What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

You have probably noticed that temperature quilts are all the rage right now—there’s even a special exhibit of them planned for QuiltCon in Phoenix next month. Basically, for one year, you make a block every day that denotes the high and low temperatures of the day using a color gradient. Over the course of a year, you end up with a neat color gradation.

I think many of these quilts are absolutely stunning in their visual impact, but the science side of me doesn’t feel like they convey a whole lot of interesting information, other than the ...

I am so thrilled to introduce you to my newest quilt pattern called Science, Baby! This pattern will be published in the 2022 Quilter’s Planner, and it’s got some awesome science in it, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance! Before I tell you all about that, though, I have to tell you a little bit about how the design process.

I’ve had patterns in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the planner, and so when Lorinda, the owner, contacted me about a pattern for next year’s edition, I was super excited ...

I am, of course, fond of all of my quilts and quilt patterns, but you guys, I am really especially pleased with this one. Introducing Helix, a paper piecing pattern for wallhangings in two sizes featuring DNA, the fundamental molecule of life on Earth!

I have been thinking about a DNA quilt for a very long time—not long after I started thinking a lot about science quilts, which was not long after I started thinking a lot about quilts in general, but somehow it never got made. I got hung up on the curves and the thought that I ...

Please welcome my latest science-themed quilt pattern, Atomic Affair! After designing science quilts to celebrate chemistry, biology, and medicine, I felt like physics was being left out. Enter this quilt featuring the universally recognized symbol for the atom!

This quilt was a real puzzle to design. The atoms (which were their own challenge) are, of course, hexagonal blocks, but I really wanted that center block to be rotated for aesthetic reasons. I’m so happy I worked out how to do it, and the good news is that none of this requires any templates—just you and the 60° line ...

A Hundred Dollar Drawing.

The post “Brownian Motion” for Thomas appeared first on Nina Paley.

A Hundred Dollar Drawing. TIL abstract concepts and inanimate objects are harder for me to draw than animals.

The post “Saucer Science” for Jonathan appeared first on Nina Paley.

Sourdough fail - 1st attempt I spent most of the day in the kitchen yesterday working through the process that was supposed to yield two round loaves of sourdough bread. It was experiment; and, as I recall from high school Chemistry class, some experiments fail. This was one of those. Going back and reviewing all of the elements has led me to the conclusion that the starter isn't quite ripe

Sourdough fail - 1st attempt I spent most of the day in the kitchen yesterday working through the process that was supposed to yield two round loaves of sourdough bread. It was experiment; and, as I recall from high school Chemistry class, some experiments fail. This was one of those. Going back and reviewing all of the elements has led me to the conclusion that the starter isn't quite ripe

I’m pleased to introduce the third quilt I have hanging in this year’s QuiltCon, which is Ekman’s Arrows! The pattern for this quilt is in this year’s edition of QuiltCon Magazine.

This design is inspired by an oceanographic phenomenon known as the Ekman Spiral or Ekman Transport, after Swedish oceanographer Vagn Walfrid Ekman. When the wind blows across the ocean, the surface water moves at a 45-degree angle to the wind, and each successively deeper layer of water moves at a greater angle, but more slowly (due to friction), than the surface. As you descend down ...