Temperature Quilt 2020 Starting

I have decided on an English paper piece flower block for this year's temperature quilt. I am hoping it will be easier than last year's. Not that flying geese blocks are hard. What was hard is getting the time at the sewing machine to make them. So in theory I should be able to put a few together in the evening when I sit down before bed, if I am not too tired.


This is how it will work. There is 8 petal and 1 centre, so 9 all up. I was thinking weekly but that would be 52 blocks. Doing it this way I think I should have 42 blocks to work with, which should give me a 6 x 7 lay out. That works for me. I still have to work out the block size that I will applique my flowers to but I will make a few flowers before I decide that.

The first flower is only be half a flower as the year started mid week.

I will mark the starting petal as I piece the flowers so I know which way the flower will sit as the starting point of each flower will be at the 12 o'clock position. Also I will put a number to keep the flowers in order. Each flower on one of the papers will have 1 - 1, then 2-1, 3-1 and so on, that way I know the order they will sit in the quilt.

The second block done. I really like my first block, so you may see a few more just to make my quilt more interesting.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

2020 Temperature Quilt

I have to admit I am still working on 2019 Temperature quilt. I will get there, but I am hooked and recording temperatures have become part of my morning routine and  I am recording the temperatures out of habit, so I will need a new design for this year. I plan to use the same scale as I did last year, but with a new lay out and different technique. The quilts will look totally different but will have the same colour palette with the addition.
Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40- 45 degrees Red
46+ degrees Black

This year I want something I can do by hand, I find it hard to find machine time and when I do there are more important projects under my needle. My hand sewing work load is a lot smaller. You may realise where I am heading with this, that means English paper piecing is back on the table. I didn't do a lot in 2019, beside a few pin cushions and Abbie blocks which I will be continuing on this year.

Finding a shape that will work for me has been an interesting excersize. I was thinking I would work in weeks as monthly with 29, 30 and 31 days isn't going to work but 7 or 14 wasn't working either. I can do 4,5, 6, 8 10, 12 or 16 in a block. So let me show you the break down and may be one of you might have a suggestion that may help me solve my problem.

Let's start with 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10  these are all diamonds that form stars when pieced together which in turn will give me 91.5 blocks with the 4 pointed star,  73.2 with the 5 pointed star,  61 with the 6 pointed star,  45.75 with the 8 pointed star and 36.6 with the 10 pointed star. Now the blocks would be small probably around 4-5" in size but only the 6 pointed star divide out nicely.

Then we have the dresden shapes which gives me 6, 12 & 16 depending on size, and once again you have 6 = 61 blocks, 12 = 30.5 blocks and 16 = 22.9 blocks. The size of these block widely vary between 6" to 16" blocks. So 23 x 16" blocks will create a large quilt around the 80" square.

I am going to have to made a decision very soon so I can start, what shape would you use? Is there a shape I have missed that you think would work better. Let me know, I would love to heard your thoughts.

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 7

As you can see I am still way behind in my temperature quilt but here is March's blocks completed.
10-3-19- 28.5 - Yellow
11-3-19- 26- Yellow
12-3-19-28.1- Yellow
13-3-19- 31-3- Orange
14-3-19-29.4-Yellow
15-3-19-28.3- Yellow
16-3-19-31.6 Orange

17-3-19- 32 - Orange
18-3-19-33.9- Orange
19-3-19- 32.4- Orange
20-3-19- 29  Yellow
21-3-19- 30.3 - Yellow
22-3-19- 35.2 -Orange
23-3-19- 26.3 - Yellow

24-3-19- 28.1 - Yellow
25-3-19- 20.4-  blue
26-3-19- 21.6 - Green
27-3-19- 26.5 - Yellow
28-3-19- 30.9 - Yellow
29-3-19- 23.1 - Green
30-3-19- 17.5 - Blue

31-3-19- 22.7 -Green
1-4-19- 23.4 - Green
2-4-19- 27.6 - Yellow
3-4-19- 29 - Yellow
4-4-19- 33.6 - Orange
5-4-19- 34.4 - Orange
6-4-19- 22.7 - Green

Then I was able to get into April's blocks.
7-4-19- 25.5 - Green
8-4-19- 24.3 - Green
9-4-19- 20 - Blue
10-4-19- 19.5 - Blue
11-4-19- 23 - Green
12-4-19- 26.4 - Yellow
13-4-19- 23.9 - Green

14-4-19- 29 - Yellow
15-4-19- 31 - Orange
16-4-19- 34.1 -Orange
17-4-19- 32.7 - Orange
18-4-19- 23.7 - Green
19-4-19- 35.3 -  Orange
20-4-19- 32.8 - Orange

Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red
Another good batch completed. I am still behind but at least there is progress. I am hoping it won't take long to get the next batch together as I have a bunch of flying geese blocks ready to layout.  I'm only about 8 weeks behind as I write this post. Lol. At least the machine is set up and the Temperature quilt box is there by the machine ready to go if I find the time.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 6

I have been recording the temperatures but I haven't had time to stitch any. I finally got to the sewing machine and stitched up  four weeks worth of blocks.
10-2-19- 24.5 - Green
11-2-19- 27.4 - Yellow
12-2-19- 21.4 - Green
13-2-19- 23 - Green
14-2-19- 25.5 - Green
15-2-19- 31.8 - Orange
16-2-19-33 Orange

17-2-19- 37.1 - Pink
18-2-19- 25.1 - Green
19-2-19- 24.2 - Green
20-2-19- 24.4 - Green
21-2-19- 27.8 - Yellow
22-2-19- 33    - Orange
23-2-19- 35.1 - Orange

24-2-19- 38.9 - Pink
25-2-19- 39.5 - Pink
26-2-19- 38 - Pink
27-2-19- 39.5 - Pink
28-2-19- 39.8 - Pink
1-3-19-  42.6 - Red
2-3-19- 41.5  - Red
I thought we were going to have a week of pink flying geese bouncing up and down for the week. Not quite with a couple of red ones to finish it off.

3-3-19- 36 - Pink
4-3-19- 36.3 - Pink
5-3-19- 25 - Green Yeah finally got a break from the heat.
6-3-19-21.3 - Green
7-3-19-28.4 - Yellow
8-3-19- 30.9- Yellow
9-3-19- 29.8 - Yellow

Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red
More coming shortly.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 5

The week's worth of temperatures to sew up.
27-1-19 - 26.4 Yellow
28-1-19 - 30.5 Yellow
29-1-19 - 34.8 Orange
30-1-19 - 40.5 Red
31-1-19 - 25.9 Green
1-2-19 - 32 Orange
2-2-19 - 39.2 Pink

So this is how it sewed up.

Now onto the next week
3-2-19 - 43 Red
4-2-19 - 29.8 Yellow
5-2-19 - 32.4 Orange
6-2-19 - 32.4 Orange
7-2-19 - 31.8 Orange
8-2-19 - 24.4 Green
9-2-19 - 24  Green

This is my pattern guide.

Now as we sew the weeks up we want to keep them in order, so we need to label them some way. I have been using a bulldog clip and clipping the week's block to the back of the pile. You    could pin a note to the top of each block.   I know this won't work for long for me, I will do something to mess them up. That means I need a better plan and the best one I think of is to sew them together into the rows and then I only have to label the rows.

For my pattern my sashing strips are 1 1/2" X 14 1/2" but you it is up to you, you can make them wider or narrower if you like or have no sashing strip.

This is where I got to.

Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 4

Week 4 of my temperature quilt looks like this. I did consider using another colour for over 45 but I had already made my legend block. So I left it.

20-1-19- 34- Orange
21-1-19 -37.4 - Pink
22-1-19 - 40.1- Red
23-1-19 -43.4- Red
24-1-19 -48.8- Red
25-1-19 - 33.4 -Orange
26-1-19 - 31.5 - Orange

Now if you saw my quilt layout in my last post. Click here to check it out. I have three empty blocks, one at the start and 2 at the end. one of these spots would be a great place to put your legend. Down the track a few years, you can still see how the breakdown of temperatures work. The other idea I had was make it part of your label on the back of your quilt.
In my first empty block at the top I thought I would put the year here.You can applique it, machine or hand embroider it in. My option will be to hand embroider it as I am unable to machine it.  More on that in the next post.

The last block at the bottom will be home to my legend.
For my legend block I have 7 colours that represent my temperatures so this makes it easy. I can select one of each colour from my piles and sew them together. For a change I somehow made things easy for myself. If you are using a different amount you need to take your block length without the seam allowance and divide it by the number of colour to give you the size. eg my finished block size- 14" block length divide it by 7 = 2. This mean your blocks need to be cut  4 1/2" x2 1/2" including your seam allowance.

Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red

 Next time we will look at the sashing strips to join your blocks together as I think we will need to be sewing our blocks together regularly, so we don't have to mark them.  Though this is an option if you need it. We don't want to mess our weeks up now.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 3

Here are week 2 batch of temperatures. There is 7 in this set as we have had a full week. So except the first week and the last week of the year we will have 7 in each block.
6-1-19 - 25.1 Green
7-1-19 - 29.9 - Yellow
8-1-19 - 27.7 - Yellow
9-1-19 - 26.3 - Yellow
10-1-19 - 32.6 - Orange
11-1-19- 39.9 -Pink
12-1-19 -35.0 -Orange

This is our summer here. I would expect to see lots of yellow, oranges, and pinks with flashes of reds. I just hope we don't end up with too many runs of reds.

Week 3 was another hot week.
13-1-19- 34.0   -Orange
14-1-19- 41.3  - Red
15-1-19- 43.1 -Red
16-1-19- 40.1 -Pink
17-1-19- 39.6 - Pink
18-1-19- 27.6 - Yellow
19-1-19- 30.4 - Yellow

Here is a guide on materials needed for this project if you are thinking of joining in. Once we have some blocks made I will give you more instructions on how everything goes together.
This is what the quilt layout will look like. of course my flying geese block will not all face up but your Flying geese caan if you prefer it.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 2

So the first week of January has seen the following temperatures, with the matching colours from my legend.
1/1 - 32.5  Orange
2/1 - 36.4  Pink
3/1 - 42.5  Red
4/1 - 31.3 Orange
5/1 - 24.1 Green
With these temperatures my first weekly block will look like this.

I will need to add two neutral rectangles to the top as the year started on a Tuesday to make it the same as the rest of the blocks.

Here is my legend if you are interested in my break down of the temperatures.
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red

 Now I wonder what next week's block will look like.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Part 1

Yes it is time to start my Temperature Quilt. I am all set. I have pre cut some pieces ready to go. I have written down my temperature legend to keep with my project and I have decided to use the weather channels max daily temperature for our area for my readings. I did consider using our little weather station at home but is that a true reading. I have notice it can be out 5 degrees compared to other resources.
As the year started on a Tuesday and I want my blocks to run Sunday- Saturday, so the first week I thought I will have 2 neutral rectangles on the top or should I use the temperature from 2018 for the 2 spots. What do you think?

Here is my legend
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red

So here we go the first temperature for 1st January was 32.5 degrees. So our first block has a orange  centre. How lucky was I with that test block I can use it straight away.

 The 2nd was 36 degrees  so we will have a pink centre, point up as the temperatures are increasing.  So we will see what the 3rd brings us. By the forecast we are heading into the 40's which is good but that is Summer in Australia and it looks like it will only be 1 day as a change is due on Friday.
The flying geese block tutorial can be found here

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Temperature Quilt Block Tutorial.

I have been preparing to start my Temperature Quilt on the 1st January. I am using the flying geese block. So if you are tempted to join me here is a tutorial on my block.

Cut 2 x 2 1/2" neutral squares and 1 x 4 1/2 xx 2 1/2" coloured  rectangle from the your  Temperature legend to match the days high temperature.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the neutral squares.

Put a square on the left side of the rectangle as per my picture.

Sew along the outside of the line. See how my stitched line is just touching my drawn line.

Trim the corner off with a 1/4" seam allowance. Fold the neutral triangle back to reform the rectangle.

Press.

Place the other square on the other corner , making sure your diagonal line running from the centret to the bottom right corner

Sew on the outside of this line like you did with the first corner. Trim the corner off leaving a 1/4" seam allowance from the stitched line.
This completes your block.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

A New Leader Ender Project

Patty over at Elm Street Quilts has been making a temperature quilt this year using hexies. I am very tempted as I could do with a Leader and Ender Project for 2019. She is considering doing another one next year and has some ideas on it here if you want to check it out.

I like the idea of a high temperature quilt and using my batik scraps box for it.  Now to work out a scale and colours to match the scale and a block to use. You have to think 40 + degree will have to be a dark red working iis way down to a orange as it get cooler. Blue would be a good choice for the cold temperatures, but do you go dark blue for the really cold temperatures or do you go the other way so the light blue is the coldest so that you could the slip in white/cream, so you could include below zero temperatures. As I type this post up over a couple of weeks, I have got this far with the scale. We don't get day time temperatures under 10 degrees very often, maybe once even few years. That is why I have started at 9 degrees and you need to remember I am in Australia where we don't use fahrenheit, our is in degrees celsius. A slightly different system.
9- 15 degrees Purple
16-20 degrees  Blue
21-25 degrees Green
26-30 degrees Yellow
31-35 degrees Orange
36-40 degrees Pink
40+ degrees Red

Then I  needed to work out a block.  Patty used hexagons for her quilt but I was thinking I need more structure in my design. I want to be able to look at it and know that section is at that time of the year. I am thinking about using the Flying geese block. The temperature colour will be the middle and can point up if the temperature is climbing or pointing down if the temperature drops. My thinking is if a colour is assigned in 5 ( 10- 14, 15-19) and we have a few days in a zone I can point the block in the direction the temperature is going. That will give me more information.

I thought if I do them in vertical rows of 7, so you can see the week and work left to right on the quilt with a sashing strip when I need to start a new row. Something like this is my thinking, but there may be some changes along the way.

Now I can do some preparation ready for the beginning of January.  I can cut  plenty of the scrappy neutrals and cut some reds and oranges and a few of the other colours ready to go in to my project with a notepad to record the temperature in case I don't get to sit down at the machine every day.

This should be an interesting experiment, you are welcome to join me. When I start I will share some more details on my sizes and block method, but it is not rocket science. This is a simply block for a reason we don't want anything to hard, though I did toy with a harder block. Maybe if I enjoy this I may consider it for the following year.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia