Valentine Snack Mat Tutorial

Supplies

-5 jelly roll strips (there will be extra)

-(2) 7” x 7” pieces of fabric (I used white)

-Fabric for backing (mine was 7" x 12")

-Fabric for binding

-Batting scrap at least 12"

-Thread, scissors and sewing machine

-Rotary cutter and mat

-Heat n bond lite

-Iron

-Heart Template

 For starters, I didn't give specific measurements for backing or binding as I'd prefer you to measure it once you get to that step. I did however give you a guideline for what I used. 

To start, lay out your strips in a way that looks good to you. If my fabric looks familiar, I'm using the same jelly roll I used for my Sleep Mask Tutorial.

We're going to sew all of these together down the long sides. So take your first strip and lay it down right sides together and sew all the way down the long side using a 1/4" seam. Now take your 3rd strip and flip it over onto your second strip as shown and again sew down the long side.

Continue sewing in this manner until all 5 of your strips are sewn together.

Take your strip set to you iron and press. I always press my seams open.

Now cut (2) 6" slices off the end of your strip set.

Print and cut out the heart template. Trace the heart onto the back of the 6" pieces that you just cut. It will be wider than you need. You can place the heart in an direction you want. Be creative.

Cut 2 pieces of heat n bond lite large enough to cover the heart you just traced.

Iron it on according to the packages instructions. At this point, you need to cut out the hearts. I could still see the heart through the heat n bond. If for some reason you can't see yours, then trace the pattern onto the fronts and then cut them out. You'll be left with 2 hearts like below.

Peel the backing off and center your hearts onto the 7" x 7" pieces of fabric you should have cut beforehand and iron them on.

Take your blocks back to your sewing area and sell all the way around the hearts. You can do this with any stitch you like. I chose a straight stitch close to the edge because me and that zig ziag stitch...we don't get along! Do this for both and then set them aside.

Go back to your strip set and cut (4) 3" pieces.

Cut them again to 7" long. I tried to center 4 strips.

Each heart block will get 2 of these strips. Pin each 3" strip onto each side of your heart blocks as shown below. Then sew down the sides using a 1/4" seam.

Take to your iron and press your seams. Look how pretty they are! Now your snack mat tops are done! Set them aside for now.

At this point, I would suggest measuring your own snack mat fronts and cut your backing pieces to size. I cut mine 7" x 12". I did cut mine a bit larger because I'm going to square mine up before I sew everything together. If however, you're a WAY better quilter than I, you probably won't need to square it up! You'll also cut your batting now the same size as your backing. You will need 2 batting and 2 backing pieces.

Now we're going to make what's called a quilt sandwich. Place your back piece right side down on your work area. Then place your batting on top of that. And finally, place your heart piece on top, right side up so it's facing you. Do that for both snack mats. Then pin or baste your 'sandwich' together. I'm going to pin mine because it's such a small project.

You can quilt these any way you like. I've never done free motion quilting before-seems totally scary to me! So I'm just going to do some straight line quilting and the quilt around the heart.

Now is the time to square up your snack mats if you need to. I needed to! :)

At last, the binding! If you're new to binding, this part can seem scary. But I promise it's not as hard as you think it is! I've actually come to love binding quilts. I could do my own tutorial for this part, but I thought I'd share the tutorial that I learned to bind with. You really can't find a better tutorial for this type of binding.

Quilt Binding Tutorial by Amy Smart of Diary of A Quilter

Her blog is awesome. A lot of what I've learned about quilting has come from her. So if you're a newbie who wants to learn to quilt, you have to check out her blog. Such a wealth of information!

Once you're done, you'll have 2 super adorable snack mats! And they don't have to be just for Valentine's Day. Think of all the gorgeous fabrics you could use to make these!

Have fun with these and as always, personal use only! :)

*Linking up to these Parties!!