Colorways by Vicki Welsh

I didn’t spend a great deal of time sewing or quilting this weekend. I was outside a lot trimming shrubs and blowing leaves. I’m not even halfway through leaf blowing season and I already have mountains of leaves at the edge of the woods. I also filled the back of the truck with trimmings from shrubs. That will be a nice gift for Chris to deal with when he returns from his hunting trip. I’m sure he will appreciate his “welcome home” gift.

I have two big variegated Hollys that I want to basically cut back to stumps. The internet told me to wait until the end of winter so they will get a reprieve for a couple of months. For now, I might be done with the trimming chores. The weather has been really lovely for being outside.

Inside, I am preparing for some new projects. Number 1 on the list is Christmas postcards. I worked through some ideas this weekend and will start on them later this week. I will be working the election Tuesday, so Tuesday and Wednesday (recovery) will be unproductive days.

One project that I did start this weekend was quilting Kim’s Christmas quilt. I’m using the Happy Times pantograph. She just wants some light texture to keep the quilt soft and snuggly. I didn’t make a lot of progress this weekend but I’d like to finish it this week.

While watching football, I got out the laptop and EQ and worked up a couple of ideas for the Eclipse leftovers. I don’t think either of these is particularly creative but they will work and use up the fabric that I have leftover. The one on the left would finish to 52 x 61 and the one on the right would finish to 64 x 76. Do you have a preference?

I mentioned a week or so ago that I had two quilts that need repairs. Well, here they are. Both of these belong to Matt, my cousin’s son. I gave him a new quilt but he’s apparently attached to these. The one at top was made by one of his Great-Grandmothers. We’re not sure which. The style is Grandma Rakes, but it might also be Grandma Young. It’s probably the most repairable. Some seams need to be resewn and there need to be some patches. Any repairs I do will all be done by machine and will be utility.

The second quilt was made by my Mom. She and I made sister quilts using these fabrics. This one is in pretty rough shape. There are a few holes and lots of worn areas. I’m not sure what I can do with this one.

The last project is one that I want to have ready to sew when we are in Arizona this winter. This will be the 2027 donation quilt for the Montpelier Center. As part of our quilt club rent we give them a quilt to raffle every year. The Fab Farm quilt is this year’s raffle. The 2026 quilt is already done. When I saw this bear pattern I knew I wanted to make it. People around here are obsessed with bear sightings and have even named one Monty. I dyed a bunch of brown fabrics for bear faces but I need to come up with a color theme for the background and borders.

I was looking through my gradient patterns and I’m a little fixated on the Salt Marsh gradient. I’ll need something for a border to make this quilt wider so that’s why I was thinking about a gradient. I don’t think Salt Marsh is quite right but I’ll work off this to see if I can create something better. Ideally, I’ll get the fabrics dyed and cut before we leave mid-January. There’s still lots of thinking to do on this one.

I have plenty to keep me busy for the next few months.