I always say I’m not really a joiner. I’m know my tendency to over-commit and then feel obligated, and as a result I avoid commitments when I can. That being said, this year I am doing my best to join in on some of the fun things going on in the quilting community.

One of the things that I decided to do this year is the Quilting Mayhem Temperature Quilt-along. Quilting Mayhem is my favorite local quilt shop (and past place of employment!). While I was still working at there and heard we were planning a temperature quilt-along, I realized it was something I really wanted to do. But, I would need to make it very easy on myself to keep my commitment through the whole year!

Let me pause for a moment for those of you wondering “What in the world is a temperature quilt?”. Many in the knitting and crochet world have been doing something like this for a while, but it seems to be new to quilting. The basic premise is that you choose several fabrics, each one representing a range of temperatures. You then make a quilt with a block to represent each day, recording the temperature for that day. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. You could record highs only (like me), high and low temperatures, average temperature, and even the weather. I had customers come in that were recording the high, low, and weather for the day. Some people are adding embroidery or a special background fabric to indicate a snow day. Some people are choosing special years in their lives and recording data from that year. You can get as creative with it as you like! I suggest you check the hashtag #qmtemperaturequiltalong on Instagram to see all the wonderful ideas people are coming up with. If you decide you want to join in, there’s no sign-up. Just use the hashtag on your Instagram posts of your quilt so the other participants can cheer you on!

So, for my quilt, I decided to only record the high temperatures and not do a pieced block. I have hexies for each temperature range (mostly 4 degrees for each color) and am stitching an offset strip of hexies for each month. After the end of the year when all my strips are done, I’ll be applique-ing them in chronological order to a solid background, probably a light grey. I figured this was a simple way for me to do the bulk of the work (making a bunch of hexies) at the beginning of the year and then it’s very easy for me to add hexies as the year goes on and my patience for the project wanes.

I chose a pretty tight color range of mostly greens (with a few blues and yellows) for a couple of reasons. First, I love green and want a predominately green project this year. Second, I thought it would be a really nice way to let the temperature extremes really stand out. When I look back at the year and see a blue or yellow hexie, I’ll know it was a pretty extreme weather day (at least for Western Washington!)

I’m looking forward to seeing how this one progresses. I both love and hate that the nature of the project is forcing me to take the whole year to complete it. It’s an exercise in patience for sure!

Happy Sewing!  ~L