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Illustration By Debbie Quinn
Halloween Fun by Debbie Quinn

The beginning of October ushers in the season of fall. Although the cold temperatures arrive, and the northern winds strip the trees of all of their leaves, there is a positive side to October too. The most favorite part of October is Halloween. It's a perfect time to deck the house up for loads of fun for little ones. Carving pumpkins, apple pies, and sewing those last minute costumes make it a fun time for both parents and children.

 Every year when I answer the doorbell, I sit back and enjoy all of the creative costumes that mothers make or buy. I especially love it if my grandchildren come too. We play a guessing game of who is behind the mask and grammy tends to fool them for a little while till we are all in stitches. It's also fun to play with close neighbor's children too.
This year sit back enjoy the holiday and don't eat too much candy (I'm guilty of this one).
Happy Halloween

The art work above is created by Debbie Quinn. 

Welcome
cute for the holiday
Halloween Potholders in the Hoop

Create these fast & fun potholder's for the month of October. I chose black as my background which is fitting for the Halloween holiday. For the embroidery and the borders I chose orange rayon embroidery thread to make the outlines pop. 

The potholders take approximately 25 minutes each to make using your embroidery sewing machine.  The size of the potholder is approximately 6 1/4" squared. It's perfect for removing hot pans from the stove top and from the microwave. If you don't own an embroidery machine you can download the drawing and triple stitch the outline onto your fabric using  your sewing machine.

 

 

For two potholder's you will need the following:

  • Aqua Magic Stabilizer or a similar water soluble stabilizer 
  • (2) 9" squares of backing fabric & (2) 9" squares for the front of the potholder. For my sample I used black,  but dark purple or blue would work fine too.
  • (1) spool of rayon embroidery thread  to contrast with your background. Wind a bobbin of this too to match thread to the front of your embroidery. 
  • (2) 6 1/2" squares of Warm & Natural Batting
    (2) 5" squares of Warm & Natual Batting
  • (1) can of temporary Spray Adhesive for sewing
Fabric and batting layered in the hoop

Step One: Position the water soluble stabilizer into the hoop. Lay the backing fabric onto the stabilizer with the wrong sides facing up to you. Position the hoop onto the sewing machine and stitch out the first set of stitches. Trim the excess batting.  
loftier appearance add another layer of batting
Step Two: Optional: For a loftier appearance to the potholder add another layer of batting around the pumpkin. Position another piece of cotton batting on top of the batting that is already in the hoop. Stitch out the outline of the pumpkin, and trim the excess batting around the pumpkin. 
 
Step Three: Position the top fabric onto the batting with the right side facing up. Let it stitch out the square perimeter of the potholder. This will help hold the layers in place.
For this next step do not remove the project from the hoop. Remove the hoop from the machine and trim all layers of the potholder 1/8" beyond the stitch line. Place the hoop back onto the machine & continue with the embroidery.(See Below).
trim applique
Pumpkin outline

Note: For the remainder of this project the machine will stop to change color. These stops are programmed so that you can do any necessary trimming. The color should remain the same throughout unless you prefer a different color for the pot holder's edge.

To remove the water soluble stabilizer rinse the stabilizer from the back in warm water. If there is any stabilizer remaining soak the potholder in a bowl of warm water with the addition of a teaspoon of fabric softener  for approximately 15 minutes. Rinse again. Enjoy!!!

Happy Halloween.