2017 Temperature Quilt Revisited (and fixed)

 Again, we are blogging of things way past, but I want to get them out here in blog world for my own notes, and hey, you get to come along for the ride!

I'm pretty sure that I've explained before how I use lighter colored thread and sharpies to disguise some of my quilting.  That's what I did with my 2017 Temperature quilt.  I used a cream neutral for all of the quilting and then when I was getting it ready for a show in April, I used black sharpie to fill in where the words were. 

 And guess what happened?!!?

 Sharpie where I didn't want it.  I tried all the removal tricks, but the best I could get was faded.  So I decided to try a patch.

 This was the tiny circle that I prepped for my patch.

 Pinned and sewn.

 From far away, you cant even see it.

 Also, as I was wandering the aisles at Menards, I found these extra large lint rollers. Perfect for defuzzing quilts before a show!

A shot of the quilt at the show.  I've come to realize I make the quilts people like to talk about, that don't necessarily win prizes.  But that's OK.  I want people to see what you can do with quilts.  That its not all traditional.

Temperature Quilt 2017 Final Finish

It is finally finished!!

Actually, its been finished for a couple of weeks, but I needed a sunny day and time to blog!!

 Way back in January 2017, I tried to get a quilt a long started.  I had a couple of Instagram friends play along and make temperature quilts, too.  The above was my planned pallette for the year.  All the fabrics are Fossil Ferns.

 This was a potential layout.  I definitely wanted to differentiate the months this time around.  My first temperature quilt is a bit more abstract.

I did get the top put together in January, quilted in March.

The back has all the information about the quilt - including a strip of all the temperatures with the numbers embroidered on them. 

I also included on the back when I was in other cities.

The words on the front were cut with my Silhouette Machine of black batik backed with Pellon Wunder Under 805.  I fused them down, then did a lot of quilting over them to hold down the letters.   I was much too lazy to change quilting thread.  I may go back and color those threads black, but its not at the top of my list.  Probably because I'm so happy to have it finished. 

I'm not doing one this year, but am constantly tempted.  There are others out there making them this year - you can look on Instagram for #tempquilt18 

The main floral backing came from Hobby Lobby and is super soft.  It was a potential border for the front, but I ended up going with the shells.  If you look closely, I actually took the time to make sure they all are going the same way!

2017 Temperature Quilt

The top for my 2017 Temperature quilt is finished.  I decided to go literal as opposed to an abstract layout. 

So to that end, I labeled everything.  I think of it as an oversized Tea Towel.

Trying out some border fabrics.  I did really want to use the Elizabeth print, but it just wasn't quite bold enough to stand up to the center of the quilt.

So spirals it is.

I thought I'd run out and get a quick photo, but a flimsy on the clothes line moves with every little puff of wind.

So laid out on the frozen ground.

I've even got the back together and the label is pieced into it. It includes a key for all the temperature/colors and also days for when I traveled to other places during the year.

Binding is ready to go!

AND I cleaned out my Temperature Quilt Box.  Lots more people seem to be doing a Temperature quilt this year, and while I was sorely tempted, and had even chosen a design, I let it go.  This is supposed to be a "sabbatical year" and it would have quickly become a "have to" project.  I feel lighter already.

Temperature Quilt 2017 Update

 Here we are into the first days of September already.  Time flies, eh?  I've got my Temperature quilt up to date through yesterday. (yep 9/5/17)  In reality I'm quite sure I won't get back to it until after my local guild's quilt show.  I have some responsibilities for the show and a couple of quilts I'd like to finish.

So: All the months so far.

January with one freakish warm day.

 February - with a bunch of record breaking warm days.

 March.  One recording breaking warm day.

 April

 May

 June.  That white stripe is a record breaking cold temperature!

 July.  Warm.  The blue stripe?  Record breaking rainfall.  There was major flooding all around the area.  Our yard was saturated and we got water in the basement - that's impressive since we live on the top of a hill.

 August - no records - but I wanted to make note of the solar eclipse.

 Just a small embroidered circle.  Black in the center, gold on the edge.

September.  Another record cold evening.

 All the months lined up so far.  Colors will start shifting back to greens and blues as we are at the final four months of the year.

Temperature Quilt April/Beginning of May

 April was super busy with "have to" projects, so the Temperature Quilt got put to the side.  When we got back from Florida, I did all of April and the first four days of May.

April by itself.

A couple days ago I caught up in May through the 15th and also did the days we were in Florida,  See those black stripes.   Record highs while we were there!

 This is the comparison to the weather we were missing at home.  For once, we actually missed the bad weather while we were gone.  I guess it rained the whole time and was cold.

A Few Small Finishes

 Saturday, April 1 was a sewing day at the church where our my quilt guild meets.  You can sew from 9-9, whatever you want.  I was able to take advantage of that and brought along a bunch of small things to finish up.  I've been trying to clean out.

This is a little 8" block.  The top was done, I had to applique down the antlers and do some quilting and binding.

This twister top is something my aunt had made that ended up at my house.  Some quick quilting and a binding - and its done.

I finished up March while I was there.  Here are the first three months of the temperature quilt.  Can you believe the first quarter of the year is over?

I also worked on some pincushions.  The one above needed more filling.  It was rather limp.

The tulip was a paper pieced block that my mom made probably 20 years ago, its been floating around my stuff, so I decided a pin cushion would be a good solution.  The green one was pieced from extra half square triangles.

And a larger one, that was a stitch out FMQ practice.  They are all filled with crushed walnut shells.  The big one would also make a good pattern weight.