Leaders and Enders Explained

Here is a very brief picture demo of how I use Bonnie's Leaders and Enders.At the end of something, I start sewing through a block, and stop halfway through. This is where I am in the photo above. This block is the "leader."

See the pile of black and white blocks over on the right? Those are the pieces I will be using as "leaders and enders."
Now I am going to sew these two rows of red blocks together. I just start sewing, chain piecing style, right after the black and white "leader" block.
At the end of my row, I backstitch on the red, then insert a black and white block as an "ender," and sew about halfway through that. Then I stop sewing, and clip the red row apart from the "ender" now under my sewing machine needle. This "ender" now becomes the next "leader" for the next time I sew blocks (or whatever) together.This way I don't have those pesky loose threads that stick to everything. Of course, you have to have a bunch of "leaders and enders" ready to sew. For me, it's a way of making two quilts sort of at the same time.

Hope this helps.