Luckily my two machines do not require me to use leaders and enders. When I have desire to make a quilt using 2-1/2" blocks I sew them together to make a quilt. just made three donation quilts using them up.

I am building blocks for a wedding quilt as leaders and enders for a donation quilt. That way, I get two quilts at once without a bunch of loose threads or having to rethread the machine as it comes unthreaded as I start sewing. Works for me!

I'm going to set the 4 patches on the diagonal alternating with a dark blue floral print. I have enough of the dark blue floral print that I can use one fabric for all the alternate blocks. So the 4 patches will be the "scrappy" part. It will be a charity quilt for the Linus project. The scrappy 2 1/2 squares include a bunch of kids prints: animals, lady bugs, hearts, etc... I have a few flannels that are mixed in too for a surprise 'fuzzy'. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/heart.gif

Applique shapes can be made from the patchwork and applied to make new blocks or added to other projects.

I too am using 4P's for L&E, but chuckled at the size of your 4P's for they are way bigger than mine. My 4P are for my OMGosh quilt and finish a 1"!...lots of short seems for me. No matter what the size L&E are a good way to go.

I started using some extra 2.5” blocks to sew 4 patches, then switched to using prepped squares for another quilt while I made Grassy Creek. My scraps from Grassy Creek left me with lots of half square triangles that will finish at 1”. Not sure what I’m going to do with them, but I only have a 150 or so (which finishes to a 10” by 15” block), so I have time to decide.

I’ve been surprised how much less thread I use when I use a leader/ender.

I used to use an old scrap of binding over and over as my leader/ender, but then I finally grasped the concept that I could be sewing two quilts at once with no more effort than I used re-sewing the binding scrap. Now I prep a planned project until it's at the leader/ender stage. Currently it's a log cabin pattern by Thimbleblossoms called Sweet Escape. I don't have scraps available for a random leader/ender project. Eventually I hope to deal with my scraps and get them into a working system, but not until I finish my planned projects.

Joe’smom, I just looked up the pattern Thimble Blossoms Sweet Escape...it looks like a fun project. Are you making it scrappy and have you already cut a lot of your pieces ahead of time? Inquiring minds need to know...LOL

Silly me, I got all ready to do leader/enders with 2.5s and next thing I knew I was stitching a pile of nine patches. Skipped the leader/ender process! https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/boy.gif But I did mentally design a new quilt using those nine patches that will gobble up my vast assortment of 2.5's. Watch out Birthday Swap Members, a new quilt is in process! (We bless folks in the group with 50 - 2.5s for their birthday!)

LOL, this one is not scrappy, I'm using a FQ bundle; usually, I go through my stash to see what I can add to the bundle, but with this bundle, nothing from my stash looked right. I'd describe them as watercolor florals (can't remember the name, and discarded the selvage trimmings). It reminded me of illustrations from a childhood book about a girl who found a floppy white hat in her Aunt's attic, and when she put the hat on, it took her to different places. :)

I did all the cutting at once. I divided the bundle into light and dark, and purchased the white and a very pale (possibly a little too pale) purplish fabric to serve as the aqua. I'm at the stage of adding the next white log.