Enders Made Into A RITNY

What's a RITNY? It's my mystery quilt pattern from 2013. You can find the instructions in the mystery tab on the top of the blog. This quilt that placed 2nd in my county fair that same year!

What's an ender? They are small scraps that are sewn together at the end of another piece that is sewn. It's like you are working on two projects at the same time. It's a thread saver, too!

I was taught as a young girl to sew onto a small scrap piece of fabric and leave the pressure foot down when the sewing was done. If I'm going to sew a seam onto a scrap, why not have it sew something useable? 

Bonnie Hunter has written books on beautiful quilts to make with "leaders and enders" of scraps. 

Here's my Ringing in Thd New Year quilt with my scraps of enders. 

I have piles, all made from enders, of 1/2 square triangles ready to be made into broken dishes blocks and squares ready to be made into 4-patch blocks. 

The layout plan begins!

Sew blocks together two by two, and then four by four, etc. 

The rows get completed. 

And then everything gets connected and bordered. 

That's my award winning pattern! Have you made ender pieces? 

Bargello Blue Weave

This one's a wrap!

Finishing Touch - The Label

I was in my favorite fabric shop the other day and I overheard someone asking where they could find labels to put on their handiwork. We all know we should label our stuff. It feels a little like torture sometimes, especially if the project was a long-lasting one. But it got me thinking, "I sew. I should experiment with making my own labels." Here's what I did for that experiment. 

We all have a scrap pile that looks like this. Pieces too big to toss and too random to use easily. 

I picked and pulled and narrowed it down to these strips. 

I like to consider the back side of fabric for things. In this case, the muted pattern will look great on a label!

This is the strip I chose. It already looks labelish!

These pieces need stabilizer. I was reminded of that the hard way!

My machine has basic letters in its stitch menu so I took advantage of that time saving feature! If you don't have this option, you could choose a larger swatch and FMQ your wording on it. 

After the stitching is done, trim off the extra stabilizer to eliminate the bulkiness and press it. 

I used my ruler to square the fabric up around the wording. My lettering is lined up on the red dotted line on my ruler. 

Now the edges can be folded under and pressed in place. 

Pin your custom label to your project and stitch it down. If the item isn't going to be put through too much stress, you could use non-sewable heat 'n bond tape and press it in place. 

Here's another version I made. I pressed mine on with heat 'n bond since they are inside a hat brim. 

What do you think? Will you try to make some labels? I hope this tutorial has inspired you to try it out. Take a day and make a bunch of them so you can add your finishing touch whenever you are ready!