Tazzie's post here makes me think I'm not alone in my trouble with leader-ender projects. I imagine myself like Bonnie, sewing bits together for months, and ending up with a gorgeous huge quilt, composed of tiny pieces. Then I'd virtuously, and with becoming modesty, point out that I really hadn't noticed it's progress, because it was all Leader- Enders, and after a year of sewing other projects well, (slight blush) There it was. All put together, and I hadn't even noticed!

Oh yes, of course I religiously use leader- enders, but usually somewhere along the line I find that they have taken over. The main project sits abandoned while full of enthusiasm, I steam on ahead and finish the leader-ender. Then I have to decide on another project and deal with the guilt of getting carried away yet again.

So, I found myself stuck with a huge assortment of 1 3/4" by 5" bits, leftovers from the strips a shop cut for a fabric club. What a weird measurement, but as I didn't want to cut them all to 1 1/2", I thought I'd just make 9 patches from them. Easy, no thinking required.

Many ninepatches later, I decided perhaps I'd set them into 25 patch blocks, which necessitated more nine patches, with the light and dark reversed.

Yep, this is all good, things are coming along nicely, and I haven't wanted to rush ahead so far. I think I've got this under control at last!

Until I looked at the pile of blocks and wondered what to do with them next.....

I went through my file of ebay pictures, looking for ways to incorporate 25 patch units, and found this old tattered piece, and after a tricky bit of maths figgerin',




I came up with this connecting block.Really strange measurements on this one, no doubt because of the size of the original strips, but it's looking good anyway.


And then I just had to sew a few together, to make sure it all fitted,


and then perhaps a few more to each other, to check the pressing order, and....


Someone stop me! All I want to do is work on this now, and I can't.
I have other quilts to finish, and customer quilts and bushfire quilts, and there's only enough blocks put together for half the top anyway. I need to go back to the ninepatches and start plodding away again, all the while fighting the instinct to cut out heaps of 1 3/4" strips and chain piece this like a maniac. I will be Strong! I won't have this finished for at least another 6 months. You can quote me on that!

And can you remember a year ago, I mentioned something in this post? About how the wedding was a year away? Well, it's not! It's three days away now, and we're leaving for Adelaide tomorrow and it's time to put aside all thought of patchwork and sewing and concentrate on the matter at hand.

Now if you will excuse me, I've got a lot of panicking to do before then.....