Crafting · quilting · Sewing · Tutorials

Holiday Candle Mat

Lately I’ve been social in the real world, but silent in social media. This is what I’ve been up to.

Everything was ready for my friends to arrive. It was the calm photo opportunity before all the chatter and laughs began.

I planned an evening at home, with a few friends that I’ve known for years. For the first gathering of girlfriends, I planned a simple craft.

Each friend had a choice of themed mat and received a little gold bucket with treats and a box of crayons. Of course they each received a candle so they could enjoy the project as soon as they got home. I’m happy to say that I received pictures from all my friends when they lit up the candles. That put a smile on my face.

Here’s to renewing old friendships and forging ahead with new relationships in crafty style. My Fall craft night was held prior to Halloween, so I decorated the house for October. The food had a definite Halloween influence too.

Welcoming longtime friends for a Fall craft night.

The theme was centered around Halloween, winter and Christmas. The project I chose was a candle mat.  A candle mat is like a mini quilt but not intimidating for a non sewing person. It’s a great little project when you are trying to get your friends to sew with you.

Baby steps!

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My small candle mat was in a Halloween theme. It is perfect for a candle to sit on, or as I used it, with an electric wax warmer.

This is how I got started.

I picked a few digital designs and stitched them out on 100% cotton pre washed fabric. I used cream and grey fabrics that were light in color and reminded me of coloring book pages.

The light color would work well when we added coloring to the fabric. My guests had a choice of a Halloween theme or a Christmas/winter theme.

In order to mimic old-fashioned coloring book pages, I outlined the designs in black. I chose black 40 weight thread to stitch out three digital quilting designs. The plan was for my guests to color the mats with crayons then heat set the colors.

Each mat that I prepared had the binding stitched to the front . The guest will stitch the binding to the back.

Using crayons to color in the candle mat.

Paper towel is placed over the candle mat and pressed with a hot iron. Pressing is an up and down motion while ironing is a circular or back and forth movement. We press so we don’t move the wax color.

This is a photo of the gang at the ironing board. Melissa, Alicia, Jody, me and Karen.

After the mat was colored each guest hand-stitched the binding to the backside of the mat.

Part of the craft night required friends to sit and stitch the binding while enjoying appetizers. This is Melissa, she’s made a few quilts and looks pretty good hand stitching! After the mat was stitched we went up to my sewing room, pressed mats with a hot iron and down to the garage for some glitter spray.
Stitching the binding to the back of the candle mat.
Alicia and Melissa stitching, talking laughing and of course eating yummy food.

The finishing option for the candle mat was to add glitter spray.

The glitter added a bit of holiday glow.

The spray is a fine mist of tiny glitter adhesive.

Using a box when spraying glitter is a good idea. Helps to contain the mess of over spraying.

I had a large box set up in my garage so the mat could be laid inside and the glitter sprayed while inside the box. That kept the aerosol fumes outside and contained any extra sparkle.

When you combine great food, new & old friends, sharing ideas, and crafting into a Holiday event, everyone has a blast.

Crafting is also a great ice breaker when bringing new people into a group. Since I usually teach a skill or two at every gathering the conversation stays positive and the  atmosphere is creative.  I have the opportunity to try out new recipes with willing taste testers. They give me honest feedback which is another bonus of longtime friendships. I cant wait until the next time we get together.

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Showing off their projects!

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