We are going to begin by sewing your backing together.  You should have already cut the fabric for your backing in half.  Lay the two pieces face to face and sew the length the fabric on one side.  This is what it should look like once sewn together.

{Sorry for the poor lighting, it’s the only room in my house that can accommodate such a large piece of fabric!}

Flip the backing over so the “good” side of the fabric is face down.  Press the seam.  Once you are done pressing the seam, iron the entire backing.  You want to make sure you get it as smooth as a baby’s butt so your quilt does not have any wrinkles or bunching.

Tip:  I use an extension cord and just do this right on the floor.  So much easier than the hassle of the ironing board.  

Here is where your T pins and curved safety pins come into play!  Once you have your backing as smooth as you can get it, pin the four corners into the carpet.  It will help prevent shifting as we piece the layers together.  If you have a hard wood floor, you can just use tape.

Once your backing is secure, start building your quilt sandwich.  {Quilt sandwich is just the three layers of the quilt – the backing, the batting and the top.}  Roll out your batting.  Your backing will be bigger than the batting.  Smooth it out.  I just used my hands and Kyle’s.  He helps me with this part.  <—– good husband!

Next, add your quilt top.  {Again – seasoned quilters beware.  I think I’m about to do something that isn’t allowed.}  I iron my quilt top once it has been added to the top of the quilt sandwich.  GASP!  Won’t that melt the batting?  I have no idea.  I’ve done this for all three of the quilts I have made and haven’t lost one yet.

Now you are going to carefully T pin the corners of the quilt top to secure it before moving on to the pinning.  And because I don’t think that’s enough, I always pin all the way around the edge of the quilt top too.

If you noticed, you have gobs of extra fabric.  You can trim off the excess.  Be sure to leave about two inches to accommodate for any shifting that may take place as part of the quilting process.

Get those fingers ready!  It’s time to start pinning this bad boy together!  Using your curved safety pins, pin through all three layers of the quilt.  You will want to do this every couple of inches or so.  It is better to over pin than under pin.  You will be really mad at yourself if you do not pin enough and the quilt starts bunching!!  Trust me!  I start in the middle of the quilt and work my way to the edge – pinning and smoothing as I go.

Give your fingers a rest!  Good work!

Now you are ready to start quilting the quilt!

Preparation:  I start by winding about 4 extra bobbins.  It makes the process so much easier when you don’t have to completely un-thread your sewing machine in the middle of quilting.  {I didn’t learn that until this quilt.}  Make sure your magnet is handy to help with any spills, broken needles, missing pins, etc…

Grab something to drink and put in a good movie!  You are going to need it!

Let’s begin quilting!

According to quilting guidelines, you are supposed to start in the center of the quilt and work your way to the edge to prevent bunching and puckering.  For this quilt, I started on row 6 of my blocks and worked my way to one edge.  Then I repeated the process for the other half.

To deal with the bulk of the quilt, it is easiest if you roll the quilt to feed it through the neck of your sewing machine.

I am using a straight line quilting technique with my regular foot.  I have not progressed beyond this method.  If you are more experienced, feel free to quilt this as you see fit.  After all, it is an expression of your creativity!  But for the purposes of this tutorial, I will be posting about straight line quilting.

Using the left side of your foot as a guide, begin sewing down each long seam of the quilt top.  The left side of the foot will be running down the seam as pictured below.

You want to stop your thread as little as possible.  If you run out of thread or the thread breaks, just start back where you left off.  When moving between long seams, I stitched through the edge seam.  You will be making a looping pattern as you move across the quilt.

Start at #1.  Sew across the quilt to #2.  Sew through edge seam to get to #3.  Sew across the quilt to #4.  Sew through the edge seam down to #5.  And so on and so forth…

I know that sounds so confusing, but I promise once you get started, it will all make sense.

For the edge, I just sewed around about three times to give it a little definition.

Here’s what it looks like from the back.  Very simple!  But Reed LOVES it!  That’s what counts!

If you want to add more, be my guest!  After all, it is your quilt!  Personalize it as you see fit!  This is a super easy quilting pattern.  I was able to quilt this in one afternoon.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions or hit up my email!  If you are part of the Facebook group, feel free to ask in there!

Have fun quilting and I will see you back next week for the final phase of the quilt – binding!

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Creating your own Moss and Twine Summer Centerpiece is as easy as 1-2-3!

1.  White candle holder

2.  Sheet of moss

3.  Votive candles

Told you – it was that easy!!

I cut the moss to fit the inside of the candle plate.  {Man – was that messy!!}  Then I added the votives and wrapped some twine around them.

Warning:  Be sure you use candles in a glass votive!  Moss is highly flammable.  I don’t want any fires!

Doesn’t it look great against my World Market table runner?  I am seriously swooning over this!

This would work great for an outdoor patio table too!  I don’t have one but maybe someday!

I’m thinking I could even re-work this for Christmas…

What do you think?

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The Sunshine Baking Tags are part of May’s Party Time Club!  The Party Time club is a monthly subscription at Life-n-Reflection that includes new products, guides and tutorials!

The Sunshine Baking Tags include these adorable 5 inch Bag Toppers – available in aqua and yellow.  I just adore the sweet little butterfly on them!

I printed the bag toppers and cut them out.  I stapled them to the treat bags.  To add a bit of flair, I punched holes in the bag toppers and added a cute ribbon!

The other part of the bundle are these cute tags!

When I saw the mason jar tags, I knew what I was going to do with these cuties!  I filled up some mason jars with fresh sugar cookies and added the tags!

I had some left over scrapbook paper that I punched out to use on the jar lids.

{I’ve had that cute ribbon for months just waiting to be used for something like this!}

The yellow and aqua remind me that pool time is not far away!

Have you visited Life-n-Reflection yet?  Kristy just redesigned the shop and it is INCREDIBLE!  You have to check it out!  Tell her I sent you!  {wink wink}

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If you chose to work ahead, you can skip this first part.

For those of you who waited, you are going to need to do a little prep work prior piecing the quilt together.  Begin laying out your rows.  Start with the large rectangles.  Each row will contain 7 large rectangles separated by 6 small rectangles.  There will be 12 rows separated by a sash.  {You will only use 84 out of the 88 large rectangles.} It will look like this.

Lay out the entire quilt top.  Move pieces around until you like how it looks.  This took me about an hour because I’m picky.  Don’t worry that the laid out rectangle rows are longer than the sash rows.  Remember, once the rectangles are sewn together, they will be the same length as the sashes.  This just gives you a general idea of how it will look.

Once you have it laid out how you want it, begin picking up the pieces – keeping them in order!  I begin at the bottom right hand side {if you are looking at it} of the quilt.  Place the first large rectangle on the bottom and then keep moving to the left and stacking the rectangles in order {right to left}.  Next, fold the sash and lay it the opposite direction.

Keep moving up the quilt, collecting rectangles from each row {right to left} until all of the quilt is picked up.

I like to place that bundle in a gallon size freezer bag to keep it separated and in order.  Then I gathered the borders and small rectangles and placed in another bag.

Now let’s start piecing the quilt!

Grab that top row from your quilt pile.  Place the first piece on your working space.  Add your first small rectangle on the right hand side of the large rectangle.  Remember for each row you will have seven large rectangles separated by six smaller rectangles.

Now here’s where my disclaimer comes in.  Most of the experienced quilters may pass out when I divulge this next piece of information.  I do not pin it.  {I know! I know!}  Here’s why…it takes longer to pin it than to sew that 4 inch piece to the large rectangle.  So I’m sorry if this upsets you but I didn’t pin for this part.

Using your 1/4 inch seam allowance, stitch the length of the small rectangle.

Open up your piece that you just sewed.  You will place the next large rectangle FACE DOWN on top of that piece.  Line up the right hand edges and stitch again.

Continue this process until the entire row has been stitched together.  Be sure to keep the rows in order!!  I laid them face down across my dining room chair after I completed each row.

Once your twelve rows are sewn, press the seams open.  I use a cute little Petite Press that I got from Joann Fabric for $20 and it has saved my fingers!  When I was using the steam iron, I kept getting burned.  It’s a great investment if you are going to continue quilting after the Quilt Along!

Lay out your top row of rectangles.  Place the first sash, face down, on top of it – aligning with the bottom of the rectangle row.  Pin that edge.

Sew along the pinned edge.

{Because I am anal retentive, I press my seams after it has been sewn.  I want it to lay correctly.}

Now open up your sewn piece.  Place the next row of rectangles, face down and upside down, aligned with the bottom of the sash.  Line up your small rectangle seams.  Pin along that bottom edge.

Sew along this pinned edge.  Continue this process until all of the rows of rectangles and sashes are sewn together.  You will end up with 12 rows of rectangles separated by 11 rows of sashes.

Once this piece has been sewn together, square off your edges using your acrylic ruler and rotary cutter.

Now you are ready to add your borders.  Begin with the long border.  Place border piece face down on top of the quilt.  Make sure to line up your edges.

Pin the edges and sew.  Repeat process for the other long edge border piece.  Once sewn, press out the seams.

Place short border on top of the quilt, face down, lining up the edges.  Pin and sew.

Repeat for the other short piece.  Sew and press.

You have completed the quilt top!  Great job!  Next week, we will begin quilting the quilt!

The post Quilt Along: Piecing the Quilt appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Without further adieu – last week’s most viewed link was….

Craft Room Reveal by Now At Home Mom

Congrats Ingrid!

Now let’s party!!

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{This week’s features are brought you by Jill at Create.Craft.Love.}

Please remember to pin from the original source!  Thanks friends!

Brush Embroidery Flower Cake Pops from Pint Sized Baker

Tea Bag Wrappers from The DIY Dreamer

GLAM Spray Painted Watering Can Vase from Making Home Base

Mother’s Day Mini Card Printables from Titi Crafty

Milk Glass Bowl Update from Sweet Pea

Mother’s Day Felt Flowers from Crafty Lumberjacks

Mother’s Day Printable Coupon Book from I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Vintage Inspired Painted Mason Jars from Live.Laugh.Rowe

Flower Pots Decorated with Old Newspapers from Wesens-Art

Mother’s Day Kid’s Gift Project from The Happy Scraps

Mother’s Day Thank You Card from Life-n-Reflection

DIY Inspirational Sign from Two Yellow Birds Decor

Heart Thumbprint Charm Necklaces from That’s What Che Said

Congratulations ladies!  These projects rock our socks off!  Any mother would be tickled silly to be given these amazing gifts/projects!

Don’t forget to party with us tomorrow night!  The Keep Calm and Link Up party goes live at 7pm EST!  Bring a friend!

The post 13 Great Last Minute Mother’s Day Ideas appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Wanna create your own Personalized Clipboard?

Here’s what you need:

Clear clipboard

Adhesive vinyl

Die cutting machine

Transfer tape

Credit card

Use the back of the clipboard to apply your vinyl so the raised vinyl doesn’t affect writing on it.  I began by cutting out my apple and placing it on the back of the clipboard.

Use your credit card to smooth out any bubbles.

Next you are going to print out your teacher’s name.  Using the mirror function, flip the name so it will appear correctly through the clipboard.

Once the name has been cut, weed out the extra vinyl and use transfer tape to adhere to the back of your clipboard.

Peel away the transfer tape and flip over!

Now you have a cute, practical gift for the teacher!

Need more last minute Teacher’s Week ideas?  Check out some of my other projects!

Candle Wrap Teacher Appreciation Printable

Chalkboard Gift Tag Printable

Happy Teacher’s Week to all of YOU!

Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow to see if you were featured from last week’s party!  {I picked them!}

The post Personalized Clipboard for Teacher’s Week appeared first on Create Craft Love.

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself!  This printable is formatted to fit an 8×10 picture frame.  Simply print, cut and place in a picture frame to present to your mother on that special day!

Or if you prefer to use this as a card, I created a bi-fold printable as well!  Print, fold and write your own special message to Mom on the inside!  I’m sure her heart will melt!

Click image above to print your Mother’s Day Printable and/or Card!

 All printables are for PERSONAL use only!  Please do not re-sell, re-distribute or claim as your own.  If this printable is posted to the internet, please give credit and link back to Create.Craft.Love.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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