Welcome to another installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures! Today we are talking about mats.
To my complete surprise, people like mats. All of this rabbit trail started with me buying fabric for some Fall and Halloween projects and getting extra fabric that didn't fit the theme. The very first mats I made were Halloween themed. I separated the bundle of fabrics that I bought and put the "other themed" fabrics aside at first. Then, I had an idea. I took two of the designs, cut them in half, added some batting, and sewed it up like a very flat pillow. Now, I look for fabrics that would go together as mats.
Above and below are some of the first mat I made after the Fall and Halloween themed projects. I had several pieces of the antique advertisements fabric, so I made 6 of these mats: two with red backing, two with blue backing, and two with light brown plaid backing. My son claimed one with light brown plaid backing for himself.
Below, I think my favorite of this six are the blue backed mats. I like making things practical and reversible.
Below is the light brown plaid backed mat. This is one that I made as a gift.
Now, I got the pictures a little out of order, but here are the first of the Christmas themed mats I made. There will be more Christmas themed at the end, too.
Above and below, I had these fabrics for a while. I think they were parts of bundles of other fabrics I bought several years ago. Either way, this is the last of these fabrics in my stash. I think they work out nicely. I could see them used in the center of a Christmas decorated table or on a coffee table. Unfortunately these are not part of sets. I think I like making sets, too.
This handful of mats will also be part of another post (look for "Spookies" later). I had fun putting all of these together. Halloween was the theme that kicked it all off.
Above and below are the front and back of one mat. There's something about a simple pattern that really makes things like this stand out.
Above and below are the front and backs of another mat that I spent much more time on. While it was fun to piece these together, it did take a lot more time than the others. I think I might be inclined to make more piecework mats in the future, I'll just have to plan for it.
Now we're back to the Christmas themed mats! For these, I went to the local quilt store after Christmas (2025) and bought a few different fabrics in a couple of different styles. After I gave a handful of items to my brother from the Fall and Halloween sets, my sister-in-law asked if I had any Christmas themed items. There are several people in my family that really like to decorate for different holidays (especially Christmas) and my sister-in-law is one of them.
Above is the more formally styled set. There are 8 total mats, all of them have the Christmas green print on one side, half have snowflakes on red and the other half have "Merry Christmas" and bells on red for the other side.
Below is the more whimsically styled set. I was originally thinking to make two different sets from these fabrics, but decided that one set was good. There are a total of 9 mats in this set: 3 with red and blue, 3 with red and green, and 3 with blue and green. I could see children enjoying this fun set!
Stay tuned for more!
Blessings and Peace!
Tabitha
Tabi's Creating Adventures
If you would like more information, feel free to connect with me at one of the mediums below:
TabisCreatingAdventures@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/TabisCreatingAdventures
tenacious141b (Instagram)
https://payhip.com/TabiElrod
