What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I hear there are people who work on one project until it is done before starting another. I’ve never been that person. Ever since I received my first embroidery kit at age 7, I’ve had unfinished projects. When I told Mom I was making them a 50th anniversary quilt, she immediately started asking if I was going to finish it before she died. I did – that project only took me 3 years from conception to finish.

Recently I found myself pulling some old projects from Area 51 (the UFO closet). Sharon’s Leftovers only needed borders added. I ...

I’m bingeing on binding! 2020 and 2021 were my most productive years, quilt-making wise. Binding, not so much. March and April this year will see at least some, if not all, of the waiting quilts be finally completed. I spent some time last week making these bindings:

In addition to those 9 there are 5 in the fabric room with their quilts. Monday I get 2 more quilts back from the quilter. So, 9 + 5 + 2 = 16 quilts to bind. I finished binding 2 quilts before I made the bindings shown above. I don’t even mind doing binding ...

You would think that I would have posted regularly in 2020 and 2021 because of the lockdown. I have no idea why I didn’t. I was very productive. For awhile last year I was dropping off or picking up quilts from my long-armer every week or two. I haven’t counted lately but I must have at least a dozen to bind. Yikes! The biggest news is that Ladies of the Sea is among those to be bound. Yay! It came back from the quilter a few months ago. I had some finishing work to do: embroidering some missing ...

#IGQuiltFest2021 ~ Day 6 ~ Solid Fabrics

My favorite solid fabrics are Kona Solids.

I am sewing my 

Temperature House Quilt

Cutting instructions for my blocks.

Block size id 4.5" by 5.5"

I love making these quick and colorful little blocks. 

 May all your sewing be happy ... :-) 

Almost a tadah... I've been working away this last couple of weeks at finishing off my temperature quilt for 2020. 

As in a big part of the country, it's been REALLY cold the last week or so. Yesterday was the coldest day in Des Moines, IA and will probably be the coldest day of the year.

low -18F high -3F

 

Here are a couple of blocks to give you a picture of how c-c-c-o-l-d it's been.

 

This morning I was reminded of something that has bothered me in the past.

Progress on my Orange Peel Temperate Quilt of 2020

It's so much fun to see everyone's Temperature Quilt progress on Instagram (#tempquiltalong and #tempquilt20) and the Facebook Group!
If you're still thinking about making one, it's never too late.  I've been a month or two (or three) behind and caught up.  Historical data is always available.

If you'd like more information, just click on the links to the right.
This is my quilt so far for Des Moines IA. Grunge (and Bella) bundles are still available.)

It's New Year's Eve! Are you ready? If not, that's OK. It's never too late to start.

I'm SO excited about the success of the Facebook group! I feel like this will be a wonderful place to share, ask questions, and stay motivated and on track.

Today's question:

Where do I find recent weather data?
I recommended the NOAA website for historical data for planning purposes because it allows you to download spreadsheets. It won't, however, really work easily for more recent temperatures.

In 2019 I used Weather Underground but I recently found ...

Okey-dokey, now we have our temperature ranges, number of fabrics, and design all figured out. Right?

The next decisions are colors, fabrics, and yardage.

Which colors & fabrics should I use?
The norm is to use cool colors (purple, blue, green) for cooler temperatures and warm colors (yellow, orange, red) for warmer, but you can do whatever pleases you.
What is important is that you have a variety of either color OR value (light, medium, dark) or both.
I'm doing solids/tonals but you can certainly assemble a collection of small or tonal prints and work with them.
Last year ...

Now that you've (hopefully) figured out your temperature ranges and number of fabrics, it's time to think about design.

Quilt Layout
The most popular options for your layout are linear or vertical.

1. linear - start with your first block at the top left just add the next one the the right of the previous one. If you decide on this option, you will have to think about the shape you want your quilt to be so you know when to start your next row (or you will just have one 366 block long strip, which would make an ...

Ready to start your Temperature Quilt for 2020? I'm going to try to provide some guidelines for planning if you haven't already done so. It'll be spread over a couple of posts.

What is a Temperature Quilt?
The premise of a temperature quilt is to make a 365(366 for 2020) block quilt where each block has the low and high temperature for a day represented, using a color for each temperature (or range of temperatures, because having a unique color for every temperature would be close to impossible).

If you Google "temperature quilt" or look at ...

I want to apologize to all Temperature Quilters. In spite of all my good intentions, life got in the way and posts didn't happen.
I hope everyone has been keeping up with their quilts, because 2020 is almost upon us and I'm making plans for the next quilt.

In the meantime, I got all caught up over the weekend, so here's my progress as of week 41:

All the blocks are up to date and assembly is complete up to August 31st.
I'm going to try not to get too far behind again because I most ...