Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Temperature Quilt 2018 QAL

As noted in my previous post, my sister (IG alaskanquilter) and I are going to be doing a Temperature Quilt 2018.  We will link it up on Instagram at #sistempquilt, #tempquilt18 and #temperaturequilt2018.  I will also try to figure out how to add a linky to my blog so we can follow everyone's progress each month.

The QAL will run for the full year and you can start your year whenever you would like.  Ideally, you will make one block each day, but life does not always agree with that idea.  At times this year, I was doing a week of blocks at once.  Just be sure to keep track of your temperatures each day.

Should you happen to miss a day or so, I found that going to Weather Underground helped me find what the temperature was for any particular date.  If you click on the 10 day forecast button it will take you to the page with the "history" section. You can even sign up to have your temperatures sent to you in an e-mail each day.

For 2017 my sister and I selected to do the Flying Geese block.  I did a 2"x4" goose block with the goose reflecting my high temperature for the day and the sky part reflecting the low temperature.  My sister made hers with a 1.5"x3" goose.  She also, very cleverly, made her goose fly north or south depending on her temperatures being above or below freezing.  Of course, she lives in Alaska and that was not an option for me living in California - thank goodness!  My 2x4 blocks ended up making a quilt approximately 48"x62" before sashing and borders.  My sister's makes a good sized wall hanging at approximately 36"x 46.5".

These are our two very different looking finished blocks.



In deciding our colors, we broke the color changes every four degrees.  Many people have requested that we share the colors that we used to represent our temperatures.  We used Kona solids and this is a list of our "blended" temperatures with the reflected colors.


-20 through -23: 412 Nautical
-16 through -19: 1243 Navy
-12 through -15: 458 Storm
-8 through -11: 454 Prussian
-4 through -7: 1314 Royal
0 through -3: 90 Pacific
1 through 4: 494 Malibu
5 through 8: 171 Water
9 through 12: 405 Algeria
13 through 16: 497 Niagra
17 through 20: 442 Capri
21 through 24: 1061 Candy Green
25 through 28: 498 Parrot
29 through 32: 1072 Chartreuse
33 through 36: 472 Cabbage
37 through 40: 254 Sprout
41 through 44: 199 Cactus
45 through 48: 23 Lemon
49 through 52: 1481 Banana
53 through 56: 148 Daffodil
57 through 60: 353 Sunflower
61 through 64: 350 Cheddar
65 through 68: 1704 Ochre
69 through 72: 349 Butterscotch
73 through 76: 1479 Amber
77 through 80: 443 Cedar
81 through 84: 482 Terracotta
85 through 88: 150 Paprika
89 through 92: 352 Ruby
93 through 96: 1480 Chinese Red
97 through 100: 1551 Rich Red
101 through 104: 1063 Cardinal
105 through 108: 1296 Poppy
109 through 112: 7 Tomato
113 through 116: 1194 Lipstick
117 through 120: 323 Flame

Please feel free to use whatever fabrics and colors you would like to represent your temperatures.

Another question that has been asked is "how much fabric do I need?"  That is a great question.  I looked at my own range of temperatures and ordered 1/2 yard of each for my geese.  I ended up needing a little more of the mid range temperatures and less of my highs and lows.  The nice thing about using the Kona was that I was able to reorder the three fabrics that I needed.

I cut my pieces as I needed, but my sister had a great storage idea for hers.  This certainly would make things easier to sew when sitting down to put your sections together.


This was my method, sad to say.

The block we have chosen to do this year is a Square in a Square.  The finished size of the block will measure 3".  Placing our blocks side to side this year rather than up and down, we should end up with 18 blocks across and 21 rows down - measuring approximately 54" x 63".  If you would like to do this block with us, I have written out instructions for it below.  

Cut one high temperature square (yellow) at 2 5/8" square.  Cut (2) 3" low temperature (green) squares in half diagonally.



Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew two green triangles to two opposite sides of the yellow - centering the square on the triangles.


Press to the green and trim the dog ears.  *Ironing all seems open makes for better nesting as you sew blocks and rows together.



Add the final two green triangles and press to the green.  



Lay a ruler with the 1.75" mark at the bottom corner and right hand corner of the yellow square.  Trim the bottom and right side.  Turn block around and repeat for the other two sides.  Block should now measure 3.5".  



We are looking forward to seeing all of the different quilts at the end of the year.

I will be linking this post up with Midweek MakersQuilts My Way and  Freemotion by the River.

29 comments:

  1. Yay! I just ordered most of my fabric. Missouri Star didn't have two colors, and of course, one is what I need now. :) This will be fun. Thank you, Mary and Mary's sister, for doing this!

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  2. And just like that...I'm in :) Not sure how varied mine will look but this is going to be fun!

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  3. Sounds like you are really going to have fun with this idea!! Very, very creative!

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  4. Like your square in a square. I just love how different your two quilts turned out.

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  5. You read my mind: I was wondering what you were going to be doing this year, and love your descriptions. I think I might try this...I think I can squeeze in one more quilty thing sideways! Thank you for the description and the color chart list, too.

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  6. This sounds like fun! I will be ordering fabrics soon! In the meantime, I'm tracking my temperatures!

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  7. Plan to see what fabrics I can find locally and then order. Thanks so much for this effort — I think it will be great fun. I may be getting off to a slow start, but these should be fun to see develop!

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  8. These are spectacular, breathtakingly beautiful. What a terrific idea. I am sure this will be a huge success.

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  9. Such a great idea Mary. I don't think I am organised enough to keep going. However, never say never. I will give it some thought. Look forward to following your and your sister's progress. Thankyou for the block tutorial.

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  10. What a cool idea! Of course, my evil brain instantly thinks about making a WEIGHT tracking quilt instead of a temperature tracking quilt... It must be all those awful Weight Watchers commercials that are on TV for New Year's Resolutions... AWFUL idea!

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  11. That flying goose quilt is terrific! What a fascinating idea. I love how they look.

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  12. Oh, not sure I will jump in...still on the fence?! but either way I will enjoy watching everyone's progress. This is a really fun idea!

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  13. Wow! love them both..........and Happy New Year! May 2018 be even better for you than 2017! I know mine will be because I am retiring in March and I get a new granddaughter in 3 weeks!

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  14. Both are amazing. What a great quilt!

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  15. Wowsers! Those are beautiful! Great use of flying geese and solids - well done!

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  16. I enjoyed seeing your temperature quilt grow. What a clever idea! It will be great to see everyone's quilt, and compare and contrast.

    -Soma

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  17. Your and your sister's quilts are very pretty, this is a great idea!

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  18. I so enjoyed watching you and your sister’s temp quilts last year, and looking forward to this year! Of course I’m tempted to play along (I always want to do everything LOL!!!), but I’m determined to start only those things I’ve got on my list for this year. I’ll probably regret that about half-way through the year when everyone’s temp quilts are sparkling and saying na-na-na-na-na-na-na!

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  19. What beautiful quilts--I like the idea of a weather related quilt a lot. I keep track in my daily journal of the temp when I awaken in the morning...
    hugs, Julierose

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  20. I'm a little late to the party, but I'm thinking this would be a neat quilt for my granddaughter for the year she was born. I'm going to work on the fabric pull today and get my temps recorded. I'll just have to catch up later. Thanks for all the information!

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  21. I really love this idea! I saw the geese on Instagram and was intrigued but I missed the temperature factor somehow. I want to try to get on board for the 2018 one. It will be very easy to catch up, especially since I have been recording the temperature in my planner. It has been nothing but cold and colder and coldest here, wind chills to minus 35 F. Today it is 40 degrees. January thaw, we call it. After 5 to 5 inches of the white stuff for Christmas we got 15 plus inches of snow that has just started to melt today. Shall be short lived. We are forecast to get 2-3 inches of rain on Saturday ... followed by a dip in degrees and it will all turn to ice. There will be a lot of blue in my quilt for now ... best get sewing ... :-) Pat

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  22. Thanks for the how-to and idea ... :) Pat

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  23. What a great idea! And since I moved from California to Ohio, I now have much more interesting temps to sew. I like it!

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  24. Hi Mary, I'm very seriously considering joining in! I love your geese one so might do that :-) Our temperatures don't have such a wide range but I think it will be a fun thing to do all the same! Now to decide on my fabrics...thank you for the inspiration!

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  25. Wow! A lot of thought goes into a temperature quilt. Pennsylvanis is currently going crazy temperature-wise, going from 30s to 60s overnight. If I made a Flying Geese one, I would direct all my geese North, back to Maine where I spent three glorious years and it never got higher than the mid 70s in the summer, with LOTS of snow. They know how to do winter right. PA seems to have forgotten and I do not like it. It really looks like a neat quilt and I may have to try one. Do you think it could work equally well with blenders rather than solids? The square directly above made me wonder if you were in the international signture square exchange but then I noted slight difference in size.

    Your blog is fun. I think it will take me a while to go through everything.

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