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 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 Quilted Cup Cozies

Welcome! Today's post is all about quilted cup cozies. These little gems were inspired by the crochet and knit versions of the cup cozies in combination with my recent endeavors with the Microwave Bowl Hot Pads (MBHP - see the previous blog posts). As I was cutting and preparing to make the MBHPs, I realized I had large enough pieces left over to make some smaller items. Eventually it dawned on me that I could use the paper sleeves from my recent trips to the coffee shop as a pattern for quilted cup cozies. After a few questionable attempts and some wonky stitching, I finally figured out how to piece it all together and make it work well. 

As a note, all of this batch of quilted cup cozies have been gifted. The next batch will have some for sale.

 

 

Above: This is the picture of the "right sides" of all the cup cozies I quilted. 15 in total. They are all reversible. 

 

Below: The next three pictures are of the same cozie. I stitched a tree, an ornament, and a light around this winter holiday cozie.

 

Above: With 4 different cactus cozies, each with green plaid on the reverse side, two were stitched around the cacti. This seemed to work quite well.

Above: This cactus cozie was stitched with the "pebble" design.

Below: I particularly enjoy random "squiggle" quilting.

Above and below: The duck and flower fabrics are the reverses of each other. Super cute!

 

 

Above: Computer fabric on the "right side" with simple stitching.

Below: Computer fabric on the "right side" with a "wave" stitching.

Above and below: The computer fabrics are reversible with the blue fabric (below), and the "squiggles" stitching blue cozie below is reversible with another blue fabric. I really like this picture because it captures the fading of the blue fabric as well as where I closed the fabric into a cozie shape.

Above and below: This bird fabric is super cute and pairs nicely with the floral fabric (two pictures down). One of these is reversible with another bird fabric and the other is reversible with the floral fabric. The floral fabric two pictures down is reversible with another piece of the same floral fabric.

These last three are gifts to the same friends who received the MBHPs of the same fabric.

I hope you enjoyed quilted cup cozies!

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 Quilted Cup Cozies

In this installment of Tabi's Creating Adventures, we're looking at the beginning of a product line. Previously, I had made cup cozies by knit or crochet and put applique motifs on them; this time I decided to play with cup cozies by quilting. Not to say that the knit and crochet versions are no more, but rather that I am expanding into a new (to me) method of making cup cozies.

 

 

Above is my first demo. I designed this one with a Velcro closure and carried it in my purse to see how well I like using it. (My favorite local coffee shop is great about letting me use my own cup cozies.) Functionally, it's great! Then I asked, "What if it didn't have a closure?" After thinking about how to design a solid round cup cozie for a while, I finally came up with an idea!

Below are my second two demos. These two are solid round cup cozies (no Velcro closure) and based off of two different paper cup cozie designs. One worked much better than the other, so that made the decision for which one to use for future cup cozies much easier. One template was simple and straight forward while the other had some notches that made the construction a bit difficult. In the end, the template with the notches cinched up at the bottom and made the cozie too tight to fit the coffee cups, while the simple design template has fit each coffee cup well.

Overall, the experimentation with quilted cup cozies has been interesting. The one I will be using for the product line is the solid round, simple design (bottom picture, the one on the cup) primarily because of how straight forward it was to put together. There are a few details to iron out, but I look forward to sharing a full line of quilted cup cozies in the future!

I hope you enjoyed this little update.

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 Microwave Bowl Hot Pads in Different Sizes

Welcome back to another installation of interesting items!

Today we'll be looking at Microwave Bowl Hot Pads (MBHP), the things that help you keep from burning your hands when you microwave foods.

As a note, some of these are for gifts and some are for sale. See the information at the bottom for more details. Additionally, I used my own Fiesta cereal bowls (clean from the cupboard) to show how the large and medium sized MBHPs fit the same size bowl.

Above: The collection of my latest round of Microwave Bowl Hot Pads. This group contains 7 large MBHP and 2 medium MBHP. The two on top are the medium sized ones. (Also, this picture does not include all of the larger size MBHPs.)

Above: This little winter wonderland inspiration is also the first one where I experimented with a larger size base. I think it turned out pretty nicely, even though not quite how I envisioned. The walls are more vertical than intended, though it's still very much so functional.

Below: This picture is the second variation of the larger size option. They still have a more vertical wall, but it turned out nicely as well. I think this print would be a wonderful addition to a cowboy themed kitchen.

Above: This floral design worked up nicely with a wall angle that accommodates a bowl nicely. I especially like the complementary colors on the different floral prints here.

Below: Here I show how a cereal bowl fits in a larger size MBHP.

Above: I found this Christmas gift themed fabric too cute to pass up; a wonderful accent for guests.

 

 

Above: This pair of MBHPs features a geeky computer theme and complementary green reverse side.

Below: Here is what the computer theme looks like with a cereal bowl.

  

Above: These DC comics themed fabrics combined well together and will be a fun gift for my friends. (Note: These fabrics are specifically licensed and are not fore sale.)

Below: Again showing my cereal bowl in a large MBHP.

Above: I personally enjoyed the contrast of peaches and bananas from my fruit themed fabrics, so I combined them for this MBHP. As a note, this is a medium size MBHP.

Above: A medium size MBHP in brown polka dots and spots. I found this combination to be adorable. It is nice how the earth tones between the two fabrics complement each other.

Below: Here you can see how a medium sized MBHP fits my cereal bowl. (Yes, I used the same cereal bowl for each picture in this post.)

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as I did! 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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tenacious141b (Instagram)

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