them is a L & E quilt from Bonnie's book Leaders & Enders. I am making a quilt for DH for Christmas, which needs to be done only at night after he's gone to bed. I'm making a fall wall hanging during the day because, well, I can't not quilt all day, and am sewing the L's & E's for a quilt for the living room to go with our newly reupholstered sofa and love seat.

At times I have to fix a seam in the middle and don't use an L or E and I feel guilty, like I'm wasting my time! I am really hooked on them. Am anxiously waiting for the next batch!

Participating in the swaps on the board is a super way to get the variety of fabrics I need for my scrappies. I am currently into my second one and am looking forward to more. Thanks again, Sewbizgirl, for doing them!

I don't have more than one project going at one time BUT I'm working on a Bonnie inspired quilt using 2-1/2 squares that I chain piece through, then turn them into 4 patches. I do like Bonnie does, pin them together in bunches of 10 so it's easy to count how many patches I have/need. I always have something under the presser foot waiting for another block to be sewn.

I would love to take a class with her. I try to do her method and I do have a couple of her books, now I just need to pick a pattern. :)

Hopefully, I will be as proficient some day

Just got home from Bonnie's crumb class in Amherst, NY! Don't know when 7 hours went faster! Go to a class of hers if ever you can!

That is a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

glad you liked her she was at our guild a few months ago she is awesome!!

Just a bit of a clarification: l/e are not just scraps of fab. These pieces are cut to a specific shape/size and used as described above, but then these pieces themselves will/can become another pieced item when those l/e are then sewed together into whatever.........spiders as mentioned above are indeed just "scraps" used to save thread, stop nests on bottom, or whatever, and used until they are globs of thread ends .........not meaning to degrade anyone here, just to make a clearer explanation to someone who may not know the differences in terms.............

Thanks for the link. I'm going to try this.