Pinteresting Block Layout Labels

Most of my quilt layouts fall into a standard grid layout.  And I take great care to organize all my blocks for easy assembly into rows and columns, so I don't accidentally sew a block in upside down or in the incorrect position.  Typically, I would take scraps of paper and make 1.5" labels and hand write A1, A2, A3...B1, B2, B3, etc until I had labelled each block within its assigned row and column.  These slips would then be pinned onto my blocks to help me track their proper placement within the rows and columns of my quilt top during assembly.  Once the quilt top was assembled, I would pull off all the scraps and rather than reorganize, I would simply recycle them and then have to recreate the slips for the next set of quilt blocks.  I've always thought it would be nice to have a system that could be reused from project to project and was easy to reorganize for the next use

I've seen reusable plastic templates that can be pinned on, but I suspected I would simplify even more with a simple pin system.  So I picked up a fun little pin cushion and 100 plus flower head applique pins.  Using an extra fine point black Sharpie marker, I then wrote my standard grid letters/numbers A1 through H10 on both the front and back sides of the pins.  They are all in order and ready for use...

This system can account for 8 rows of 10 blocks each=80 blocks, but I have plenty of pins left over that I can expand for quilts that have more than 80 blocks.  And I've already put these pins to use with the current quilt I am working on that only had 20 blocks.  I did have one small mishap, as I melted one of the flower heads while ironing.  But it was easy enough to replace and I was much more aware of pin placement when ironing the other blocks.  

   

And once the rows/columns were assembled, I was able to easily replace the pins to their proper section on the pin cushion--and they are ready for my next quilt project!