Leaders and Enders

For many years I've worked with Leaders/Enders that eventually become a project as well as the main projects I'm working on at the time.  For me, it seems to keep my machine from eating fabric when starting a new seam.  
 

Usually I have trimmed triangles laying next to my machine, just waiting to become pinwheels or hourglass blocks.  But the last couple of weeks my leaders/enders have been string blocks pieced on either paper foundations or muslin foundations.  The smaller Bead block had paper which I removed right before adding the borders.  The 9.5" string blocks are pieced on 10" muslin squares, and the muslin stays in.  

The aqua strings were right next to the yellow bin, so I had pulled out lots of yellow strings too.  I hadn't been doing these larger string blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year because I was using strings to make the rectangular sections for the Rainbow Connection quilt blocks.  Well, now that Rainbow Connections is finished, it seemed like a good time to start making these string blocks again.  They are really easy to do as leaders/enders.  I even found I had a little pile of muslin squares already cut so it was quick to begin them.

Do you follow Bonnie Hunter?  She always releases a special free pattern in July specifically geared toward leader and ender projects.  I did make one block - just to play a bit with it.   The strings and triangles are easier, but this could be a cute block too. 

So - what are the main projects going on this week?  The second clue was posted on Tuesday for the Fat Quarter Shop's free sew-along Star of Wonder.  It was 4 blocks that only took me a half hour to cut and sew.  The green and white blocks started with a 4-patch and then added strips in the Log Cabin fashion but only on 2 sides.  Easy peasy!!

And I worked on the units for the remaining 9 Tranquility blocks for the Bear Creek Quilts mystery.  The clues for this one are only posted once a month - just like our local Saturday Sampler.