Gearing up for Halloween

My friend, Andrea, loves Halloween.  She goes all out with decorations in and around her house.  Me?  Not quite so much.  We don't get a lot of trick or treaters in my area of town.

I do like to have at least one new thing for each holiday though.  This year, we got this Halloween panel in at the shop.  It has cute little figures and sayings on it. It was designed by Diane Arthurs for Northcott Fabrics.

When I saw this panel, I immediately thought placemats.  They are simple to do.  I cut the 4 sections apart, sandwiched them with batting and backing, stitched around, turned and topstitched. I did a bit of quilting on the lines and freeformed around the shapes.

In a couple hours time, I had 4 cute Halloween placemats for my table.

Paula, on the other hand, went a bit more elaborate with her panel.  She totally cut it all apart and then pieced it back together with some purple companion fabric and a border print to make a throw.

Now isn't that cute as can be?  Does it make you want to gear up for Halloween too?