Lilrain

I am a long time quilter. I keep seeing the term "leaders and enders". Just what are they?

gingerd

It's Bonnie Hunter's technique for dealing with scraps.

When you're sewing a quilt, grab 2 pieces of fabric (a light/dark) and sew them together when you start sewing a strip or whatever from the project you are doing.

You end up with quite a few sewn pieces this way. Then you take these pieces and make blocks/quilts.

Google Bonnie Hunter!

Tartan

It is kind of like making pieces for a bonus quilt as you sew. I just can't get into it because it takes my concentration off what I am working on and I don't need any more distractions when working on a project. I start seeing how my leaders are coming and before I know it I am over at my design wall and you know where that is going.

quiltsRfun

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who does this. We each need to adopt the method of sewing that's best for us.

PaperPrincess

I always used a scrap of fabric for a spider to keep my fabric from being eaten by the throat plate, so when I found Bonnie Hunter's site, i was all primed & ready to go. I try and have a stack of squares cut, or the cut off triangles from a project with 'flippy corners'. I have also cut a small quilt of repeating simple blocks, like 4 patches or HSTs, and stacked the pieces so they are ready to go. Even though I assembly line sew, it is still amazing how quickly those other patches are sewn. It's really like getting a bonus quilt!
I took a class from Bonnie and another way you can use this technique is when you have a pieced border. Cut the pieces for the border at the beginning of the project, use them for enders & leaders, then when the main portion of your top is done, the border is mostly assembled. She pointed out that lots of folks skip a pieced border because they can't face putting it together after spending all that time on the top.

Here's a link to her blog with the explanation:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/...-and-hows.html

tessagin

I have a few. Some tumblers.

Barb in Louisiana

I need to start doing the leaders and enders. I always use a leader to start my sewing. Thanks for bringing this up. Now, which of my fabrics do I want to start cutting up and what size do I think I would be happy with? Two inch blocks are just too small for me, maybe 3.5" so that they finish at 3". That way I could use some focus fabric squares as a 6.5" square to make more of a design. Sounds like a plan. I could add some 4" squares, that I make into some HST's to make pinwheel blocks to add some more design....getting too complicated. And now we know why I just use a piece of extra fabric and have all the little threads hanging off it. "smile"

luvspaper

I am sitting on the bench with Tartan.... I have too many projects to keep up with already!

Pagzz

I like the concept of leaders and enders. I have had most success with using part of my current project (as described above) or just two inch scrap squares. I don't invest time in designing the leader and ender project. I cut 2 inch squares from fabric scraps as they accumulate then I pile them by the sewing machine and I now have a little over 100 nine patches that I will eventually make into a quilt. Otherwise these bits would be in a pile of scraps. It is mindless sewing.[ATTACH=CONFIG]558401[/ATTACH]

Barb in Louisiana

Your 9 patches are so pretty, they make me want to start thinking about the smaller squares again. I had a friend who made 100's of small 4 patches with each 4 patch having only 2 colors. They made such a bright and cheery quilt. Her constant was 2 white squares in each 4 patch. The colors just seem to dance in the finished quilt. I wish I had thought to get a picture of it.