Temperature Quilt
 

I was going through Kimberly's (Fat Quarters) blog and she was going through all the "Sew Along's" she's planning on doing this year. The one that caught my eye was the 'temperature quilt'. I love her idea of using 1/2 square triangles. Has anyone seen it and is anyone planning to make it?

I'm finishing my 2023 temperature quilt 2 rows left to go. I made it using 1/2 square triangles that had final measure at 4 1/2" square, the quilt is 19 rows across and 20 rows down so is a big quilt. I got the pattern from Materialgirlsfabrics.com. I will be making another temp quilt this year using another pattern but with the same fabric choices as last year. I would suggest you use solid fabrics as they will always be available and you can order in smaller quanities. I found some of my fabrics I needed a yard and some only took a quarter of a yard and some I thought I would use I never did. My temperatures were in 5 degree increments and I used the National Weather service website for my temperature information. The high temps are in uppper corners and low temps are in lower corners.

I'm just finishing up my 2023 temperature quilts. I've been making 2 separate quilts - one for the highs and one for the lows. The focus was more about using up my scraps and working on improv skills than anything else. For each day I have been making a 3.5" crumb block based on the color I assigned for the temperature ranges. TBH it has been WAY more effort than I anticipated it would be in January :). I almost quit making the lows quilt in August. My quilty bff is doing something similar along with me and she guilted encouraged me to continue on. I hated it at the time....and am thankful for her encouragement now that the year is almost over. I still have a ways to go to finish it up. I have a lot of blocks not sewn into rows (yet).

This was my 2nd year of making temperature quilts. My last one was much smaller, simpler and less effort. I will be taking a break from temperature quilts for a while. Or at least until 2025.

I went a different direction with my temp quilt. After looking at collections of them, I decided that, while they are pretty, you can't really get much info from the array of colors. So, I collected the temps on my birthdate for the first 60 years. Turns out that temperatures varied greatly in October in south Texas! From the 90s to the 40s!! I made the blocks out of squares within a square. (Interior piece was the low.) I chose dark shade and light shades for each 10 degrees. For example, 89-85 darker blue with 84-80 lighter blue) I planned it out with the aid of Excel.
It's not finished yet because I didn't order enough background to separate rows with a sash. More has arrives, so it is next in line!
I used the Michael Miller Fairy Frost line of fabrics. There were so many choices that I could find all shades in same line. Love that!
This is a copy of my final plan. I saved the pictures of the fabric from the computer so that I could use Word app to insert actual fabrics into my drawing.

Wow - you guys are awesome!!! Such great suggestions. I think I will go ahead and start at the beginning of the year.

Mine just needs the year made for it. I decided I didn't want to wait for the weather each day, so I made one for my birth year and city of birth. I loveit. I made it 40X40-ish.

aashley333 - Where did you find the temps for all those years? My sister turns 80 in June, thinking this might be a nice gift. And how many colors did you use?

I'm doing one for myself -- ordered some grunge fabrics. Anyone have advice on how to arrange them by color? contrasting for highs and lows? different shades of same color?

I did one in Grunge fabrics and used cool color for the lows and warm colors for the warmer temps. My low was a 1 1/2" square and the high a 1 1/2" x 2 1/2 strip. I wanted a wall hanging and this size was perfect.

I believe I gathered the temps from the national weather sites. Start with Noaa.gov
My stencils arrived, so I'm marking my top and hope to sandwich today!! The darker shade is the upper numbers, and the lighter shade is the lower numbers.

• Reds are 90s
• Blues are 80s
• Greens are 70s
• Purples are 60s
• Oranges are 50s
• Pink (one low) is 40s

(I'm new to FMQ, so I need a line to follow using washable marker)
Also, my blocks are 6", which made it kinda big. Wish I had gone with 5".

Those stencils are perfect for your top!