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.

Bento Box Leaders & Enders

Many of you are familiar with Bonnie's Leaders and Enders way of eliminating the problem of the "thread bunny" that hangs off at the end of everything you sew. She keeps a stack of 2-inch squares by her sewing table and uses those.

I don't have 2" squares sitting around, but I thought this would be a neat way of making the Bento Box blocks without feeling guilty about taking time away from "The List" of things I have to do.

So now each evening when I go into my sewing studio I prepare a few Bento Box pieces. I cut 2 6-1/2" pieces from each of my long strips, set those aside, and place the long strips by the sewing machine. I'll sew the two strips together in between the patches of the Child's quilt I am currently sewing up. Then I'll iron the long pair and cut it into crosswise blocks and match them up to use as leaders and enders the next time around.

In the picture above, you can see one Bento Box piece under my sewing machine needle, and two pieces ready to be used next time. While this requires a bit of planning and a slight change in working habits, I find I really like it. No more tossing threads away all the time, and no more finding them all over everything.

And I have assembled 10 of my required 63 Bento Box blocks already!