Adventures in Spookies

Today's installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures is from Halloween. In 2024, my son and my sister-in-law were both mentioning a lack of Autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving themed decorations and the few things they did have were wearing out. So, I decided to fix that in 2025. I spent time throughout the year making a variety of items in themed fabrics including place mats, microwave bowl hot pads, cup cozies, ornaments, and more! This is the Halloween collection. I hope you enjoy!

Top and bottom pictures are the reversible sides of the same place mat. With kitty cat witches on brooms and a white background on one side and orange Jack-O-Lanterns on a black background on the other, these place mats were well received by the family. 

Top and bottom are reversible sides to the same place mat. I spent a lot more time making this one. While it was fun, it was also a lot of work. Maybe I will do more like this again someday. This one is a one of a kind place mat. 

Top and bottom are the fronts and backs of Halloween ornaments. These little scrap busters turned out to be a huge hit with my  mother-in-law and my son. 

Top and bottom, one more time, of the same place mat. I experimented with different stitching patterns. It is easier to see the stitching with the kitty cats than the pumpkins. 

Top and bottom are the fronts and backs of more Halloween ornaments. They turned out so cute!

Top and bottom are fronts and backs of one more group of Halloween ornaments. 

Top: Cup cozies are a popular item in general. The Halloween cup cozies were a big hit!

 

Bottom: As promised, microwave bowl hot pads. I moved from using a 10 inch cut for the fabrics to a 12 inch cut. Most people have mentioned the difference and appreciate the extra room for their bowls.  

Top and bottom: More cup cozies! I made quite a few from the Halloween fabrics. I also added some ghosties to the mix. Between the kitty cats, the pumpkins, the bats, and the ghosties, I had plenty of variety. I made so many cup cozies that I decided to give some of them as the teacher appreciation gift for my son's school. 

Top and bottom: And to finish off the showcase, two views of the bats on bats microwave bowl hot pads. (I apologize for the sideways picture. I'm switching to landscape photos going forward... if I remember.) 

 

What is your favorite Halloween collection item? 

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

 

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Adventures in Hanging Towels with Applique

Welcome to Tabi's Creating Adventures! Today we're looking at hanging towel. This time we have applique! Using the base of the towel as an inspiration, I worked up little leaves to sew on the front of the knit top. Each hanging towel is a little different, a lovely addition of character.

A short little update this time around. I hope you enjoy!

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

 

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Adventures in Crochet Bears

Welcome! On this installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures: Crochet Bears!

 

This little adventure started because I had some yarn staring at me and begging to be made into bears. I found some yarn on clearance at some point and it finally came back to my attention. After I made the first bear, I looked at the label and it was specifically designed to make continuous Grannie Squares. I thought that was interesting and am happy with how these bears came out.  

 

Below: Blue was the first bear I crocheted with the Grannie Square variegated yarn. My son almost took it before it was finished.

 

 

Below: Red crochet bear is the second one I made. I realized I put the arms on different for Red. It works. 

Above: Bear three is yellow. 

 

Below: The family of red bears.

 

 

Above: The family of yellow bears.

 

Below: The whole family of variegated bears! 

As you can see, I was able to make a good number of bears. I donated this family (collection) to our local YMCA. The staff there were grateful and made several comments on how cute the bears are. I'm not sure what these bears will eventually do. Maybe I will be able to update this post and let you know someday. 

 

In the meantime, I have more ideas and projects to work on, so stay tuned for more!

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

 

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Adventures in Themed Christmas Hanging

In today's installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures we are looking at a themed Christmas hanging. (Again, I am not sure why the pictures keep ending up sideways. Maybe the Blogger likes landscape pictures over portraits.)

 

Mr. Grinch here was among fabric that was given to me a while back. I was struck with inspiration to make either a table runner or a wall hanging. Either way, "Christmas" was missing from the piece of fabric I had so I embroidered "Christmas" below "Merry" to make it look complete. The backing is a piece of solid light blue fabric that about matches the blue of the snowflake sections.  

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

 

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Adventures in Mats

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:

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Adventures in Painting 2

Hello! Today's installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures is about paintings.

 

I have a wide variety of hobbies and interests and painting is one of those that does not get touched very often. That being said, here are a few paintings I made a while back. I think my personal favorite is the one with a panda bear in a bamboo grove. Each piece was inspired by my world. My husband and I call each other "Panda Bear" (that's a story for another day). I have a lot of love in my life. I enjoy flowers. We live near a lake. Colors and patterns show up in a lot of different places.

 

 

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:

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Adventures in Quilting for My Kiddo

On today's installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures we are looking at a 5 foot long quilt for my kiddo. 

My kiddo was with me while I was finding fabric for my sister's requests (Christmas gifts 2025) and found himself absolutely torn between two fabrics that he was convinced I would use to make him a quilt (because he asked nicely). I caved and had him pick one of the fabrics for me to work with. I also told him he had to wait his turn because I had lots of things I needed to finish before I could start on a quilt for him. He said okay and patiently waited 5 months for me to get his quilt finished. As demanding as he can be at times, he is definitely sweet. He absolutely loves this quilt and pretends it is a magic item that allows him to summon the Pokemon for pretend battles with his dad. It's adorable. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this installment! 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:

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Adventures in More Cup Cozies

In today's installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures we are looking at more cup cozies. All of these were made from remnant fabric. My sister requested some microwave bowl hot pads as gifts for her coworkers (Christmas 2025) and I had enough fabric left from those projects to make some smaller items. I hope you enjoy!

Top: Peanuts! Charlie Brown and crew are happy to help keep coffee (or tea) warm. These were made from remnants of the microwave bowl hot pad project.

 

Bottom: Mulan was one of the gift fabrics for my sister's coworker. The purple and green cup cozie is just cute. The blue one is a batik and feels different than other cottons. I was surprised at how well it works for a cup cozie. We also have a beach shells print on the end. All of these are made with remnants from other projects. 

Below: Gothic skulls are a favored theme of my barista friend. She gushed when she saw this design. 

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:

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Adventures in Hanging Towels in Christmas Colors

Today's edition of Tabi's Creating Adventures is highlighting Christmas themed hanging towels. These lovely gems are a simple pattern and worked up nicely. Stockinette stitch knitting is probably my favorite stitching pattern. I do enjoy lace quite a bit, but there is something about stockinette that is amazing in its simplicity. I like the look, I like the feel, and stockinette is among the basics of knitting.

Above: A set of four hanging towels, alternated, make a nice visual.

Above: the red hanging towels are lovely by themselves.

Below: the green with red hanging towels have a masculine charm.

Above: Traditional red, green, and white hanging towels are a festive option.

 

Below: Sometimes you just need a special theme. These blue, red, and white snowmen are perfect for a fun Christmas (or winter) addition. 

I hope you enjoyed this little installment!

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:

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Adventures in Ornaments

Welcome to another installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures! 

Last time I talked about corner bookmarks. Today it's ornaments! 

 

(Again, I'm not sure what's going on with the sideways pics. It might be a while before I can get them fixed.) 

 

So, scrap fabrics from other projects make great ornaments, corner bookmarks, and a variety of other things depending on the size of the leftover material. Ornaments and corner bookmarks use smaller pieces of scrap fabric.  Sometimes the material lends itself more to ornaments and sometimes more to corner bookmarks, and sometimes the fabric remnants lend themselves to making the loops for the ornaments. I cut and pin for both ornaments and corner bookmarks at the same time. The larger pieces of scrap fabric I cut to use for larger scrap busters. More on that another day. 

Anyway, above is a small selection of ornaments from Halloween, mats (soon to come!), and some non-holiday crafting. These ornaments are the third set I have made.

Here we have the front (above) and back (below) of some slightly larger Christmas themed ornaments. I was able to use the last of this fabric that I have had for quite a while, so if anyone wants something with a similar pattern I'll have to see about ordering from a print-and-ship site. (That might take a while... on my part.) 

I hope you enjoyed this installment on ornaments! If you have any ideas or suggestions for things you'd like to see, please let me know! My contact info is below!

 

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

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